Erik Nordeus - The Engineer

“Picasso had a saying – ‘good artists copy, great artists steal’ – and we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas,” Steve Jobs said. Also Edison stole some ideas from Nikola Tesla, who worked as an inventor at the same time as Edison. 323Despite the accusations against Edison, Elon explained he’s a larger fan of Edison than Tesla. While Edison brought “his” inventions to the market and made them accessible to the world, Tesla kept them in his head. Edison always hired assistants to realize his inventions, and he liked to say he could tell the importance of one of his inventions by the number of dollars it brought in and nothing else concerned him. 354

At age ten, Elon bought his own computer with money from his allowance he had in a savings account. He also got a financial contribution from his father to afford the first computer to sell over one million units: the Commodore VIC-20. “I thought it was like the most awesome thing I’ve ever seen,” Elon said. 324He had earlier used the less advanced Atari computer. 258

The computer created a new type of world where Elon could sit in a world of his own. “Every man and woman should play the noblest games and be of another mind from what they are at present,” the Greek philosopher, Plato, said. Playing a game is a way to live a dream. You are only judged by your performance – not by your sex, origin, or appearance. And Elon loved to play games on his computer.

Before it became common to have computers in the home, the gamers flocked to the arcades, where they played games like Space Invaders , Asteroids , Donkey Kong , and Pac-Man . In Japan, they suffered a shortage of hundred-yen coins because they were stuck in the arcade machines or in the pockets of the fanatic players. “I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t do drugs. I play video games which I think is a far superior addiction than any of those other ones,” an arcade gamer said. “Those games challenged eye-hand coordination, mind-body coordination, fast reaction time, comprehensive thinking, on a level that modern games don’t.” 369

Elon, who liked these arcade games, tried to start his own arcade company together with his brother. “It was a very compelling proposition when you’re thirteen and you love video games,” Elon said. 71They found a building, they contacted a supplier of arcade games, and all they needed to open their dream was a permit from the city. But to get a permit, one of their parents had to sign a document, and neither of their parents thought it was a good idea. “We got stopped by the city,” Kimbal said. “We couldn’t get a variance. Our parents had no idea. They flipped out when they found out, especially my father.” 278

When home computers became affordable, the arcade era ended. The gamers could now create their own games. Elon felt he needed to learn how to program his own computer software because he wanted to learn how to create his own games. He asked his father if he could teach him how to program, but Errol thought computers were only toys that will amount to nothing and he refused to use computers. Elon thought his father was silly, so he decided to learn how to make his own games despite his father’s negative thoughts. 49

To learn how to make his own games, Elon attended classes in computer programming. But he was always ahead of the teacher. Bored, he began to teach himself how to program with the help of the thick, heavy manuals that arrived with early computers. He became a better and better programmer and in the end, he could really make his own computer games.

In 1983, at age twelve, Elon earned $500 when he sold a game he had made to a computer magazine. “I read a lot of computer magazines and there was a computer magazine that you could sell software to,” Elon said. “I needed more money to buy a better computer and more video games. So I mailed it in and they bought it. They didn’t know I was twelve years old.” 451

It seems probable the name of his game was Blastar , though some sources said it was Blast Star and some said it was Blaster . The game was a combination of the popular arcade games Asteroids and Space Invaders . 20“In this game you have to destroy an alien space freighter, which is carrying deadly Hydrogen Bombs and Status Beam Machines,” the description said. 327Whatever the name of the game was, don’t confuse it with the game Blastar , released by Core Design in 1993. Elon would later sell another computer game to the same magazine.

Maye and Errol divorced when Elon was nine years old, and the siblings began living mostly with their mother. 4“By my late twenties, my marriage had deteriorated so badly that every day was miserable,” Maye said. “I had all my confidence driven out of me. I began buying and reading self-help books. These inspired me to make a change. So, with my children, I left my marriage in search of a better life. Once this had happened, I felt as if a dark cloud had been lifted and there was hope. The changes were scary and risky: a new city, a new business and no self-confidence. But slowly, I grew stronger and became much happier.” 82After the divorce, Maye and the siblings moved to live in Durban and Johannesburg. Elon and his father have only been in limited touch since the divorce. 324

The divorce between his parents may have increased Elon’s ability to handle chaos, stress, and uncertainty. The Stanford professor, Steve Blank, argued that a disproportionate number of entrepreneurs grew up in dysfunctional families. 112Starting a company is a chaotic and stressful process. “Starting a company is like eating glass and staring into the abyss of death,” is a quote often used by Elon, but the quote originates from his friend Bill Lee. “Staring into the abyss of death” means the entrepreneur is constantly facing the company’s extermination because 90 percent of all new companies fail. “Eating glass” means the entrepreneur has to work with the problems benefiting the company most – not the most fun problems. 353

Most white people in South Africa had maids and servants. But the Musk family didn’t because Errol made the family play a game called “America.” When they played it, the children had to do every chore Errol thought an American child did, including cleaning the house and mowing the lawn. “My father was very strict,” Tosca said. “I guess I was a bit of an autocratic father – do this, do that,” Errol replied. “I was a single parent, and they simply had to help out.”

When they didn’t play America, Errol brought the children on annual trips around the country. Once, Elon got to fly with him in his twin-prop plane to an emerald mine in Zambia in which Errol owned a share. They filled the plane with chocolate bars intended as a bribe for the customs agents. 278,450

At age eleven, Elon wanted to move to the US. He had visited the country before together with his father. America meant freedom, and freedom to the young Elon meant movies, technology, and comics. “I have to admit I might have been a bit too fascinated about America, but it really did seem everything was possible there and, at the time, not so possible in South Africa,” he said. Elon obviously couldn’t move on his own, so his plan was to convince his father to move with him. All three siblings lived with their mother, and Elon thought it was unfair that no one lived with their father. 59,60Errol said yes. Then he changed his mind because he felt he had established himself as an engineer in South Africa, so he didn’t want to restart in another country. 363

As Elon grew older, there were still no signs of weaknesses in the apartheid system. He knew the government would force him to serve the two years of compulsory military service for white men. Joining the military wasn’t an issue. What he didn’t want was to participate in the suppression of the black people, which is what the military did. “Who wants to serve in a fascist army?” Elon asked. To avoid joining the military, Elon had to revive the old plans to move to the US. 263