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Category: Elon Musk

  • Abundance, Robots and Elon’s Thoughts

    Recently Elon spoke at the World Economic Forum and shared what is going on in our futuristic world.

    He was interviewed by Blackrock CEO who started the interview by asking him how many quotables the interview would produce.

    Elon said five.

    In this post I share what I found to be the five most impactful quotes from Elon at the WEF.

    1. “The overall goal of my companies is to maximize the probability that civilization has a great future.”
      1. “We are heading for a time of amazing abundance, which is very cool.”

      Abundance is a key word for Elon and the central theme in his Master Plan for the future of Tesla.

      Initially the plan was called Sustainable Abundance but then was updated to Amazing Abundance.

      Here’s a piece of the plan:

      3. “How do we give everyone a very high standard of living? The only way to do this is AI and robotics…

      If we have ubiquitous AI that is essentially free, or close to it, and ubiquitous robotics, you will have an explosion, an expansion of the global economy that is truly beyond all precedent.

      You won’t be able to think of something to ask the robot for at a certain point, there will be such an abundance of goods and services.”

      Certainly seems interesting to me:

      4. “Definitely we are in the most interesting time in history.”

      5. “Better to be optimistic and wrong than pessimistic and right”

      There’s the five: What a time to be alive.

      Elon suggests in time there will be more robots than humans.

      Here’s the video if you want to check the whole thing out.

      Enjoy!

      Want More Elon Insights?

      Check out my book Elonology, now on Amazon!

    1. Find Your Reason

      Find Your Reason

      Beyond Money: Finding Meaning in Your Work.

      “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how” ~Nietzsche

      Success and satisfaction with your work are not all about making money.

      Meaning is an important part of existence and work.

      Elon had more money than he needed at the age of 27 but he has pressed on, working like mad without skipping a beat, and he has been changing the world in every step of the process.

      Elon recommends being bold and choosing to do something important.  You need a reason to get out of bed in the morning.

      Not only can working on important projects give you great financial rewards, being mission focused supplies the satisfaction that comes with knowing you are changing the world for the better.

      Take powerful actions because they are intrinsically important.

      When asked about his legacy by GQ Elon said: 

      “I think what matters is the actions, not what people think of me in the future.  I’ll be long dead.  But the actions that I take, will they have been useful?“

      Looks fade.  Legacies change.  

      Utility builds over time.  Usefulness compounds.

      Stay useful.  Helpful actions last.

    2. Elon Musk’s Magic Numbers

      Elon Musk’s Magic Numbers

      Certain numbers have a special “magic” significance for Elon.

      Elon uses the numbers four and 69 often.  He was born 69 days after 4/20 and this is one of the reasons why.  His Mom’s name is Maye and Star Wars day is May 4th “May the 4th be with you.”

      “4th times a charm!” he said when SpaceX’s 4th attempt at an orbital rocket finally made it to space.  After the first three were shattered into many pieces.

      Elon is 420 Friendly

      Elon’s most famous podcast is likely the one with Joe Rogan where he drank a glass of whiskey and smoked weed.

      Elon is well aware of the widespread appeal of marijuana and has integrated it into his communication and organic marketing in a number of interesting ways.

      The above tweet got Elon Musk a $20,000,000 fine from the SEC.  

      He then tweeted again and said: Worth it.

      Elon actually ended up profiting from this exchange because following this event Elon purchased $20 million dollars in Tesla common shares directly from Tesla.

      On Oct 20th of 2018 TSLA stock was worth $69.02 a share. That money has now increased in value by more than 10X.  Which means the $20 million Elon invested in 2018 is now worth over $200,000,000 in additional stock value.

      Clearly Elon is getting the last lol. He probably laughed when he posted the tweet about the SEC below in 2020. 

      In another interview Elon said “I want to be clear.  I do not respect the SEC.”

      We hear you loud and clear, Elon.  It’s important to not let people or government groups push you around, but it’s also important to remember Elon’s description of the government as “A corporation in the limit with a monopoly on violence.”

      Being 4:20 friendly will make you more friends than enemies.   So integrate the number 420 into your marketing when possible and the message will be effective with the massive 420 friendly community.

      Elon has also expressed support for psychedelics like mushrooms and in a CodeCon interview when asked “Curious to know what role you think psychedelics might have in addressing the more destructive tendencies of humanity.”  Elon replied: “I think generally people should be open to psychedelics.”

      Burning man is a festival where plenty of psychedelics are used and Elon has been multiple times.  He’s even said about Burning Man “Burning man is Silicon Valley.”

      And Elon certainly means that as a compliment.  Silicon Valley is where Elon spent multiple decades of his life and he speaks highly of his time there.

      Silicon Valley has a special spirit about it.  I saw my first Tesla in San Jose (Silicon Valley) and I remember the experience to this day.  There’s something limitless about Silicon Valley, and I think Elon captures it eloquently with this quote:

      “I’m a Silicon Valley guy. I think people from Silicon Valley can do anything.“

      Certainly Elon is an excellent example of Silicon Valley greatness being realized…and the best is yet to come.

    3. Help Save Lives

      Help Save Lives

      Saving Lives on Earth and in Space: Elon Musk’s Vision

      At Tesla, safety is the number one priority.

      Certainly at SpaceX safety is a priority as well and this is reflected by the fact SpaceX has flown many crew missions to space and the ISS with a 100% survival rate and without any casualties or major problems.

      At Tesla, not surprisingly, the great priority of safety combined with Tesla’s incredible rate of innovation have made Tesla into the safest car company in the world.

      Tesla is the only car to ever receive better than a five star safety rating.  The rating system since it gave them what was deemed an unfair advantage so they are now technically “5 star” even though the latest built Tesla are the safest Tesla’s ever built.

      Rapid iteration of safety and other innovations are the reason Tesla vehicles do not correspond with model years: Teslas are improving and becoming safer all the time.

      In his interview where Elon had turbulent words for bankers when on an investors call he said: “There are over 1,200,000 automobile deaths per year.  How many of them do you read about?  But if it’s an autonomous death it’s headline news.”

      In fact Tesla vehicles are significantly safer than the competition and are the safest cars on the road.

      The mission of SpaceX is directly related to human survival as making life multiplanetary is essentially a backup of humanity and human consciousness.

      With The Boring Company the tunnels they create have the potential to create a significant solution for the problem of traffic, which will contribute to many lives being saved.

      The Boring Company saves lives with their tunnels by preventing accidents when they ensure vehicles travel along a path, and without the fumes of a combustion engine.

      Over 3 million people have already been transported with these tunnels.

      Millions of lives can be saved by utilizing tunnels and self-driving cars to mitigate hostile traffic and death caused by cars.

      Setup Your Strategy for Survivalism

      Any product or service which can be positioned as a lifesaver will find itself with a strong value proposition.

      Humans are hardwired for survival.

      Emphasise the survival aspect of the products and services you have to offer and human instinct will compel people to buy more of what you have to sell.