Elon Musk: on Being Optimistic and Pessimistic, on AI, on Living in Space and on Musk Himself

SpaceX, the spaceflight and satellite company, has only one Chief Executive: Elon Musk. He is also CEO of Tesla, the multinational clean energy company. At a net worth of over $400bn, Musk is regarded as the world's wealthiest person.

With his involvement in space, connectivity and AI, it is an indisputable fact that the Muskian influence on the whole of humanity is here to stay.

So what does the wealthiest person in the world have to say about the world he is instrumental in creating for all of us?

Musk laid out his predictions on how he sees the world shaping up in the near future in recent appearances at Cannes Lions and in The Economist.

Musk on Human Extinction

On the positive side, he told the audience to look at the glass as 80% full. That is because it could mean:

•  an abundance of goods and services available to anyone and for anyone on earth,

•  a universal high income for everyone,

•  work would be optional.

In agreement with other notable voices, he feels that there might be a 10-20% chance of "something terrible" happening.

According to him, we can look forward to something like the magic genie — "If you can think of it, the AI can do it.  And in a positive scenario AI will do its best to make you happy. If some superpower is trying to make you happy, it will probably succeed."

He also said: "These times could herald a crisis of meaning to humankind. What is the point of doing things if the AI can do everything that you can, but better? For some this may lead to an existential crisis."

In my opinion his optimism skirts the central question: is a 10-20% risk of worldwide catastrophe an acceptable wager for an 80% chance of abundance?

Musk on the Near Future

Like a refrain, the next five years will bring radical change. Good news—again according to him—is that we will see better AI-human symbiosis.

On Optimus, the Tesla Bot

Musk foresees personalised robots for everyone; a fully functional humanoid robot intended to perform a wide range of domestic and industrial tasks. He foresees units becoming available for public purchase by the end of 2027 and predicts that production will scale rapidly into the next decade.

On SpaceX

“The goal of SpaceX is to make life multi-planetary, in order to extend the lifespan of civilisation,” he argues and then concludes: "A single-planet civilisation is a precarious situation." 

Just like in the movies he watched as a kid, he envisions making science fiction a reality, creating an active, bustling future across the solar system.

On Neuralink

The short-term goal of Neuralink (a neurotechnology company founded by Elon Musk in 2016) is to help people with brain and spine injuries; to restore full-body mobility, developing implants that are wireless and will work with telepathy — with thinking, in other words.

He admits that the long-term goal of Neuralink is to achieve human-AI symbiosis with brain-computer interface technology.

Musk on Longevity

Unusually, (for Silicon Valley) Musk says:

"I don't have longevity investments. I think it is important that we die at some point; if we live for too long, that fossilises society. If people do not change their ideas, that inhibits new ideas and people do not change their mind — they just die."

Musk on Musk

• "I am motivated by curiosity about the nature of the universe."
• "I have too many ideas."
• "How I reconcile myself to the negative side of AI: if we were going to be annihilated, would I want to be around to see it? Well, probably yes."
• "I'd rather be optimistic and wrong than pessimistic and right."
• "At least I'm not boring."
• "These are the most interesting of times."

In Conclusion: 

There is one thing Mr. Musk and I are in wholehearted agreement with, the outdated, old-school models of energy consumption are not acceptable any more and that the world has completely ignored the vast, naturally occurring resource that already surrounds us. 

My trepidation for this future Elon Musk is determined to turn into a reality, lies in how we plan to go about doing the good stuff, while the potential bad stuff gets glossed over, or worse, just ignored.

Two quotes might sum up the core of this man's contribution to Earth, and therefore the last word belongs to him:

• "Building fusion plants on Earth is like having a tiny ice cube maker in the Antarctic."
• "We have a giant thermonuclear reactor in the sky called the sun. It comes up every day."