Original video: Axel Springer (German publishing group, parent company of Business Insider)
Interviewee: Mathias D pfner (CEO of Axel Springer)
Translation & Subtitle: Gravel Villager
Full text translation of the video
Mathias: Your net worth is about $260 billion and is considered the richest man on the planet...
ELON: Well, I think Putin is obviously a lot richer than I am
Mathias: Do you really think so?
ELON: Yes.
There have been many times when I have expected to lose everything. Which guy started a car company or a rocket company and expected them to succeed? Obviously not me. I think they all have less than a 10% chance of success.
Frankly, I wasn't wrong. In 2008, we experienced a third failed launch of SpaceX. If the fourth launch fails, SpaceX will go out of business, in 2008. We don't have the money to do another fifth launch.
As for Tesla, Tesla has been on the verge of bankruptcy many times. Moreover, we completed a funding round in 2008. Because I remember, at the end of 2008, GM and Chrysler were about to go bankrupt, and Ford Wast was almost bankrupt.
Imagine trying to raise money for an electric vehicle startup when GM went bankrupt. Even, people were very angry about my request for financing. However, we ended up raising just enough money to make ends meet, and in the last hour of the possible last day, we completed Tesla's financing round, just before Christmas Eve, 2008.
If we hadn't completed that round of funding, we would have gone bankrupt two days after Christmas.
Mathias: With all your knowledge, products, and services, you're almost a strategic weapon in modern warfare. How do you see the role of the individual in this situation?
Elon: I think I can help in conflict, and I try to take a series of actions that are most likely to increase the probability of a better future.
Mathias: Should we have more nuclear energy to be independent of Putin? And solve dependency problems?
ELON: Yeah, I want to be super clear. In my opinion, germany should not only not shut down nuclear power plants, but also reopen nuclear power plants that have already been closed, those that can be restarted as soon as possible.
Shutting down nuclear power plants is crazy, especially if you're in a place where there are no natural disasters. Perhaps, if you are in a place where there is a serious earthquake or tsunami, or something like that, it may have to put a question mark. But if there is no risk of large-scale natural disasters, and Germany does not, then nuclear power plants are really not in danger.
Mathias: You don't see any safer alternatives that would have gotten similar results?
Elon: I think in the long run, most of the energy of human civilization will come from solar energy, and then you need to store it with batteries. Because it is obvious that the sun only shines during the day, and sometimes it is cloudy. So you need solar cells, which is the long-term primary way of powering human civilization.
But until then, we still need to maintain nuclear power. I can't overemphasize this: please don't shut down nuclear power plants, and reopen those that have already been shut down.
Turning them off is a completely crazy act, and I want to make it clear, complete-all-crazy-crazy-crazy.
Mathias: You recently showed Optimus Prime, a humanoid robot. You share a huge expectation that it can do for the world. Can you explain your motivation a little bit?
I guess it's not just about Optimus Prime completing its first visit to Mars. Not only that, but it is also a game changer in the field of artificial intelligence. Can you share your vision?
Elon: I always approach these things with a little trepidation about artificial intelligence and robotics, because I certainly don't want anything to happen that could be harmful to humans.
Humanoid robots, they are clearly becoming a reality. Look at Boston Dynamics, whose demos are getting better and better year by year. Humanoid robots will appear, and the speed of progress of artificial intelligence is very fast.
Optimus presented at the opening ceremony of Tesla's Texas factory, source: Rob Maurer
Mathias: Speaking of speed, you have this vision that one day, The Starship could go from A to B in 30 minutes, globally. Is this true? If so, what is the time frame for this vision?
It's like a global super-taxi. You can go directly from San Francisco to Nairobi.
ELON: Yeah, it was a lot of noise when it landed. So, we might want to connect cities that are adjacent to the ocean so that we can land far enough offshore that the noise of landing doesn't disturb people.
Mathias: But I'm surprised that there's one topic that doesn't seem to appeal to you very much, and that's longevity projects, and dramatically extending human lifespan.
Why aren't you keen on this? Are you personally not interested in longevity?
ELON: I don't think we should try to keep people alive for very long, which would lead to suffocation of society.
Because the truth is, most people don't change their minds, they just die. Therefore, if they do not die, we will stay on the old ideas and society will not progress.
I think we already have a fairly serious problem with the politics of old age. The leaders of many countries are very old. Look at America, she has a very, very old leadership. It's almost impossible for you to keep in touch with people if you're generations older than them.
The founders of the United States set a minimum age for public office, but they did not set a maximum age because they did not expect that people would live so long. But they should.
Because you really hope that, in order for democracy to work well, leaders have to maintain reasonable contact with the majority of the people. And if you're too young or too old, you can't make that connection.
Mathias: Is there anything you really want to achieve that you think is impossible?
Elon: "Impossible" is a very heavy word.
Mathias: You don't like that word.
ELON: Well, that's a very heavy word.
I approach things from a physics point of view, and the word "impossible" is more or less forbidden in physics.
I'm really worried about this birth rate issue, which has been bothering me for years because I haven't seen it turn around and it's getting worse every year. And I drove my friends crazy.
Mathias: Walter Isaacson is curating your biography. He has written biographies of Einstein, as well as Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin, and Leonardo da Vinci. Who would you like to meet with and have a drink of wine with of these four people?
ELON: I'm honored to meet any of them, even for a minute. I think Ben Franklin would be the funniest when having dinner together.
Mathias: So who do you think you're closest to? Will it be Leonardo da Vinci?
ELON: I think I'm very different from all four of them, more or less.
Frankly, it could be Ben Franklin. He did a lot of science and engineering work. Interestingly, Leonardo da Vinci considered himself an engineer first and foremost, and at the time, he was quite impressive.
Mathias: What is your best hope?
ELON: My greatest hope is that humanity will create a self-sustaining city on Mars.
Mathias: You once said, "If I'm not in love, I can't be happy." "Are you happy now?"
ELON: I think there is a degree of love. But what is certain is that for a person to be completely happy, I think you must be happy because of work, happy because of love. So, I guess I'm moderately happy.
(above)
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