Elon Musk says his motivation comes from a ‘desire not to be sad’
Entrepreneur says he wants to ensure ‘good future’ for Earth
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Your support makes all the difference.Elon Musk says that his motivation for the future comes from a “desire not to be sad.”
The Tesla titan made the admission to TED curator Chris Anderson in a new interview, in which the world’s richest person spoke about the “big risks that humanity faces.”
The interview came days after Mr Musk bid $43bn in cash to buy Twitter and insisted he was the right leader to “unlock” its “extraordinary potential”.
“I’m motivated by curiosity more than anything, and just a desire to think about the future and not be sad,” he said in the interview.
“I’m sometimes sad, but I’m mostly feeling, I guess, relatively optimistic about the future these days. There are certainly some big risks that humanity faces. I think the population collapse is a really big deal that I wish more people would think about.”
Mr Musk, who is aiming to launch a manned mission to Mars by 2029, also spoke about his vision for humanity and the future.
“I really want to make sure that there is a good future for humanity and that we’re on a path to understanding the nature of the universe, the meaning of life, why we are here, how did we get here,” he said,
“And in order to understand the nature of the universe and all these fundamental questions, we must expand the scope and scale of consciousness.”
He also said that threats to Earth’s climate were a pressing issue.
“We need to take action on climate sustainability, which is being done, and we need to secure the future of consciousness by being a multi-planet species.
“It’s important to take whatever action we can think of to address the existential risks that affect the future of consciousness.”
And he was asked what his advice to younger generations who might be “sad” about the planet’s future.
“If you want the future be good, you must make it so. Take action to make it good, and it will be.”
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