00:00my first guest is the man who made
00:01electric cars a thing
00:03and is currently working on perfecting
00:05reusable Rockets space travel connecting
00:07the human brain directly to computers
00:09connecting cities with electromagnetic
00:11bullet trains the Starling satellite
00:13system that's so important to the war in
00:15Ukraine and then on Tuesday
00:20on traffic he also tweets a lot Elon
00:39what did I get the full order of things
00:42that you do in a day there when I was
00:43reading there I left out the tunnel
00:45thing at the end um do you work on all
00:47these a lot of jobs do you do all these
00:49things every day do you work on all of
00:50them in a single day no no but I do have
00:54I do have a long work day
01:03I'm so thrilled you're here because you
01:04know we do a show where we talk about
01:06what changes happen in the world and but
01:09we just talk there's a very few people
01:11who actually make change happen you are
01:14one of those people probably
01:23I just want to say I just want to say I
01:29well you're a likable guy I mean thanks
01:31I mean they attack you a lot they do
01:37and you seem to laugh it off which I
01:39think is fantastic I love it that you
01:41have a sense of humor because a guy as
01:44important as you who makes changes could
01:46use your powers for evil and not good
01:49the fact that absolutely you could
01:53of course I would yeah never use them
01:55for equal deaths no I know but but the
01:58way I know that is because you have a
02:01sense of humor uh yeah you really do
02:03yeah you like laughing you like to be
02:06funny I kill me right
02:12as opposed to somebody like Zuckerberg
02:15who I'm not even sure is a real boy
02:23yeah I I actually love comedy and and uh
02:26actually you know like um many years ago
02:27actually was in the audience here and
02:29watched your show oh really been a long
02:31time admirer of your show oh well thank
02:39let me get back to you being ingenious
02:41okay but that has always been my view is
02:44that as I was a history major and when
02:46you study history what you realize is
02:48that you know there's the great man
02:49Theory and they talk about Kings and
02:51princes and queens and presidents it's
02:54really the people in Tech who change the
02:57world they're the people who deal the
02:59cards at whether it's fire or
03:02electricity for good or bad or the
03:05cotton gin or the iPhone or the atom
03:08bomb those are the cards and the rest of
03:10us just play it would you agree with
03:14I think I think technology is the thing
03:17that causes these big step changes in in
03:20Civilization so obviously you've got
03:22things like say the Gutenberg Press
03:25um before which uh right it was very
03:27difficult to get books they were very
03:28rare even if you had a thirst for
03:30knowledge you really couldn't do
03:32um because there were very few books to
03:35uh and the the internet is something
03:38beyond beyond the bug price I think but
03:41you know it's it's a
03:43like when I first saw the internet uh
03:45coming into being in a way that that the
03:47general public could use it it felt like
03:49the what the the humanity as a whole was
03:54developing a nervous system so
03:56previously uh the way the information
03:58would travel would be by osmosis one
04:00person to another or one person calling
04:05you did the access to information was
04:07very limited now with the Internet it's
04:09like having a nervous system it's like
04:10any part of of humanity has access to
04:13almost all the information of humanity
04:16hmm like you could be in the in the
04:18middle of the Amazon jungle uh whether
04:20it's a starling terminal and have access
04:22to more information uh than the
04:25president did in 1980. right well
04:27anything on your phone everything is
04:30yeah okay so so you are one of these
04:33dealers these people who deal the cards
04:36and I feel some memes too
04:50so I think a lot of people thought when
04:52you bought Twitter that this is kind of
04:54an outlier like how does this what
04:55doesn't fit with these other things
04:57you're doing I never thought that
04:59because I think you're dealing with big
05:01civilizational issues and problems and I
05:04was right on your page I think Twitter
05:06is one of them I mean you have talked
05:08about this at woke mind virus yes and
05:11really apocalyptic terms yeah I don't
05:14you should explain why you don't think
05:16it's hyperbole to say things like it's
05:18pushing civilization towards suicide
05:20first of all what is the walk mine virus
05:22and if we don't deal with this nothing
05:24else can get done tell me why you think
05:30I think we need to be very cautious
05:31about anything that is anti-meritocratic
05:34and anything that is uh
05:38that that results in the suppression of
05:42so you know those are two other aspects
05:44of the work mind virus that I think are
05:46very dangerous uh is that it's often
05:48anti-mureaucratic you can't you can't
05:50question things uh even the questioning
05:53is bad so uh you know you know another
05:59almost Anonymous would we cancel culture
06:02and obviously people try to cancel you
06:03many times many times yeah I mean every
06:08from left and right I've had it from
06:10both sides yeah and it's interesting
06:12people you and I are both like in that
06:14little group of people maybe it's a
06:16bigger group now yeah who who are called
06:18conservative who haven't really changed
06:20I don't see you think of you as a
06:22conservative definitely
06:23yeah like I I at least think of myself
06:26as a moderate uh you know uh so I mean
06:29uh at least that like I've spent a
06:33massive amount of My Life Energy
06:34building sustainable energy uh you know
06:37electric vehicles and and batteries and
06:39solar and stuff uh to help save the
06:41environment that's that's not that's not
06:48it's not exactly far right now you drew
06:50that diagram you drew that diagram once
06:53where you're here I I related to that
06:55and like the world has changed right I
06:57feel the same way I feel like very often
06:59wokeness is it's not building on
07:01liberalism it's the opposite of
07:03liberalism I can mention yes exactly
07:04many examples where it's the op
07:06including Free Speech free speech is
07:08actually is extremely important and it's
07:11bizarre that we've come to this point
07:13um like free speech used to be a left or
07:16liberal value and and yet we see uh from
07:20you know in quotes left uh a desire to
07:27that seems crazy I mean I think we
07:30should be extremely concerned about
07:35undermines the First Amendment there's a
07:37reason for the First Amendment
07:39um the first amendment is because people
07:40came from countries where they could not
07:43and and where and we're saying certain
07:46things would get you thrown into prison
07:48and they were like well we don't want
07:50and by the way in many parts of the
07:53including possible that people might
07:55think are relatively similar to the
07:57United States the the speech laws are
07:59draconian England is quite different I
08:03won't name any countries but
08:06why are we protecting them they have no
08:09it's very easy to prove libel in England
08:12whereas here it's almost England
08:15I wouldn't want to say the wrong thing
08:17or uh yes you could be sued easier there
08:21I mean there are a lot in in France I
08:23think if you deny the Holocaust
08:25which I think is abhorrent but I also
08:27think it should be part of free speech
08:28right you can be thrown into jail okay
08:31so this my I I really can't emphasize
08:34this enough we must uh uh we must
08:37protect free speech and Free Speech only
08:39matters it's only relevant when it's
08:41someone you don't like saying something
08:43in your life because obviously every
08:45speech that you like is uh yes that's
08:48um so it it's uh and it's the thing
08:51about censorship is that sure for those
08:54who would Advocate it um just remember
08:56at some point that will be turned on you
09:04this uh woke mind virus how did it start
09:09was it bats was it a yeah escape from a
09:12lab I mean what is your assessment of
09:14what because it's fairly recent why how
09:18did it start and why
09:20I was I was trying to figure out where
09:23where it's coming from I think it's
09:24actually been a long time Brewing
09:28I think it's been going on for a while
09:35the amount of indoctrination that that's
09:37happening in schools and universities is
09:40I think far beyond what parents realize
09:43um and I only I sort of came to realize
09:45this somewhat late um
09:48the the experience that we had uh in
09:51high school and college is not the
09:53experience that that kids today are
09:55um and and hasn't been for I don't know
09:5810 years maybe 20 years
10:01uh my parents themselves also a big part
10:05they well I I suppose in some cases that
10:09parents but but I think like the parents
10:12are just generally not aware of what
10:13their their kids are being told or what
10:15they're not being taught
10:17um they're letting the kids think that
10:19they're equal I mean yeah let me let me
10:21let me give you an example that a
10:23Fairmont told me which uh you know his
10:25daughters uh go to college and and sorry
10:28go to high school in the Bay Area
10:31and he he was asking them like well so
10:35you know who are the first few
10:36presidents of the United States uh that
10:39they could name Washington but and I
10:41said what do you know about him well he
10:42was a slave owner what else right
10:45right like uh okay that's maybe you
10:48should know more than that you know yeah
10:51yeah that and that that is the world
10:53mind virus exactly yeah so
10:56exactly it's it's like you know the uh
11:02you know slavery is obviously a horrific
11:04institution but we should still know
11:06more about George Washington than that
11:08and by the way one that was practiced
11:10all over the world forever since the
11:12beginning of time by every race
11:13including people of color I'm sorry to
11:16tell you that it's huge in the Bible
11:17absolutely so the Bible loves it
11:21really yes they're quite strict about
11:24like you know don't take someone else's
11:26slave and that kind of thing right but
11:27no one ever says just don't do it they
11:29don't they don't they don't at no point
11:31does it say slavery is bad in the Bible
11:32no they do not condemn it at all they
11:36just have so so it's um but Twitter is
11:39not doing bad right I mean I saw today
11:41that Tucker Carlson yeah recently fired
11:44you were just on his show and he lost
11:46his job so I hope this isn't enough yeah
11:48yeah but uh luckily uh the angel of
11:52death exactly I'm not the Typhoid Mary
11:59his rant yesterday or today on Twitter
12:03yesterday or something more than every
12:07cable news monologue or something like
12:10that is that right well Twitter has a
12:12tremendous audience so there's 250
12:14million people that spend an average of
12:16half an hour a day on Twitter so it's
12:17about 120 to 130 million user hours per
12:20day and it's been increasing so
12:24um the we didn't do anything to be clear
12:26we did nothing special whatsoever I
12:28learned about it afterwards that he had
12:30posted something on Twitter um so it's
12:32just the Twitter has a lot of people's
12:34attention uh so and it tends to be the
12:37people that are uh that read read a lot
12:40or or interested in current events
12:44generally are pretty influential so but
12:47most of the people who tweet are the
12:49same people right I mean the people who
12:50actually tweet it's mostly just reading
12:52it yeah I feel like that's I've read
12:54this many times it's a very very small
12:57percentage of the people on Twitter and
12:59it seems like yeah see here's why I
13:01don't tweet anymore because you may be
13:02the mayor of tweak town now yeah
13:05I'm getting a cap with that and I'm glad
13:08and I like it that the mayor likes my
13:10jokes but the reason I don't do it
13:12anymore is because the mob of Mean Girls
13:15is still there and that has not changed
13:18I know like it's too easy to get
13:23and I don't even know what pisses them
13:25off they're so nuts these kids I feel
13:28like I'm walking on a roof with a
13:29blindfold I could fall off anytime yeah
13:32that was the most innocuous thing but
13:34it's like you know I said George
13:35Washington was a great president oh how
13:37dare you yeah yeah exactly had some
13:40flows but but how do you fix this
13:42instrumental in this Mr Mayor creation
13:43of the United States so yeah
13:46um well you have to say like what does
13:49canceled mean you know uh I mean it's
13:51yes people attacking on Twitter that's
13:52one thing but frankly that's just going
13:54to increase engagement
13:55so I would just ignore it well that's
13:58easy for you because they can't take
14:01or any of your main 10 jobs but they
14:04could take mine and they did Once by the
14:06way yeah so still Affair you know I was
14:08like literally canceled yeah I mean like
14:11the Show is canceled
14:13so you but okay so you were in Congress
14:15uh at Congress the other day talking
14:17with Chuck Schumer about AI I'm very
14:19interested in this because you've been
14:21on this for years I've always thought
14:22you were right about this I think you're
14:24right about almost everything I mean
14:26let's have more babies and raise them on
14:28Mars I don't get that but okay well uh I
14:31just think we should be cautious about
14:33civilizational decline with with and we
14:35have plummeting growth rates
14:37um most places yeah right and also
14:39plummeting resources no no resources
14:46look I'm not suggesting complacency but
14:49we do want to move to a sustainable
14:50energy economy as quickly as possible
14:52but but we're not in any danger of uh
14:55resource collapse but lots of people
14:57don't have enough food or water
15:00we will run out of water they're running
15:03they're running out of sand
15:04Earth is 70 Water by surface area
15:08um but you can't drink that
15:10desalination is absurdly Chief why don't
15:13we do it then we do it is you have a lot
15:15of free time it is done this there is a
15:18lot of desalination done okay but
15:20there's plenty of water this is not an
15:21issue I want to be clear all right so
15:22but let's talk about AI because like you
15:24were you were on this tip 10 years ago
15:26when nobody else was that and I always
15:28thought he's right why because I've seen
15:30too many movies everything that happens
15:31in movies that happens in real life and
15:34yeah you know if you make things that
15:36are way smarter than you why wouldn't
15:39they become your overlords so what did
15:41you say to Chuck Schumer and what are we
15:42doing about this I know you want to
15:44pause in AI because in the just in the
15:46last six months with chat GPT which came
15:48from a company you started
15:55um well I mean A friend of mine has a
15:56sort of modification of Occam's razor
15:58you know you know instead of the
16:00simplest thing being the most likely
16:01that like the most ironic outcome is
16:03most likely right right yes so
16:08um with respect to AI
16:11um I just think we should be uh we
16:12should have some sort of regulatory
16:13oversight so uh you know for anything
16:16that is a danger to the public uh if
16:18it's sort of uh aircraft uh cars uh Food
16:21and Drug and whatnot we've got some
16:22regulatory oversight like a referee
16:24essentially and making sure that uh
16:26companies don't cut Corners so
16:30I think that since if one agrees that uh
16:33AI is a potential risk to the public
16:35then there should be some regulatory
16:37body that oversees uh what companies are
16:40doing so they don't cut corners and
16:41potentially do something very dangerous
16:49lay out a scenario for me in the next
16:51two five ten years if nothing is done
16:53because we're very good at doing nothing
16:55especially when it comes in the way of
16:57profit and this is a big profit engine
16:59now for companies they're going to want
17:01to just compete with each other I mean
17:03there are people like Ray Kurzweil who
17:04doesn't think it's a problem at all uh
17:07actually Ray kurzweil's prediction for
17:08artificial super intelligence uh is
17:112029. he's not far wrong right but he
17:15doesn't think it's a problem whereas
17:16people like you and Bill Gates and
17:18Stephen Hawking thought think it's a
17:22um yeah it depends if some people want
17:24to live forever or for a much longer
17:26period of time and they see AI as the
17:30digital super intelligence is as the
17:31only thing that can figure out how to
17:33get them to live forever I think
17:34Kurzweil is in that category so he would
17:38artificial general intelligence than
17:40than not uh because it can figure out
17:43so are you are you optimistic I read in
17:45your Rolling Stone article back in the
17:47day that you said you can never be happy
17:49unless you're in love
17:52well you can be half happy I suppose
17:56I mean this I mean there's two things I
17:58think if to be to be full to be to be
18:00most happy if you're happy in love and
18:02and you love your work then then you'll
18:04be I think fully happy if you lack
18:07either of those two if you have one of
18:09those two things be half happy you know
18:11roughly I feel like the theme in a lot
18:14of your works that connect all these
18:15different things is connecting
18:17like you want to connect things you know
18:20you want to connect on the hyperloop and
18:22you want to connect this to Mars and
18:24even to connect four
18:28people in that game what uh Connect Four
18:39this is a comedy right you know
18:44it's hard for you because when you
18:47bought Twitter you're kind of doing what
18:50you did when you took over when you
18:52started Tesla you lived at the factory
18:54right I feel like that's your that's
18:57your your your pattern you get into this
19:00thing and then you got to live at the
19:01factory to make it work if you've been
19:04back in you moved to Texas then you went
19:06back up to San Francisco because of
19:08Twitter I just I was living in the in
19:10the library of Twitter for a while
19:12um yes but it's I think things are
19:15reasonably stabilized right now it was
19:16uh just on the fast track to bankruptcy
19:19after that position so I had to take a
19:21drastic action there wasn't any choice
19:23I'm just saying it's hard for a woman
19:24yeah to like when the guy lives at the
19:32that could be that could be a stumbling
19:37um overall with you know my my concern
19:40with Twitter was to that it is somewhat
19:42of the digital Town Square and um it's
19:45it's important that there be both the
19:47reality uh and perception of of trust uh
19:51for a wide range of viewpoints
19:55uh there was a lot of censorship going
19:57um and we've we sort of uncovered a lot
19:59of that with uh the Twitter files
20:01including a lot of of government-driven
20:07it's it's I mean it seems that that's
20:10got to be a constitutional violation of
20:11what was going on there but
20:13um so so and I can since I'm like I have
20:15a Twitter user I could detect that like
20:17something's not right here um and so
20:19that's that's really why uh I did that
20:22position it wasn't because I thought
20:23this was an easy way to make money or
20:24something like that it was a man this is
20:27being mayor Twitter town tweetown or
20:29whatever is is is definitely like
20:32there's a lot of arrows pointed at you
20:33like flying at you of course but you
20:36know but you seem to handle that okay I
20:38hope you do because yeah
20:40look I mean Geniuses are going to be a
20:43little quirky sometimes but your heart
20:46is always in the right place you were
20:47trying to fix this world and look I
20:50could talk to you forever we can't today
20:52I'd love to get high with you I know a
20:55I can't tell you how much I appreciate
20:57you I know you have a lot of choices and
20:59places you can go thank you Elon Musk
21:01ladies and gentlemen all right I'll see