“What Is Elon Musk like in Person?”, 2023-09-02 (; backlinks):
[Hypomania: physical energy] …He has a real nervous energy about him—He has a fast walking pace, wanted to get things done quickly, and you could see he was always thinking ahead, not wanting even idle time to go to waste (eg. while being introduced to go on stage, he was simultaneously listening to the speaker while answering emails on his phone)
…Early in OpenAI’s history we worked from Tesla for a while. I really didn’t know what to expect, I thought he might be super-busy or have this perpetually distracted demeanor, but instead I found him to be very nice, personable, light-hearted and fully invested in the conversation when he talks with you. In fact a little too much so—he asks a question, puts his fingers together, looks you directly in the eyes without moving at all and gives you this complete, undivided attention, it’s actually slightly intimidating. Most of my interactions with him were very pleasant, I found him to be very thoughtful, and he’s been very helpful in setting up OpenAI at just the right distance and at just the right level of abstraction.
…And, importantly, he’s really busy and rather focused on what he’s doing, so casual conversation is probably not normally very high on his “to do” list.
…I’ve been camping with Elon and have hung out with him socially. He’s a quiet, unassuming person. He is constantly bombarded with work questions, seemingly from everyone, so he can hardly escape it, but he is also an intense workaholic. He is very involved with his 5 kids and devotes a lot of his energy to them, but he also enjoys the rich social life that his status affords him.
…Fast in walking, eating, talking. On a mission always. Never seen anyone so focused.
…I remember him coming across as being extremely intense. One thing I remember is that for the whole time I was with him, he didn’t seem to blink, and he seemed like he was looking through me instead of at me (kind of like his focal point was the back of my head). It was a little weird.