Robotic surrogates that offer paralyzed people the freedom to explore their environment, manipulate objects or simply fetch things has been the holy grail of BCI research for a long time.
Maybe not brilliant like Walt, but he understands people and sees behind the surface much more clearly than Walt, and uses that knowledge to try to do good rather than simply to manipulate.
The t heory that the article was simply an attempt to manipulate the stock lower and allow a short to get out (the author was short) makes the most sense to me.
At worse, it is simply another attempt to artificially manipulate the winners the losers in the energy industry by raising costs on one form of energy products while subsidizing another.