The Continent needs some shaking up, but leaping in without all the facts turns off European voters.

PARIS — Europeans are quickly learning a lesson that Americans internalized years ago: They ignore Elon Musk at their peril. Until recently, Europe’s main challenge from Musk was mustering the means to enforce tech and trade rules on a billionaire mogul whose firms’ annual revenue exceeds British or German yearly defense spending.

The billionaire says there’ll be more androids than people by 2040. The Old Continent offers fertile ground for his vision.