Key to Elon
Scientific figures illustrating the process of collaborative HUMAN-AI hallucination.
Key for Elon Magazine, Issue no.1
The Key for Elon Magazine is a look under the hood of our writing and design process. In this key we provide links to X-cretions (tweets) and webpages, as well as references to books and articles cited. We also reveal many of the prompts used in our collaborative hallucinations with Generative AI. Not all the prompts used to create these images are shared here. In many cases the images are the result of re-mixing images generated by prompts and by editing and manipulating them in Photoshop. Sharing the prompts in this key is a way of documenting our efforts in collaborative hallucination. In some cases we include additional commentary on the page.
For the most part, the software used in the making of Elon was InDesign and Photoshop. The primary AI text-image generator was MidJourney. Fonts in use: Source Code Pro, Abril Fatface, Acier BAT, Acumin Variable Concept, Afronaut, Amador, American Typewriter, Antarctican Headline, Arbotek, Avenir Next, Azo Sans Uber, BD Geminis, Balboa Plus, Bebau Neue Pro, Blenny Black, Comic Sans, Cooper Std, Courier New, Eskorte Latin, HWT Antique Tuscan, League Gothic, Letter Gothic, Lust, Milka, Minion, P22 Arts and Crafts, P22 Freely, Palatino, Poplar, Six Hands Rough, WTR French Clarendon Ornamented, Windings, Zapf Dingbats
Cover, Front:
The great photographer LaChapelle photographs Elon Musk in the style of his famous photographs of people surrounded by flowers and gaudy colors, wearing wild clothing and acting dramatically. Elon is positively glowing with pride and hubris. Remixed and reworked with various prompts.
QR code generator (https://my.qr-code-generator.com)
Interior page spread (i-ii):
Elon Musk dancing "The Ketchup Song (Las Ketchup)" against a neutral background. Dressed like a dandy Sapeur from Congo. Fifteen magazine covers featuring Elon Musk.
Page spread (iii-iv):
This spread features an array of AI generated images using Mid Journey and Crayon.
An Elon Musk action figure sitting on a stump thinking: "Brand is just a perception, and perception will match reality over time. Sometimes it will be ahead, other times it will be behind. But brand is simply a collective impression some have about a product."
Our Neighbor Elon (1-2)
"Some people don't like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster." Text over top of an Elon Musk Action figure pushing back crowds of non-believers.
A haunting painting of Elon Musk by Francis Bacon licking his fingers and saying "Trying my best for the humans" counter culture. Groovy.
X-Cretions (aka Tweets)
Table of Contents (3-4)
X-Cretions
In the Musk of This Planet (5-6)
Nancy Fraser quote is from the following interview: Lubrano, Sarah Stein, Johannes Lenhard, and Nancy Fraser. “Crises and Experimental Capitalism: An Interview with Nancy Fraser.” Kings Review, April 11, 2014. https://www.kingsreview.co.uk/interviews/crises-and-experimental-capitalism-an-interview-with-nancy-fraser.
Eight cards in a map of Elon Musk. Each of these cards have images that were created with MidJourney and text based on our research.
A Magnum photograph of Elon Musk hanging out at a Berlin anarchist cafe full of punks.
A Magnum photograph of Elon Musk hanging out at a Berlin anarchist squat.
A Magnum photograph of Elon Musk hanging out at a street festival in Mexico city of Monterey.
A Magnum photograph of Elon Musk waeing a cowboy hat and hanging out at a Texas Honky Tonk.
A Magnum photograph of Elon Musk hanging out at a noodle shop in Shanghai.
A Magnum photograph of Elon Musk hanging out at a Mexican nightclub in Monterrey.
A Magnum photograph of Elon Musk hanging out at a street festival in Mexico city of Monterey.
A candid photograph of Elon Musk at a bar in Nevada wearing appropriate clothes and dressed up like Liberace. Slightly brighter and lighter.
A candid photograph of a youthful Elon Musk at a hipster bar in the Bay Area. Bartender is a muppet.
In the Musk of This Planet is also an allusion to Eugene Thacker’s book In the Dust of This Planet. The interplay of nihilism and Musk’s hype and aggressive but plastic moral code suggests a base level of nihilism and anti-social egoism we find fascinating.
Page 7
A Magnum photograph of Elon Musk hanging out at a Berlin anarchist cafe full of punks.
A Magnum photograph of Elon Musk waeing a cowboy hat and hanging out at a Texas Honky Tonk.
A Magnum photograph of Elon Musk hanging out at a street festival in Mexico city of Monterey.
Page 8
A modern magazine advertisement for Tesla brand foot fungus cream. Tesla. Elon Musk. Space X.
Page 9 - 10
Throughout the magazine are sticker-like illustrations. We call these “lil-Musks.” They were created using an Instagram sticker generator.
Page 9: The Tesla model line S, 3, X & Y is said to be one of the longest running jokes Musk created. Rumors have it that after creating the Model S and the Model X, Musk announced a possible Model E, creating the model line “SEX”. Ford Motors threatened to sue Tesla if they decided to do so, leading to the introduction of the 3rd generation Tesla car, the Model 3, and translating the joke into Leet speak. Source: https://medium.com/@ariabakhtiar/the-story-behind-elon-musks-longest-joke-tesla-s3xy-3859850d8911
The encounter with Gunther and the sales pitch is drawn from field notes from the summer of 2023.
Page 11.
“Tesla salesman selling a Model X; black and white; cartoon”
Page 12
A magazine advertisement featuring Elon Musk modeling a Space X branded mankini while running on a beach in Texas.
A light magazine advertisement for Space X branded mankini. Black with stars. Male bathing suit. beach scene.
A magazine advertisement featuring Elon Musk modeling a Space X branded mankini on a beach in Texas.
Page 13
A magazine page showing a handsome six fingered man in an Elon Musk mask with a flame thrower selling flowers.
Page 14
Photograph by a member of the Gigacities Collective of the Boring Company Bodega in Bastrop, Texas. January 2024.
Page 15-16 (House of Musk)
Elon Musk's father photographed by paparazzi.
Maye Musk photographed while at a ribbon cutting ceremony in Albania. She is holding a pair of scissors designed by HR Geiger.
Kimbal Musk serving food through a firehose to needy children on Skid Row in Los Angeles.
Tosca Musk is on set directing a romantic bedroom scene from her new Wes Anderson film set in Johannesburg in the 1980s.
On Kimbal:
Speculations have it that feeling the pressure from the Tesla executive board, of which Kimbal is a part, led Elon to unfollow his brother on Twitter/X.
Sources: https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-unfollows-own-brother-kimbal-twitter-1772554
“Big Tech Alert” has eyes on all those events: https://x.com/BigTechAlert/status/1612581004169863169
Kimbal Musk gave an interview while standing next to unprepared food. In the show, unambiguously called “Revolutionizing the American Diet - Human Upgrade”, Kimbal talked about his experiences with psychedelic drugs. The quote was pulled from this interview, underlining his will to somehow connect to the psychedelic ego of his brother (see also: Psychedelic Elon).
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwZYBtrgX7A
On Tosca:
According to the German “Business Insider” Elon experimented with hypnosis and turned his sister Tosca into a dog. (Source: https://www.businessinsider.de/leben/international-panorama/elon-musk-lernte-hypnose-und-wendete-sie-bei-schwester-an/)
In an interview with The Times magazine, Tosca talked about her relationship with her brother Elon. Besides being very protective of him, she also speaks about the downsides of being a Musk. (Source: https://www.smh.com.au/national/tosca-musk-on-her-big-brother-elon-s-advice-20220628-p5axad.html)
Text about Musk Family written by GC members using widely available journalistic sources.
Page 17-18 (The Hidden cost of billionaire shaming)
Elon Musk was photographed from the side while demonstrating the Slavic squat against a white backdrop.
A photograph of an elegantly dressed Maye Musk leading protesters against Hate. "Stop the Hate"
A banner hanging over a green screen "The Many Millionaire March" abandoned top hats on a deserted street
Page 19-20
Screenshots of tweets and news clips
Page 21-22 (Psychedelic Elon)
A colorful picture of a juggler wearing a rubber mask of Elon Musk's face with holes cut out for eyes and real-looking hair. Magnum Photograph. Alec Soth.
Text by GC member. References include the following:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/08/28/elon-musks-shadow-rule
https://www.lmaleidykla.lt/ojs/index.php/filosofija-sociologija/article/view/4174
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8jt609kj
Page 23-24
A colorful picture of a juggler wearing a cheap leather mask of Elon Musk's face with holes cut out for eyes and real-looking hair. Magnum Photograph. Alec Soth.
Page 25-26 (Vegas Loopy)
Photo by GC member
https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-boring-company-tunnel-traffic-11669658396
On Vegas’s unsustainability: https://growingtogive.org/las-vegas.html
https://www.vegaslegalmagazine.com/vegas-loop-first-of-its-kind-for-any-destination/
Page 27-28
A photograph of this scene: When I stepped onto the elevator, I was suddenly self-conscious about the racist billionaire’s face on my chest
Page 29
Actual quotes compiled by GC members
Page 31
Photo by GC member taken at Las Vegas Convention Center and then augmented with AI in order to stretch it across the spread
Page 33-34
A photograph of Elon Musk by Helmut Newton wearing a t-shirt that says "Colonize Mars"
Elon Musk holding a large weiner in a claude cahun photographic portrait of elon musk.
Page 35-36 (A titanic success)
American soldiers are gathered in a cinema; they are laughing and smiling and boisterously, enthusiastically, and joyfully watching a film. Seen from the stage, their faces are illuminated by the screen, which is not visible. They are watching Apocalypse Now.
Elon Musk portrait drawn like Mad Magazine’s Alfred E. Newman saying “What! Me Worry?”
Page 37-38
Screenshot of an architectural rendering of German factory in the forest taken from Tesla website. Photographs by GC members.
The artist Hergé draws a German pine forest where a bunch of old ladies protesting against a factory. They are seen clashing with police and workers in bulldozers
A German pine forest where a bunch of old ladies protesting against a factory clash with police and workers in bulldozers
A German pine forest where a bunch of old ladies protesting against a factory. They are seen clashing with police and workers in bulldozers
Page 39-42
The introductory quote comes from a press conference Elon gave together with the conservative politician and former chancellor candidate Armin Laschet. Both are obviously laughing off the fact that the region in Brandenburg, Germany struggles with sinking groundwater levels. (Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye8zcgxWMDc)
Descriptions of the protests are drawn from several field trips and informal conversations at the protest camp and accompanying field notes.
Meeting between Elon, Kai Wegner and Dietmar Woidke: https://www.sueddeutsche.de/auto/auto-woidke-und-wegner-treffen-tesla-chef-musk-dpa.urn-newsml-dpa-com-20090101-240313-99-326369
Photographs by GC members
Page 43-44
With cockroaches everywhere, Elon Musk in an ad for Cockroach Jelly Aspic says: If there was a way that I could not eat, so I could work more, I would not eat. I wish there was a way to get nutrients without sitting down for a meal.
A photograph of avocados spilled all over the street after a Tesla crash in Berlin. Rainy night.
Accounts and descriptions were gathered from an informal meeting with an informant who has insight into the Gigafactory.
Marx, Karl 1887[1867]. Capital. A Critique of Political Economy. Volume I. Progress Publishers, Moscow, USSR. https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/Capital-Volume-I.pdf
Page 45-46
An advertisement for Elon Musk's reading club that "meets on Wednesdays on X"
Facts:
Water used for growing a single avocado: https://danwatch.dk/en/undersoegelse/how-much-water-does-it-take-to-grow-an-avocado/
Water usage approved for Tesla (1,4 million cubic meters): https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/tesla-gigafactory-gruenheide-wasser-100.html
The numbers in the calculation are not correct in the printed magazine. The Gigafactory in Germany has an approval for using up to 1,4 million cubic meters of water per year. The stated 10,2 million cubic meters in the magazine refer to the water usage of the entire region. (Source: https://www.rbb24.de/wirtschaft/beitrag/2024/04/brandenburg-tesla-wasserentnahme-strauberg-erkner-wse-wasserverband-vogel.html)
Nonetheless, with the Tesla Gigafactory in the region, households in the district need to save water collectively, namely not being permitted to water garden plants during dry streaks in summer etc.
Page 47-54 (Waiting for Elon)
Photographs by GC members
Text by GC member based on field report.
Page 55-56 (The Genius of Elon Musk)
https://time.com/person-of-the-year-2021-elon-musk/
Photograph of a high school lined notebook doodle "Teh geniu$ of elon musk" bic pen drawing. four colors. stars. bad teenager drawing. He looks mad.
2023 Anti-Fascist John Heartfield Collages featuring elon musk holding a toy Deathstar.
Page 57-58
a hyperreal rubber mask of Elon Musk's face with holes cut out for eyes and real-looking hair. Magnum Photograph. Alec Soth. Packaged for sale at a costume halloween company store.
a photograph of a man wearing an Elon Musk mask in his backyard. he is a bad neighbor. Eric Soth.
Elon Musk modeling a Space X-branded mankini on a beach in Texas. Mock fighting pose. Corpulent
Page 59-60 (Future Human Genocide)
Tesla Autoshow. Cars. A photograph by Eli Reed of four children wearing Elon Musk masks at a playground. Magnum photography.
Page 61-62 (Neura Musk)
In an interview with Zuby, Elon Musk explains Neuralink and how it is developing over time. The Star Trek character Geordie LaForge comes up in the conversation. (Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKB1PuclFEo)
According to Musk, depending on the used camera with the Neuralink implant, a person could even “see” different wavelength.
On a critical reading of Geordie LaForge and abelism in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Janet Jay wrote a long article on the backstory of the character and the ableist discourses in the TV show. (Source: https://www.janetjay.com/what-star-trek-got-wrong-about-geordis-disabilities/)
Page 69-70
Text on 70 by GC member.
https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Work-Silicon-Building-Underclass/dp/1328566242
https://arxiv.org/abs/2211.15271
Page 72-73
Actual quotes compiled by GC members.
Page 74
Musk donation to university: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-08-14/elon-musk-s-10m-texas-donation-funds-a-favorite-topic-of-his-fertility
All screenshots of Tweets compiled by GC Members–and this is true of all tweets in the magazine. We didn’t fabricate any tweets (or quotes). Where things are fabricated by AI, we are noting it carefully – and mostly it is obvious.
Page 77-80
Martin Parr photographed a group of Cybertruck enthusiasts at a car rally. Women. Funny. Silly. Weird. Weird. Weird. Matching colors. Hats. Schnauzers.
A candid photograph of Errol Musk and his child bride shopping during a Walmart Black Friday sale. Chaotic. Many people.
Methodology essay by GC members, including a section where Chat GPT was asked to describe the project in Elon’s voice.
Page 82
Elon Musk as a floating corpulent Baron Harkonnen. Brutal and dark.
Molly Crabapple quoted in the LA Times.
https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2023-05-11/column-the-writers-strike-is-only-the-beginning-a-rebellion-against-ai-is-underway
An interesting rebuttal that characterizes Crabapple’s statement as “hyperbolic venting” is here by Marian Bantjes. https://www.eyemagazine.com/feature/article/artificial-idiot.
Page 83:
Gigacity postcards. Coming soon!
Page 84:
A photo of three muscular and handsome teutonic men wearing tshirts, jeans or sweatpants standing at an electric car charging station in the parking lot with their new Tesla on summer day in Canada, smiling for camera. The two lefty guys have buzzcute haircuts, blue eyes and no facial stubble. They wear monster energy drink logo crew neck sweaters over Tshirts. A black tavern ruins can be seen behind them. There is yellow tape around it. It's sunny outside. One guy has glasses on his head. In background there’s one white ev macro en2050r power tower, which…
Latour, Bruno. 1991. The Berlin Key or How to Do Words with Things. In P.M. Graves-Brown Matter, Materiality and Modern Culture, Routledge, London. 10-21.
Back Cover
Photo of a public bathroom in Berlin bar, Summer 2023, taken by GC member“