yes, you still write checks to pay online and rocket boosters to this day are single use $100M pieces of hardware that we throw away into the ocean after each use.
seriously. musk is shady and weird, more so in the last couple of years, but come on.
It's about the perception of Musk.
He built some successful companies but he is not Tony Stark as people tend him to see.
He is a salesman not an genius inventor.
Don't expect FSD in the near future and don't expect a Mars colony.
FSD, especially the way he was describing it, was a blunder. the Mars city is a pipe dream... but I absolutely understand why it makes people follow him - he's the only one who set out to build a private space company with the purpose to actually get to Mars, with the side effect of completely uprooting the space launch industry. the achievements are undeniable, but it's the vision that makes the perception be so surprisingly good still. there's literally nobody else who says things like that and has the means to even try.
seriously. musk is shady and weird, more so in the last couple of years, but come on.