Elon Musk, apparently, is the guy who originally invented PayPal, which seems like mixed karma considering all the fun what's been had with that.
However, he's also the guy who took the funds he raised via the sale (so I gather) of PayPal, and applied it toward starting up two companies: Space X and Tesla. The former is a commercial, for-profit take on space exploration. The latter builds electric cars. The idea, as he explains to Mr. Stewart, is (1) interplanetary expansion and (2) sustainability (which, if you think about it, is pretty important if you're planning on not just putting a colony on Mars but keeping it there).
I have trouble coming up with anything at all bad to say about that. Seriously, anything-- and that's in spite of all my misgivings (and there are many) about the role of capitalism in getting our species out of this gravity well. The sort of plutocratic-feudal megacorporate dystopia that is a feature of so much "dark" sci-fi is not my cup of tea, and I do honestly believe that the nature of large, for-profit endeavors drives them towards acting with all the callousness of a nation-state and none of the sense of duty.
... IF, that is, the point is to make money. In this case, it does seem as though Mr. Musk is using money (and capitalism generally) as a method of achieving an end, rather than wealth being the end, itself.
Perhaps the issue with modern capitalism is that we've got our priorities turned around, making wealth itself the goal. After all, if money is power, and power is a tool, then collecting money is just putting together more and more tools-- useful only if they are then put to work (at doing something, one hopes, other than collecting more and more tools like themselves).
If that is so, then entities such as Space X may be a step back in the direction of making money serve an end, rather than making an end out of money.
And yes, they do seem to be hiring. Not defense attorneys, however.
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