In an interview he argues we have too many rules, too few kids; are too concerned with supplying the answers and not enough with asking the questions, including the most important of all: why are we here?
He believes the greatest threats and opportunities are those which touch upon conciousness; what the ancients called the soul. And the biggest threat to the soul today may be the United States.
Döpfner: That’s the first time where I would actually contradict you. China doesn’t care about human rights. How could there ever be an equal and level playing field. Do you really see an opportunity for Western democracies to win? What is your scenario, let’s say, concerning the role of AI in the hands of politicians and economies like China, America, the West, the East in 10 years?
Musk: Google and DeepMind, which is one company, are by far the leaders in AI, the ones making the most progress. So, I’m not aware of who would even be a close second, maybe open AI. So, China’s putting a lot of effort into AI. And they may be making progress. But I’ve not seen progress that is close to Google and DeepMind.
He hopes to be buried on Mars.
Döpfner: When you talk to politicians and regulators, do you have the impression that they’re seriously considering that?
Musk: The regulators themselves are the ones pressing for the permits, and they’re simply executing the rules that they have been given. So, it needs to be at a high level, I think at a political level. Some of these rules are like somebody made them maybe 20, 30, 40 years ago. Maybe they’re still good, maybe they’re not. And if no one’s looking at them, then every year we just get more rules and regulations and laws. And eventually you won’t be able to do anything. …
Döpfner: So, no art collection, no cars, no real-estate property, no other stuff that we usually associate with wealthy people. Do you believe that getting rid of all that makes you a free man?
Musk: Yes, essentially, I think that also. Like the reason that I am accumulating wealth, if you will, which is really just stock in Tesla and SpaceX. The only publicly traded stock I own is Tesla. That’s it. If Tesla and SpaceX go bankrupt, I will go bankrupt personally. One-hundred percent. But I also think, why should I try to have stock anyway. Why do I have all this stuff? …
Döpfner: Could you explain why kids are so incredibly valuable for you? And why you are defending or encouraging people wherever you can to give birth to kids?
Musk: Absolutely. My friends all say, oh, man, there it goes with the kids again, saying we should have kids and so on. But a lot of my friends have no kids. No, maybe they have one. And I’m like, man, how are we going to keep humanity going if you don’t have kids? A lot of countries have a negative replacement rate. You can’t just solve it with immigration — that’s not possible. So, if you believe in humanity at all, you’ve got to say, we need to make sure we have humans in the future. They don’t come from nowhere. …
I got a bit depressed actually reading Nietzsche. And Schopenhauer. Really not recommended for a 13-year-old. … But then I read “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” which is really a book of philosophy that just seems like a silly comedy. And “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” sort of made the point that the universe has the answer. And that the difficult part, is asking questions. … What are the right questions to ask about the universe? And the conclusion I came to is that the more we can expand the scope and scale of consciousness, so that we’re better able to ask questions about the answer, that is the universe. This is the right thing to do, I think. This is the thing to help understand what the hell is it all about. Why are we here?
And much more. Musk’s interview captures better than any single interview given by a public figure the fundamental obsolescence of the 20th century materialist/statist worldview. Musk is not alone in these views but he is certainly the most famous spokesman of this subterranean current.