"The companies I start are philanthropic because they're looking to help humanity change the future." This is what Musk said in an interview not long ago.
In line with the principle of "getting rich first and getting rich later" and "rich people should donate more money", whenever a disaster occurs, there are always a group of people who give the rich people a name for their "love" behind their backs, and the assessment standard is "donation amount".
As the world's richest man and the world's first big man worth more than $300 billion, Musk naturally has countless pairs of eyes staring at him.
Whenever something happens, someone always asks, "Should Musk donate some money?" Someone even ran directly to his Twitter to "force donations."
But Musk's "door-slamming" is well known. This is not what I said, it was Musk's wife who said it.
There was a hole in the bed and only peanut butter was eaten for a week
His ex-girlfriend Grimes broke the news that he lived with Musk and lived below the poverty line. Musk didn't own his own luxury villa like other billionaires, owning countless luxury cars and hiring three or five well-armed bodyguards. He lives in a cheap rental apartment that costs less than $40,000, drives his own Tesla, not to mention bodyguards, and doesn't even have security guards. The surrounding neighbors can photograph them at any time.
The ex-girlfriend complained to Musk that the house was too unsafe, but Musk did not have the idea of changing the house, after all, Musk himself usually spent most of his time in the office, and the house was a place for him to sleep.
Once, Grimes found that Musk's bed has a big hole, musk to discuss a change of bed, Musk said that this can still sleep, there is no need to change, if Grimes can not stand it, you can move her bed over, which makes Grimes very speechless.
She complained that when she was with Musk, there was no taste of the mountains and the sea, and there was no sightseeing. Musk rarely takes her to buy clothes and bags, luxury goods. The bread and peanut butter she ate the most together were bread and peanut butter. Musk once ate only peanut butter for eight days in a row, which was simply more "simple" than the middle class.
Musk himself said that he did not have a big house, did not have a yacht, and often borrowed to live in a friend's house.
The richest man never donates money
Almost no one has ever seen Musk attend a major charity gala, because our richest man hardly donates money. He says he doesn't pay attention to the appearance of charity, but instead pays more attention to the results of charity, which makes it difficult for him to donate "effectively".
Simply put, Musk means that the money I donate needs to play a role, to make the poor live a good life, if I don't see the results, then how do I know where my money is spent, such a donation is meaningless, so Musk does not donate money.
The World Food Programme has been trying to "force donations" from Musk for the past few years, and the organization has shouted: "If billionaires donate $6 billion, then the global food crisis will be alleviated." Musk responded: "You say give money to give money? I'm not stupid, investment still depends on the financial report, as long as you publish the planned expenditure in detail, I will donate money."
Then the World Food Agency really announced its own planned expenditure, but this expenditure plan made netizens not look down, let alone impress Musk.
Musk said that the global famine is not the cause of insufficient food, in fact, in many countries such as Europe and the United States, obesity is more of a problem than hunger. What really makes people hungry is a series of problems such as national logistics.
In February, musk announced that he would donate $5.74 billion worth of Tesla stock. It's just that Musk did not directly "pay" the World Food Program, but established his own foundation, doing charity he still believes in himself more.
Asked about his views on philanthropy, Musk responded, "If you care about the good in reality, not the perception of it, then philanthropy is very difficult." ”
Many people will speculate about the real purpose of rich people to do charity, which will cause rich people to tremble when doing charity, and the meaning of charity will change from helping people in need to blocking the mouths of others, and charity will become a difficult thing.
Musk then added: "If charity is seen as love for humanity, then Tesla, Space X, Neuralink, The Boring Company, these are all philanthropy" because they all have the potential to change the future of humanity.
"Musk is too picky, he has all his money on research and development technology." This is what Grimes said about Musk. Yes, Musk has been generous with only one thing – scientific research and development.
"Science maniac" Musk is not actually a qualified capitalist. Musk has nine companies, only one of which is making money, and the other eight are either losing money or are on the way to losing money.
Space X that loses money
The Starlink project has indeed made Space X popular all over the world, but for Musk, Space X is still a "money-losing commodity". Last year Musk publicly stated that if there is no breakthrough in the "Raptor engine", Space X is likely to completely bankrupt in 2022.
What does this Raptor engine do? It is a powerful engine that powers Starship and super heavy rocket boosters.
Can this engine make Musk a lot of money? For the time being, it is obviously impossible, because the current aerospace field does not need such a powerful engine, and the Saturn V that once shocked the world has been abandoned by the old United States because of "too much money", and the result is that the engine that Space X wants to build far exceeds the Saturn V, and such an engine is "oversized" no matter what existing space projects. So even if Musk really builds a Raptor engine, it should not get too many orders, and it can only be "internal digestion".
In fact, Musk built this engine to pave the way for future interstellar travel. Musk has said he will send 1 million people to Mars by 2050. In order to achieve this goal in a limited time, it is necessary to increase the number of people on the rocket, musk mentioned in the plan before the period, at least to increase the carrying capacity to a hundred people, so that the starship can complete the plan to send 1 million people to Mars through 10,000 launches.
Brain-computer interface: Let the disabled stand up and leave some people in the world forever
Musk's brain-computer interface can realize the interaction between the human brain and the computer, so that we can directly convert the brain waves into radio signals, so that we can stage "mind manipulation" in real life, for example, when you can flash the idea of turning on the light in your brain, then this idea will be converted into radio waves, and finally transmitted to the lamp, and then turn on the light.
This technology, in the future, is likely to eliminate QQ, SMS, WeChat and other social software, because two people who access the brain-computer interface can communicate directly through "ideas", which is much more convenient than making a phone call.
Musk said that the brain-computer interface can help the disabled to restore the "soundness of the limbs", the future Musk will make "mechanical arms", "mechanical legs", access to the brain-computer interface, the disabled can control them through the "idea", by improving the computing power of the computer, can make them more flexible than the "native hands and feet".
Through the brain-computer interface, we can directly export our "memory" and "consciousness", and perhaps one day we can use USB sticks and memory cards to store our "souls". If this data is fed into the robot's brain, the robot will have the same memory, consciousness, and thought patterns as we do, so that some people can stay in the world forever.
Musk's layout is enough to build a city
In addition to the above companies, Musk also laid out Solar City (photovoltaic power generation), Star Link (satellite system), Hyperloop (hyperloop), Open ai (artificial intelligence), The Boring Company (high-speed subway), Model (satellite mobile phone).
It is not difficult to see that Musk's company layout is indeed rushing to build a high-tech "Mars City".
Photovoltaic power generation can solve the energy problems that arise without oil and natural gas on Mars. Satellite systems and satellite mobile phones can not only solve the problem of traffic on Mars, but even potentially achieve contact and communication between Mars and Earth. Hyperloops and high-speed subways allow Martian residents to circle Mars in a few hours. Artificial intelligence can make the lives of Martian residents more convenient.
For many people who are heading out of space, this series of layouts is naturally worth looking forward to. For Musk, if he succeeds, he will be remembered forever by the world. But it's hard to do all of this.
If analyzed from a rational point of view, Musk's Mars plan has little chance of winning. Once this plan fails, it is unknown whether anyone will "pay" for these layouts in the end.
As a capitalist, Musk is irrational. When all capitalists are thinking about the "return on investment" and "payment cycle", Musk is doing "unrealistic dreams", which really makes many capitalists feel incredible.
Musk's "Philanthropy"
Musk defines his company as "philanthropy," not without reason.
We can't deny that as a businessman, Musk must have done all this to make money. But as a "top capitalist", he originally had many ways to make money.
As long as he moves his mouth, he can manipulate the price of virtual coins, and it is not a problem to earn hundreds of millions of dollars overnight. He can also learn zuckerberg to engage in live broadcasts, short videos, learn from Bezos, and create an e-commerce platform to sell goods. These are all fast and profitable businesses. But Musk chose the most difficult path - scientific and technological research and development.
Musk is gambling, and most likely loses.
Maybe one day humans will actually be able to live on Mars, but can Musk see it all?
Musk's exploration, even if it ultimately fails, is not meaningless to all mankind. Humans will eventually get off the ground, and Musk's attempts will provide us with valuable lessons.
Even if you may not see success, but still go all out to try, "the predecessor planted the tree, the posterity cooled", is this not charity? Compared to donating money, is such an effort really not worth mentioning? (Huo Hao)
Musk, who is worth 300 billion: I'm not a businessman, my company does charity
Worth $300 billion, but never donating money, Musk: All his companies are philanthropic