Interestingly enough almost all of them hold these beliefs in areas they themselves have no expertise in (of course, there are one or two exceptions).
I think it's dangerous when laymen who admire these individuals for their excellent work in their respective fields also assume their beliefs in other fields and areas are equally credible. The same examples suggested here can occur in much more subtle ways - for instance - Elon Musk and his views on A.I. have been made famous, even though he has absolutely no formal background in A.I.
*EDIT: completely missed that the author used Elon as an example. Nonetheless I stand by my point.
I think it's dangerous when laymen who admire these individuals for their excellent work in their respective fields also assume their beliefs in other fields and areas are equally credible. The same examples suggested here can occur in much more subtle ways - for instance - Elon Musk and his views on A.I. have been made famous, even though he has absolutely no formal background in A.I.
*EDIT: completely missed that the author used Elon as an example. Nonetheless I stand by my point.