Warren isn't an idiot, I believe he sees the value of innovation both in Elon's vision and ambitions, as well as the inherent necessity at the global scale for companies to be both competitive and innovative. Warren was there when he watched Apple turn things around from obscurity to front page relevance. He was there when gates helped spearhead the home PC revolution, and he was there for both telecoms and ISP's. So was berkshire. Watching these two bump heads is comical, as they are two sides of the same coin.