Jill Lepore on Elon Musk's imaginary world

Sean Illing talks with historian Jill Lepore about her new podcast: The Evening Rocket explores Elon Musk and the new form of extravagant, extreme capitalism — which Lepore dubs "Muskism" — that he has ushered in. They discuss the formative role played by science fiction stories, why the super-wealthy are drawn to space travel, and why, according to Lepore, Elon Musk is not much of a futurist after all.

Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), Interviews Writer, Vox

Guest: Jill Lepore, podcast host; professor, Harvard University

References:

Elon Musk: The Evening Rocket by Jill Lepore (Pushkin/BBC; Nov. 2021)

Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World, dir. Werner Herzog (2016)

The Mars Trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars) by Kim Stanley Robinson (Del Ray; 1992, 1993, 1996; re-issue 2021)

Technocracy Digest issues on the Internet Archive

"Science Fiction and Mrs. Brown" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1976)

Elon Musk on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (Sept. 10, 2015)

Elon Musk's Neuralink demonstration (Aug. 28, 2020)

"Newt Gingrich trying to sell Trump on a cheap moon plan" by Bryan Bender (Politico; Aug. 19, 2019)

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This episode was made by:

Producer: Erikk Geannikis

Editor: Amy Drozdowska

Engineer: Paul Robert Mounsey

Deputy Editorial Director, Vox Talk: Amber Hall

Vox Audio Fellow: Victoria Dominguez

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