I think the main difference here is that Musk's other ventures are all about technologies that already existed, but were prohibitively expensive or difficult to sell to a mass audience. He and his companies have done great things to promote these technologies, and to refine the tech to make it cheaper and more sustainable, not to mention fighting entrenched players who have a financial interest in seeing him fail.
But figuring out how the brain works and how to interpret its signals using a computer is in a completely different league. Maybe he'll prevail nonetheless -- he's assembled some really smart people in the field to tackle the problem -- but I think it's reasonable to remain skeptical at this point.
But figuring out how the brain works and how to interpret its signals using a computer is in a completely different league. Maybe he'll prevail nonetheless -- he's assembled some really smart people in the field to tackle the problem -- but I think it's reasonable to remain skeptical at this point.