Elon Musk
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Musk at the Royal Society admissions day in London, July 2018
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Elon Reeve Musk
June 28, 1971 |
| Residence | Bel Air, Los Angeles, California, United States |
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| Years active | 1995–present |
| Net worth | US$19.8 Billion (April 2019) |
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| Political party | Independent |
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| Children | 6 (1 deceased) |
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| Awards | Fellow of the Royal Society |
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Elon Reeve Musk FRS (/ˈiːlɒn/; born June 28, 1971) is a technology entrepreneur, investor, and engineer. He holds South African, Canadian, and U.S. citizenship and is the founder, CEO, and lead designer of SpaceX; co-founder, CEO, and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; co-founder and CEO of Neuralink; founder of The Boring Company; co-founder and co-chairman of OpenAI; and co-founder of PayPal. In December 2016, he was ranked 21st on the Forbes list of The World's Most Powerful People. As of April 2019, he has a net worth of $22.3 billion and is listed by Forbes as the 40th-richest person in the world.
Born and raised in Pretoria, South Africa, Musk moved to Canada when he was 17 to attend Queen's University. He transferred to the University of Pennsylvania two years later, where he received an economics degree from the Wharton School and a degree in physics from the College of Arts and Sciences. He began a Ph.D. in applied physics and material sciences at Stanford University in 1995 but dropped out after two days to pursue an entrepreneurial career. He subsequently co-founded Zip2, a web software company, which was acquired by Compaq for $340 million in 1999. Musk then founded X.com, an online bank. It merged with Confinity in 2000 and later that year became PayPal, which was bought by eBay for $1.5 billion in October 2002.
In May 2002, Musk founded SpaceX, an aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company, of which he is CEO and lead designer. He helped fund Tesla, Inc., an electric vehicle and solar panel manufacturer, in 2003, and became its CEO and product architect. In 2006, he inspired the creation of SolarCity, a solar energy services company that is now a subsidiary of Tesla, and operates as its chairman. In 2015, Musk co-founded OpenAI, a nonprofit research company that aims to promote friendly artificial intelligence. In July 2016, he co-founded Neuralink, a neurotechnology company focused on developing brain–computer interfaces. In December 2016, Musk founded The Boring Company, an infrastructure and tunnel-construction company.
In addition to his primary business pursuits, Musk has envisioned a high-speed transportation system known as the Hyperloop, and has proposed a vertical take-off and landing supersonic jet electric aircraft with electric fan propulsion, known as the Musk electric jet. Musk has stated that the goals of SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity revolve around his vision to change the world and humanity. His goals include reducing global warming through sustainable energy production and consumption, and reducing the risk of human extinction by establishing a human colony on Mars.
Early life
Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa, the son of Maye Musk (née Haldeman), a model and dietitian from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, and Errol Musk, a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, and sailor. He has a younger brother, Kimbal (born 1972), and a younger sister, Tosca (born 1974). His maternal grandfather, Dr. Joshua Haldeman, was an American-born Canadian. His paternal grandmother was British, and he also has Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry. After his parents divorced in 1980, Musk lived mostly with his father in the suburbs of Pretoria, which Musk chose two years after his parents split up, but now Musk says it was a mistake. As an adult, Musk has severed relations with his father, whom he has referred to as "a terrible human being". He has a half-sister and a half-brother.During his childhood, Musk was an avid reader. At the age of 10, he developed an interest in computing with the Commodore VIC-20. He taught himself computer programming at the age of 10, and by the age of 12 sold the code of a BASIC-based video game he created called Blastar, to a magazine called PC and Office Technology, for approximately $500. A web version of the game is available online. His childhood reading included Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, from which he drew the lesson that "you should try to take the set of actions that are likely to prolong civilization, minimize the probability of a dark age and reduce the length of a dark age if there is one."
Musk was severely bullied throughout his childhood and was once hospitalized when a group of boys threw him down a flight of stairs and then smashed his head into the pavement until he lost consciousness. He later revealed that he had to get a nose job, to repair the damage.
Musk attended Waterkloof House Preparatory School and Bryanston High School before graduating from Pretoria Boys High School. Although Musk's father insisted that Elon go to college in Pretoria, Musk became determined to move to the United States. As he states, "I remember thinking and seeing that America is where great things are possible, more than any other country in the world." Knowing it would be easy to get to the United States from Canada, he moved to Canada against his father's wishes in June 1989, just before his 18th birthday, after obtaining a Canadian passport through his Canadian-born mother.
Education
At the age of 17, in 1989, Elon Musk moved to Canada to attend Queen's University, avoiding mandatory service in the South African military. He left in 1992 to study business and physics at the University of Pennsylvania, and graduated with an undergraduate degree in economics and stayed for a second bachelor's degree in physics.After leaving Penn, Elon Musk headed to Stanford University in California to pursue a PhD in energy physics. However, his move coincided with the Internet boom, and he dropped out of Stanford after just two days to become a part of it, launching his first company, Zip2 Corporation.
Career
Zip2
In 1995, Musk and his brother, Kimbal, started Zip2, a web software company, with money raised from a small group of angel investors. The company developed and marketed an Internet city guide for the newspaper publishing industry. Musk obtained contracts with The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune and persuaded the board of directors to abandon plans for a merger with CitySearch. While at Zip2, Musk wanted to become CEO; however, none of the board members would allow it. Compaq acquired Zip2 for US$307 million in cash and US$34 million in stock options in February 1999. Musk received US$22 million for his 7 percent share from the sale.X.com and PayPal
In March 1999, Musk co-founded X.com, an online financial services and e-mail payment company, with US$10 million from the sale of Zip2. One year later, the company merged with Confinity, which had a money-transfer service called PayPal. The merged company focused on the PayPal service and was renamed PayPal in 2001. PayPal's early growth was driven mainly by a viral marketing campaign where new customers were recruited when they received money through the service. Musk was ousted in October 2000 from his role as CEO (although he remained on the board) due to disagreements with other company leadership, notably over his desire to move PayPal's Unix-based infrastructure to Microsoft Windows. In October 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay for US$1.5 billion in stock, of which Musk received US$165 million. Before its sale, Musk, who was the company's largest shareholder, owned 11.7% of PayPal's shares.In July 2017, Musk purchased the domain x.com from PayPal for an undisclosed amount, stating that it has sentimental value to him.
SpaceX
In 2001, Musk conceptualized Mars Oasis, a project to land a miniature experimental greenhouse on Mars, containing food crops growing on Martian regolith, in an attempt to regain public interest in space exploration. In October 2001, Musk travelled to Moscow with Jim Cantrell (an aerospace supplies fixer), and Adeo Ressi (his best friend from college), to buy refurbished Dnepr Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that could send the envisioned payloads into space. The group met with companies such as NPO Lavochkin and Kosmotras; however, according to Cantrell, Musk was seen as a novice and was consequently spat on by one of the Russian chief designers, and the group returned to the United States empty-handed. In February 2002, the group returned to Russia to look for three ICBMs, bringing along Mike Griffin. Griffin had worked for the CIA's venture capital arm, In-Q-Tel, as well as NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and was just leaving Orbital Sciences, a maker of satellites and spacecraft. The group met again with Kosmotras, and were offered one rocket for US$8 million; however, this was seen by Musk as too expensive; Musk consequently stormed out of the meeting. On the flight back from Moscow, Musk realized that he could start a company that could build the affordable rockets he needed. According to early Tesla and SpaceX investor Steve Jurvetson, Musk calculated that the raw materials for building a rocket actually were only 3 percent of the sales price of a rocket at the time. It was concluded that theoretically, by applying vertical integration and the modular approach from software engineering, SpaceX could cut launch price by a factor of ten and still enjoy a 70-percent gross margin. Ultimately, Musk ended up founding SpaceX with the long-term goal of creating a true spacefaring civilization.
Musk and President Barack Obama at the Falcon 9 launch site in 2010
With US$100 million of his early fortune, Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, in May 2002. Musk is chief executive officer (CEO) and chief technology officer (CTO) of the Hawthorne, California-based company. SpaceX develops and manufactures space launch vehicles with a focus on advancing the state of rocket technology. The company's first two launch vehicles are the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 rockets (a nod to Star Wars' Millennium Falcon), and its first spacecraft is the Dragon (a nod to Puff the Magic Dragon).
In seven years, SpaceX designed the family of Falcon launch vehicles
and the Dragon multipurpose spacecraft. In September 2008, SpaceX's
Falcon 1 rocket became the first privately funded liquid-fueled vehicle
to put a satellite into Earth orbit. On May 25, 2012, the SpaceX Dragon vehicle berthed with the ISS, making history as the first commercial company to launch and berth a vehicle to the International Space Station.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden congratulates Musk in front of the Dragon capsule in 2012
In 2006, SpaceX was awarded a contract from NASA to continue the development and test of the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft in order to transport cargo to the International Space Station, followed by a US$1.6 billion NASA Commercial Resupply Services
program contract on December 23, 2008, for 12 flights of its Falcon 9
rocket and Dragon spacecraft to the Space Station, replacing the US Space Shuttle after it retired in 2011. Astronaut transport to the ISS is currently handled solely by the Soyuz, but SpaceX is one of two companies awarded a contract by NASA as part of the Commercial Crew Development program, which is intended to develop a US astronaut transport capability by 2018.
Musk believed that the key to making space travel affordable is
to make rockets reusable, Though most experts in the space industry did
not believe that reusable rockets were possible or feasible. On December 22, 2015, SpaceX successfully landed the first stage of its Falcon rocket back at the launch pad.
This was the first time in history such a feat had been achieved by an
orbital rocket and is a significant step towards rocket reusability
lowering the costs of access to space. This first stage recovery was replicated several times in 2016 by landing on an autonomous spaceport drone ship, an ocean-based recovery platform,
and by the end of 2017, SpaceX had landed and recovered the first stage
on 16 missions in a row where a landing and recovery were attempted,
including all 14 attempts in 2017. 20 out of 42 first stage Falcon 9
boosters have been recovered overall since the Falcon 9 maiden flight in
2010.
In the most recent full year—2017—SpaceX launched 18 successful Falcon 9
flights, more than doubling their highest previous year of 8.
On February 6, 2018, SpaceX successfully launched the Falcon Heavy, the fourth-highest capacity rocket ever built (after Saturn V, Energia and N1) and the most powerful rocket in operation as of 2018. The inaugural mission carried a Tesla Roadster belonging to Musk as a dummy payload.
SpaceX is both the largest private producer of rocket engines in the world and holder of the record for the highest thrust-to-weight ratio for a rocket engine (the Merlin 1D).
SpaceX has produced more than 100 operational Merlin 1D engines. Each
Merlin 1D engine can vertically lift the weight of 40 average family
cars. In combination, the 9 Merlin engines in the Falcon 9 first stage
produce anywhere from 5.8 to 6.7 MN (1.3 to 1.5 million pounds) of
thrust, depending on altitude.
Musk was influenced by Isaac Asimov's Foundation series and views space exploration as an important step in preserving and expanding the consciousness of human life. Musk said that multiplanetary life may serve as a hedge against threats to the survival of the human species.
An asteroid or a super volcano could destroy us, and we face risks the dinosaurs never saw: an engineered virus, inadvertent creation of a micro black hole, catastrophic global warming or some as-yet-unknown technology could spell the end of us. Humankind evolved over millions of years, but in the last sixty years atomic weaponry created the potential to extinguish ourselves. Sooner or later, we must expand life beyond this green and blue ball—or go extinct.
Musk's goal is to reduce the cost of human spaceflight by a factor of 10. In a 2011 interview, he said he hopes to send humans to Mars' surface within 10–20 years. In Ashlee Vance's biography, Musk stated that he wants to establish a Mars colony by 2040, with a population of 80,000.
Musk stated that, since Mars' atmosphere lacks oxygen, all
transportation would have to be electric (electric cars, electric
trains, Hyperloop, electric aircraft). Musk stated in June 2016 that the first unmanned flight of the larger Mars Colonial Transporter
(MCT) spacecraft is aimed for departure to the red planet in 2022, to
be followed by the first manned MCT Mars flight departing in 2024. In September 2016, Musk revealed details of his architecture to explore and colonize Mars. By 2016, Musk's private trust holds 54% of SpaceX stock, equivalent to 78% of voting shares.
In late 2017, SpaceX unveiled the design for its next-generation launch vehicle and spacecraft system—BFR—that would support all SpaceX launch service provider capabilities with a single set of very large vehicles: Earth-orbit, Lunar-orbit, interplanetary missions, and even intercontinental passenger transport
on Earth, and totally replace the Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Dragon
vehicles in the 2020s. The BFR will have a 9-meter (30 ft) core
diameter. Significant development on the vehicles began in 2017, while
the new rocket engine development began in 2012.
Tesla
Tesla, Inc. (originally Tesla Motors) was incorporated in July 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, who financed the company until the Series A round of funding.
Both men played active roles in the company's early development prior to Elon Musk's involvement. Musk led the Series A round of investment in February 2004, joining Tesla's board of directors as its chairman.
Musk took an active role within the company and oversaw Roadster
product design at a detailed level, but was not deeply involved in
day-to-day business operations.
Following the financial crisis in 2008 and after a series of escalating conflicts in 2007, Eberhard was ousted from the firm.
Musk assumed leadership of the company as CEO and product architect,
positions he still holds today. Tesla Motors first built an electric
sports car, the Tesla Roadster in 2008, with sales of about 2,500 vehicles to 31 countries. Tesla began delivery of its four-door Model S sedan on June 22, 2012. It unveiled its third product, the Model X, aimed at the SUV/minivan market, on February 9, 2012; however, the Model X launch was delayed until September 2015. In addition to its own cars, Tesla sells electric powertrain systems to Daimler for the Smart EV, Mercedes B-Class Electric Drive and Mercedes A Class, and to Toyota for the RAV4 EV. Musk was able to bring in both companies as long-term investors in Tesla.
Musk observing an assembly demo at the reopening of the NUMMI plant, now known as the Tesla Factory (Fremont, California) in 2010
Musk and Senator Dianne Feinstein next to a Tesla Model S (2010)
Musk standing in front of a Tesla Model S in 2011
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Musk has favored building a sub-US$30,000
compact Tesla model and building and selling electric vehicle
powertrain components so that other automakers can produce electric
vehicles at affordable prices without having to develop the products
in-house; this led to the Model 3 that is planned to have a base price of US$35,000. Several mainstream publications have compared him with Henry Ford for his work on advanced vehicle powertrains.
In a May 2013 interview with All Things Digital,
Musk said that to overcome the range limitations of electric cars,
Tesla is expanding its network of supercharger stations, tripling the
number on the East and West coasts of the U.S. that June, with plans for
more expansion across North America, including Canada, throughout the year. As of January 29, 2016, Musk owns about 28.9 million Tesla shares, which equates to about 22% of the company.
As of 2014, Musk's annual salary is one dollar, similar to that of Steve Jobs and other CEOs; the remainder of his compensation is in the form of stock and performance-based bonuses.
In 2014, Musk announced that Tesla would allow its technology patents to be used by anyone in good faith
in a bid to entice automobile manufacturers to speed up development of
electric cars. "The unfortunate reality is electric car programs (or
programs for any vehicle that doesn't burn hydrocarbons)
at the major manufacturers are small to non-existent, constituting an
average of far less than 1% of their total vehicle sales," Musk said.
In February 2016, Musk announced that he had acquired the Tesla.com domain name from Stu Grossman, who had owned it since 1992, and changed Tesla's homepage to that domain.
In January 2018, Musk was granted an option to buy up to 20.3
million shares if Tesla's market value were to rise to $650 billion.
Majority shareholder approval was pending As of 5 March 2018.
The grant was also meant to end speculation about Musk's potential
departure from Tesla to devote more time to his other business ventures. A report by advisory firm Glass Lewis & Co. to its clients argued against granting the options.
The New York Post
described the pending stock option grant as an "astronomical deal" in
pay when it reported that Tesla accepted $750 million in public funds
from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as part of the Buffalo Billion
project, a plan to invest money to help the economy of the Buffalo, New
York area. The money was used to build a factory and infrastructure for
solar panel maker SolarCity, which Tesla acquired. As of March 2018,
the plant employed "just a few hundred workers and its future remains
uncertain." (The Buffalo area actually lost nearly 5,000 jobs between
December 2016 and December 2017).
Musk with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in San Jose, California on September 26, 2015
In September 2018, Musk was charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a tweet claiming that funding had been secured for taking Tesla private. The lawsuit characterized the tweet as false, misleading, and damaging to investors, and sought to bar Musk from serving as CEO on publicly traded companies.
Two days later, Musk reached a settlement with the SEC. As a result,
Musk and Tesla were fined $20 million each, and Musk was forced to step
down as Tesla chairman within 45 days while remaining Tesla's CEO.
Musk also proclaimed in several interviews since that he does not
regret sending the tweet that triggered the SEC investigation. According
to Reuters, Musk said the tweet that cost him and the company $20
million in fines was "Worth It". Musk also went on to tweet on October 1, 2018 a link to "O.P.P." by Naughty by Nature as a take on what had happened between him and the SEC.
According to ABC News, "As recently as Oct. 4 2018, Musk issued a
sarcastic tweet, describing the agency [SEC] as the “Shortseller
Enrichment Commission,” despite having agreed to settlement terms a week
earlier that his company, Tesla, would monitor his tweets and other
communications."
In a December 2018 interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes”, Musk
mentioned that since reaching an agreement with SEC, none of his tweets
have been censored. He further mentioned that he has no respect for the
SEC by saying, "I want to be clear. I do not respect the SEC."
Following Musk's resignation as chairman, Tesla named Robyn Denholm to replace Elon Musk as the acting chairman. This decision came after weeks of speculation on whether Tesla would nominate James Murdoch.
In January 2019, Musk traveled to China for the groundbreaking of Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory, which is the company's first large-scale plant outside the U.S. Part of his visit to China, Musk also met the Chinese premier Li Keqiang.
During their exchange, Musk confessed his love for China and wished he
could visit China more often, to which the Chinese premier was quoted as
saying "We can issue you a Chinese green card if that helps."
On 19th February 2019, according to Forbes, Musk stated in a
tweet that Tesla would build half a million cars in 2019. Dane
Butswinkas, who arrived on 17th December to serve as Tesla’s General
Counsel reporting to Musk and likely reviewing his tweets after the
settlement agreement was reached, resigned on 21st February.
The SEC reacted to Musk’s tweet by filing in court, holding him
in contempt for violating the terms of settlement agreement with such a
tweet. On 26th February 2019, as mentioned in Bloomberg, Musk
sarcastically addressed SEC in another tweet saying, “SEC forgot to read
Tesla earnings transcript, which clearly states 350k to 500k. How
embarrassing…”
SolarCity
Musk provided the initial concept and financial capital for SolarCity, which was then co-founded in 2006 by his cousins Lyndon and Peter Rive. By 2013, SolarCity was the second largest provider of solar power systems in the United States. SolarCity was acquired by Tesla, Inc. in 2016 and is currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Tesla.
The underlying motivation for funding both SolarCity and Tesla was to help combat global warming.
In 2012, Musk announced that SolarCity and Tesla are collaborating to
use electric vehicle batteries to smooth the impact of rooftop solar on
the power grid, with the program going live in 2013.
Gigafactory
On June 17, 2014, Musk committed to building a SolarCity advanced
production facility in Buffalo, New York, that would triple the size of
the largest solar plant in the United States. Musk stated the plant will
be "one of the single largest solar panel production plants in the
world," and it will be followed by one or more even bigger facilities in
subsequent years.
The Tesla Gigafactory 2 is a photovoltaic (PV) cell factory, leased by
Tesla subsidiary SolarCity in Buffalo, New York. Construction on the
factory started in 2014 and was completed in 2017.
Hyperloop
On August 12, 2013, Musk unveiled a concept for a high-speed
transportation system incorporating reduced-pressure tubes in which
pressurized capsules ride on an air cushion driven by linear induction motors and air compressors.
The mechanism for releasing the concept was an alpha-design document
that, in addition to scoping out the technology, outlined a notional
route where such a transport system might be built: between the Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area.
After earlier envisioning Hyperloop, Musk assigned a dozen engineers from Tesla and SpaceX who worked for nine months, establishing the conceptual foundations and creating the designs for the transportation system. An early design for the system was then published in a whitepaper posted to the Tesla and SpaceX blogs. Musk's proposal, if technologically feasible at the costs he has cited, would make Hyperloop travel cheaper than any other mode of transport for such long distances. The alpha design was proposed to use a partial vacuum to reduce aerodynamic drag,
which it is theorized would allow for high-speed travel with relatively
low power, with certain other features like air-bearing skis and an
inlet compressor to reduce freestream flow. The document of alpha design
estimated the total cost of an LA-to-SF Hyperloop system at US$6 billion, but this amount is speculative.
In June 2015, Musk announced a design competition for students and others to build Hyperloop pods to operate on a SpaceX-sponsored mile-long track in a 2015–2017 Hyperloop pod competition. The track was used in January 2017, and Musk also started building a tunnel.
Hyperloop One,
a company unaffiliated with Musk, had announced that it had done its
first successful test run on its DevLoop track in Nevada on July 13,
2017. It was on May 12, 2017, at 12:02 a.m. and had lasted 5.3 seconds,
reaching a top speed of 70 mph.
On July 20, 2017, Elon Musk announced that he had received verbal government approval to build a hyperloop from New York City to Washington, D.C., stopping in both Philadelphia and Baltimore. However, the New York City Transit Authority, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, Maryland Transit Administration, United States Department of Homeland Security,
as well as the mayors of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and
Washington D.C. stated that they are unaware of any such agreement.
OpenAI
In December 2015, Musk announced the creation of OpenAI, a not-for-profit artificial intelligence (AI) research company. OpenAI aims to develop artificial general intelligence in a way that is safe and beneficial to humanity.
By making AI available to everyone, OpenAI wants to "counteract
large corporations who may gain too much power by owning
super-intelligence systems devoted to profits, as well as governments
which may use AI to gain power and even oppress their citizenry." Musk has stated he wants to counteract the concentration of power.
In 2018 Musk left the OpenAI board to avoid possible future conflicts
with his role as CEO of Tesla as Tesla increasingly becomes involved in
AI.
However, in an interview with Joe Rogan
in September 2018, Musk warned about the dangers of developing
artificial intelligence indiscriminately. In January 2019 Mark Harris of
The Guardian
noted that on 23 January the Musk foundation "added a line to its
website, stating its support for the “development of safe artificial
intelligence to benefit humanity”".
Neuralink
In 2016, Musk co-founded Neuralink, a neurotechnology
startup company to integrate the human brain with artificial
intelligence. The company is centered on creating devices that can be
implanted in the human brain, with the eventual purpose of helping human
beings merge with software and keep pace with advancements in
artificial intelligence. These enhancements could improve memory or
allow more direct interfacing with computing devices.
Musk sees Neuralink and OpenAI as related: "OpenAI is a nonprofit
dedicated to minimizing the dangers of artificial intelligence, while
Neuralink is working on ways to implant technology into our brains to
create mind-computer interfaces."
The Boring Company
Musk discussing The Boring Company at TED 2017
On December 17, 2016, while stuck in traffic, Musk tweeted "Am going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging ..." The company was named 'The Boring Company'. On January 21, 2017, Musk tweeted "Exciting progress on the tunnel front. Plan to start digging in a month or so." The first tunnel will start on the SpaceX campus, The Boring Test Tunnel runs underneath West 120th Street. As of January 26, 2017, discussions with regulatory bodies had begun.
In February 2017, the company began digging a 30-foot-wide,
50-foot-long, and 15-foot-deep "test trench" on the premises of Space
X's offices in Los Angeles, since the construction requires no permits.
Musk had said in early 2017 that a 10-fold decrease in tunnel boring
cost per mile is necessary for economic feasibility of the proposed
tunnel network.
By late 2018, TBC had active construction, approved plans in place, or an operational tunnel in several areas of the United States: Baltimore,
Chicago, and Los Angeles. TBC provided an update on the state of their
technology and product line when they opened to the public their first
mile-long test tunnel in Hawthorne, California, on 18 December 2018,
stating that it has been a proof-of-concept for the technology.
Design is complete for the third-generation Boring TBM, Prufrock,
slated to support a 15x improvement in tunneling speed over the
existing state of the art, and the machine will be assembled and begin
engineering testing in 2019.
pravduh.com
After a string of negative press targeting Tesla caused Musk to become frustrated, specifically articles published by Reveal News criticizing Tesla for its factory safety procedures, Musk announced on Twitter
that he is planning on creating a website where users could rate the
truthfulness of specific articles in addition to the credibility of
journalists and publications. He suggested calling it "Pravda" after a Soviet Union-era Communist Party newspaper of the same name.
This caused backlash from many journalists, claiming that a
platform where any user could freely vote on an article's or a
journalist's credibility could be prone to abuse.
After realizing the site "pravda.com" is used by the Ukrainian Internet newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda, Musk bought the site pravduh.com on May 25, 2018.
Tham Luang cave rescue
In July 2018, Musk attempted to provide assistance to rescuers during the Tham Luang cave rescue by ordering his employees to build a small rescue pod.
Musk, responding to requests for help from Twitter users, contacted James Yenbamroong, CEO of Thailand-based satellite company Mu Space, to get him connected with the Thai government.
He then ordered engineers from two of his companies to design a
child-sized submarine to help the rescue effort and publicised the
process via Twitter. Engineers at Musk's companies SpaceX and The Boring Company built the mini-submarine out of a Falcon 9 liquid oxygen transfer tube and personally delivered it to Thailand.
Named "Wild Boar" after the children's soccer team,
its design, a five-foot (1.5 m)-long, twelve-inch (300 mm)-inch wide
sealed tube weighing about 90 pounds (41 kg) propelled manually by
divers in the front and back,
was intended to solve the problem of safely transporting the children,
who might have had difficulty learning the scuba skills required to exit
the cave on their own without panicking.
In case the mini-submarine could not fit through the cave system, Elon
Musk also requested Wing Inflatables, a California-based inflatable boat
manufacturer, to build inflatable escape pods. The pods were designed,
fabricated, and tested in one day before being flown to Thailand.
By this time, eight of the twelve children had already been
rescued and Thai authorities decided not to use the submarine,
describing it as technologically impressive but impractical.
Device viability
The supervisor of the rescue operation Narongsak Osatanakorn
dismissed the submarine as impractical under the current circumstances. A
rescue caver who had been exploring the cave for the past six years and
who had originally located the trapped football team, said that Musk's
idea "had absolutely no chance of working ... the submarine, I believe,
was about five foot six long, rigid, so it wouldn't have gone round
corners or round any obstacles. It wouldn't have made the first 50
metres into the cave from the dive start point."
Musk tweeted that Richard Stanton, leader of the international diving
team, had earlier urged Musk to continue construction of the
mini-submarine as a back-up, in case the flooding worsened.
Although the device could safely hold an occupant, there were
concerns that its rigid body was only slightly smaller than the
narrowest passages in the cave, making it risky to get it through the
tighter turns.
Media coverage and Musk's behavior
As media coverage of the event grew, some were skeptical of Musk's intentions, claiming the submarine was mainly built for publicity for Tesla and Musk, citing the apparent uselessness of the device.
One of the divers said to have played a major role in the rescue criticized the submarine as amounting to nothing more than a public relations effort with no chance of success, and that Musk "had no conception of what the cave passage was like"; and said that Musk "can stick his submarine where it hurts". Musk reasserted on Twitter
that the device would have worked and referred to the diver as "pedo
guy" without offering any evidence to support the claim, causing
backlash against Musk.
He subsequently deleted the tweets, along with an earlier tweet in
which he told another critic of the device "Stay tuned jackass". On 16 July, the diver stated that he was considering legal action in relation to Musk's comments.
After Musk's Tweets, Tesla shares fell 4% as some investors worried about his erratic behavior. Tesla investors subsequently demanded that Musk apologize. Two days later, Musk issued an apology for his remarks: "The fault is mine and mine alone" and "my words were spoken in anger".
On August 28, 2018, in response to criticism from a writer on
Twitter regarding how Musk had handled the diver's criticism, Musk
circled back to the pedophilia accusation tweeting "You don't think it's
strange he hasn't sued me? He was offered free legal services. ...". The following day, a letter from L. Lin Wood, the rescuer's attorney, dated August 6, emerged, showing that he had been making preparations for a libel lawsuit.
On 5 September 2018, a reporter from Buzzfeed News
published an email written by Musk on August 30 marked "off the
record", saying "I suggest that you call people you know in Thailand,
find out what's actually going on and stop defending child rapists, you
fucking asshole. As for this alleged threat of a lawsuit, which
magically appeared when I raised the issue ... I fucking hope he sues
me." Musk confirmed that he had sent the email.
The diver subsequently filed a defamation suit in Los Angeles federal
court in mid-September 2018, with plans to also file a similar case in
the United Kingdom. The lawsuit contends that "Musk embarked on a PR
campaign to destroy [the diver]'s reputation by publishing false and
heinous accusations of criminality against him to the public", and seeks
upwards of US$75,000 in damages.
Teslaquila
Musk first mentioned Teslaquila in an April Fools tweet in 2018. The proposed Tesla-branded tequila become closer to a reality in October 2018 as Tesla filed an 'intent to use' trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
The trademark is for distilled agave liquor. Musk reaffirmed his
intention to release the product with a tweet, featuring a mockup of the
bottle, on October 12.
Mexico's Tequila Regulatory Council (CRT) has publicly denounced
the proposed product, arguing, "If it wants to make Teslaquila viable as
a tequila it would have to associate itself with an authorized tequila
producer, comply with certain standards and request authorization from
Mexico's Industrial Property Institute".
Music
On March 30, 2019, Musk released a rap single to SoundCloud under the username "Emo G Records". Titled "RIP Harambe", the track was performed by Yung Jake, written by Yung Jake and Caroline Polachek, and produced by BloodPop. Within ten days, the song had achieved more than 2,000,000 plays.
Views
Political
Musk speaking alongside former Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny in 2013
Politically, Musk has described himself as "half Democrat, half Republican" and "I'm somewhere in the middle, socially liberal and fiscally conservative." Prompted by the emergence of self-driving cars and artificial intelligence, Musk has voiced support for a universal basic income; he additionally backs direct democracy. He has described himself as a socialist,
but "not the kind that shifts resources from most productive to least
productive, pretending to do good, while actually causing harm" -
arguing instead, "true socialism seeks greatest good for all." He supports targeting an inclusive tax rate of 40%, prefers consumption taxes to income taxes, and supports the estate tax, as the "probability of progeny being equally excellent at capital allocation is not high."
Musk has described the United States as "[inarguably] the
greatest country that has ever existed on Earth," describing it as "the
greatest force for good of any country that's ever been." Musk believes democracy
would not exist any longer if not for the United States, saying that it
prevented this disappearance on three occasions through its
participation in World War I, World War II and the Cold War.
Musk also stated that he thinks "it would be a mistake to say the
United States is perfect, it certainly is not. There have been many
foolish things the United States has done and bad things the United
States has done."
Before the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States,
Musk criticized candidate Trump by saying: "I feel a bit stronger that
he is probably not the right guy. He doesn't seem to have the sort of
character that reflects well on the United States." Following Donald Trump's inauguration, Musk expressed approval of Trump's choice of Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State
and accepted an invitation to appear on a panel advising President
Trump. Regarding his cooperation with Trump, Musk has subsequently
commented: "The more voices of reason that the President hears, the
better." He subsequently resigned from both in June 2017, in protest at Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Lobbying
In an interview with The Washington Post, Musk stated he was a "significant (though not top-tier) donor to Democrats," but that he also gives heavily to Republicans. Musk further stated that political contributions are a requirement in order to have a voice in the United States government.
A 2012 report from the Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan group that tracks government spending, found that since 2002, SpaceX had spent more US$4 million on lobbying the United States Congress and more than US$800,000
in political contributions to Democrats and Republicans. The same
report said that "SpaceX's campaign to win political support has been
systematic and sophisticated," and that "unlike most tech-startups,
SpaceX has maintained a significant lobbying presence in Washington
almost since day 1." and that "Musk himself has donated roughly US$725,000 to various campaigns since 2002. In 2004, he contributed US$2,000 to President George W. Bush's reelection campaign, maxing out (over US$100,000) to Barack Obama's reelection campaign and donated US$5,000 to Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who represents Florida, a state critical to the space industry. (...) All told, Musk and SpaceX gave out roughly US$250,000 in the 2012 election cycle." Additionally, SpaceX hired former Republican Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott to represent the company, via the Washington-based lobbying group Patton Boggs LLP. Alongside Patton Boggs LLP, SpaceX uses several other outside lobbying firms, who work with SpaceX's own lobbyists.
Musk had been a supporter of the U.S. political action committee (PAC) FWD.us, which was started by fellow high-profile entrepreneur Mark Zuckerberg and advocates for immigration reform.
However, in May 2013, Musk publicly withdrew his support in protest of
advertisements the PAC was running that supported causes like the Keystone Pipeline. Musk and other members, including David O. Sacks, pulled out, criticizing the strategy as "cynical." Musk further stated, "we shouldn't give in to the politics. If we give in to that, we'll get the political system we deserve."
In December 2013, Sean Becker of the media/political website Mic
called Musk a "complete hypocrite," stating that "[for] the 2014
election cycle, Musk has contributed to the Longhorn PAC and the National Republican Congressional Committee – both of which have funded the campaigns of anti-science, anti-environment candidates such as Rep. Michelle Bachman (R-Minn.)." Musk has directly contributed to Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who has been accused of holding similar positions regarding climate change.
Subsidies
Musk has stated that he does not believe the U.S. government should provide subsidies to companies but should instead use a carbon tax to price in the negative externality of air pollution and discourage poor behavior. Musk says that the free market would achieve the best solution, and that producing environmentally unfriendly vehicles should come with its own consequences.
Musk's statements have been widely criticized, with Stanford University Professor Fred Turner
noting that "if you're an entrepreneur like Elon Musk, you will take
the money where you can get it, but at the same time believe as a matter
of faith that it's entrepreneurship and technology that are the sources
of social change,
not the state. It is not quite self-delusion, but there is a habit of
thinking of oneself as a free-standing, independent agent, and of not
acknowledging the subsidies that one received. And this goes on all the
time in Silicon Valley." Author Michael Shellenberger
argued that "in the case of Musk, it is hard not to read that as a kind
of defensiveness. And I think there is a business reason for it. They
are dealing with a lot of investors for whom subsidies are not the basis
for a long-term viable business, and they often want to exaggerate the
speed with which they are going to be able to become independent."
Shellenberger continues, "we would all be better off if these
entrepreneurs were a bit more grateful, a bit more humble." While
journalist and author Jim Motavalli, who interviewed Musk for High Voltage,
his 2011 book about the electric vehicle industry, speculated that
"Elon is now looking at it from the point of view of a winner, and he
doesn't want to see other people win because they get government money –
I do think there is a tendency of people, once they have succeeded, to
want to pull the ladder up after them."
In 2015, Musk's statements were subject to further scrutiny when an LA Times article claimed that SpaceX, Tesla, SolarCity and buyers of their products had or were projected to receive together an estimated US$4.9 billion
in government subsidies over twenty years. One example given is New
York state, which is spending $750 million to build a solar panel
factory in Buffalo which will be leased to SolarCity for $1 a year. The
deal also includes no property taxes for a decade, an estimated
$260 million valuation. Musk employs a former U.S. State Department
official as the chief negotiator for Tesla.
Destiny and religion
When asked whether he believed "there was some kind of destiny involved" in humanity's transition to a multi-planetary species, rather than "just physics," Musk responded:
Well, I do. Do I think that there's some sort of master intelligence architecting all of this stuff? I think probably not because then you have to say: "Where does the master intelligence come from?" So it sort of begs the question. So I think really you can explain this with the fundamental laws of physics. You know it's complex phenomenon from simple elements.
Musk has stated that he does not pray, or worship any being, although
he asked "any entities that [were] listening" to "bless [the] launch"
before an important Falcon 1 launch. When asked whether he believed that religion and science could co-exist, Musk said most likely not.
Extraterrestrial life
Although Musk believes there could be simple life on other planets, he is unsure whether other intelligent life is likely.
Musk later said that he "hope[s] that there is other intelligent life
in the known universe," and stated that it is "probably more likely than
not, but that's a complete guess."
Musk has also considered the simulation hypothesis as a potential solution to the Fermi paradox:
The absence of any noticeable life may be an argument in favour of us being in a simulation ... Like when you're playing an adventure game, and you can see the stars in the background, but you can't ever get there. If it's not a simulation, then maybe we're in a lab and there's some advanced alien civilization that's just watching how we develop, out of curiosity, like mould in a Petri dish ... If you look at our current technology level, something strange has to happen to civilizations, and I mean strange in a bad way. ... And it could be that there are a whole lot of dead, one-planet civilizations.
Artificial intelligence
Musk has frequently spoken about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence, calling it "the most serious threat to the survival of the human race." During a 2014 interview at the MIT AeroAstro Centennial Symposium, Musk described AI as humanity's largest existential threat,
further stating, "I'm increasingly inclined to think that there should
be some regulatory oversight, maybe at the national and international
level, just to make sure that we don't do something very foolish." Musk
described the creation of artificial intelligence as "summoning the
demon".
Despite this, Musk has previously invested in DeepMind, an AI firm, and Vicarious, a company working to improve machine intelligence. In January 2015, he donated $10 million to the Future of Life Institute, an organization focused on challenges posed by advanced technologies. He is the co-chairman of OpenAI, a nonprofit artificial intelligence research company.
Musk has said that his investments are, "not from the standpoint
of actually trying to make any investment return ... I like to just keep
an eye on what's going on with artificial intelligence." Musk
continued, "There have been movies about this, you know, like Terminator – there are some scary outcomes. And we should try to make sure the outcomes are good, not bad."
In June 2016, Musk was asked whether he thinks humans live in a computer simulation, to which he answered:
The strongest argument for us probably being in a simulation I think is the following: 40 years ago we had Pong – two rectangles and a dot. That's where we were. Now 40 years later we have photorealistic, 3D simulations with millions of people playing simultaneously and it's getting better every year. And soon we'll have virtual reality, we'll have augmented reality. If you assume any rate of improvement at all, then the games will become indistinguishable from reality, just indistinguishable.
Musk's warnings about artificial intelligence have brought him some controversy. He and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg have clashed, with the latter calling his warnings, "pretty irresponsible."
Musk responded to Zuckerberg's censure by saying that he had discussed
AI with Zuckerberg and found him to have only a limited understanding of
the subject. In 2014, Slate's
Adam Elkus argued that current AIs were as intelligent as a toddlers,
and only in certain fields, going on to say that Musk's "summoning the
demon" analogy may be harmful because it could result in significant
cuts to AI research budgets.
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
(ITIF), a Washington D.C. think-tank, awarded its Annual Luddite Award
to "alarmists touting an artificial intelligence apocalypse"; its
president, Robert D. Atkinson,
complained that Musk and others say AI is the largest existential
threat to humanity. Atkinson stated "That's not a very winning message
if you want to get AI funding out of Congress to the National Science
Foundation." Nature
sharply disagreed with the ITIF in an April 2016 editorial, siding
instead with Musk, and concluding: "It is crucial that progress in
technology is matched by solid, well-funded research to anticipate the
scenarios it could bring about ... If that is a Luddite perspective,
then so be it." In a 2015 Washington Post editorial, researcher Murray Shanahan
stated that human-level AI is unlikely to arrive in the near future,
but that nevertheless "the time to start thinking through the
consequences is now."
Public transport
At a Tesla event on the sidelines of the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems in December 2017, Musk stated that:
I think public transport is painful. It sucks. Why do you want to get on something with a lot of other people, that doesn't leave where you want it to leave, doesn't start where you want it to start, doesn't end where you want it to end? And it doesn't go all the time. ... It's a pain in the ass. That's why everyone doesn't like it. And there's like a bunch of random strangers, one of who might be a serial killer, OK, great. And so that's why people like individualized transport, that goes where you want, when you want.
Afterwards, he dismissed an audience member's response that public transportation functioned effectively in Japan.
His comment sparked widespread criticism from both the public and
transit experts. Urban planning expert Brent Toderian started the
hashtag #GreatThingsThatHappenedonTransit which was widely adopted by
Twitter users in order to dispel Musk's notion that everybody hated
public transport.
Yonah Freemark, an urbanist and journalist specialising in planning and
transportation, summarised Musk's views on public transport as "It's
terrible. You might be killed. Japanese trains are awful. Individualized
transport for everyone! Congestion? Induced demand? Climate change
impacts? Unwalkable streets? Who cares!"
Jarrett Walker, a known public transport expert and consultant from Portland,
said that "Musk's hatred of sharing space with strangers is a luxury
(or pathology) that only the rich can afford," referring to the theory
that planning a city around the preferences of a minority yields an
outcome that usually does not work for the majority. Musk responded with "You're an idiot," later saying "Sorry ... Meant to say 'sanctimonious idiot.'" The exchange received a significant amount of media attention and prompted Nobel laureate Paul Krugman to comment on the controversy, saying that apparently, "You're an idiot" is Musk's idea of a cogent argument.
Personal life
Philanthropy
Musk is chairman of the Musk Foundation, which focuses its
philanthropic efforts on providing solar-power energy systems in
disaster areas. In 2010, the Musk Foundation collaborated with SolarCity
to donate a 25-kW solar power system to the South Bay Community
Alliance's hurricane response center in Coden, Alabama. In July 2011, the Musk Foundation donated US$250,000 towards a solar power project in Sōma, Japan, a city that had been recently devastated by a tsunami.
In July 2014, Musk was asked by cartoonist Matthew Inman and William Terbo, the grandnephew of Nikola Tesla, to donate US$8 million toward the construction of the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe. Ultimately, Musk agreed to donate US$1 million toward the project and additionally pledged to build a Tesla Supercharger in the museum car park.
Musk donated US$10 million to the Future of Life Institute in January 2015, to run a global research program aimed at keeping artificial intelligence beneficial to humanity.
As of 2015, Musk is a trustee of the X Prize Foundation and a signatory of The Giving Pledge.
In October 2018, in an effort to help solve the Flint water crisis,
Musk and the Musk Foundation donated over $480,000 to install new water
fountains with filtration systems for access to clean water at all Flint, Michigan schools.
Family
Tosca Musk, Elon's sister, is a filmmaker. She is the founder of Musk Entertainment and has produced various movies.
Musk met his first wife, Canadian author Justine Wilson, while both were students at Ontario's Queen's University. They married in 2000 and separated in 2008. Their first son, Nevada Alexander Musk, died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) at the age of 10 weeks. They later had five sons through in vitro fertilization – twins in 2004, followed by triplets in 2006. They share custody of all five sons.
In 2008, Musk began dating English actress Talulah Riley, and in 2010, the couple married. In January 2012, Musk announced that he had ended his four-year relationship with Riley, tweeting to Riley, "It was an amazing four years. I will love you forever. You will make someone very happy one day."
In July 2013, Musk and Riley remarried. In December 2014, Musk filed
for a second divorce from Riley; however, the action was withdrawn.
The media announced in March 2016 that divorce proceedings were again
under way, this time with Riley filing for divorce from Musk. The divorce was finalized in late 2016.
Musk began dating American actress Amber Heard in 2016 but the two split up after one year due to their conflicting schedules. On May 7, 2018, Musk and Canadian musician Grimes revealed that they had begun dating.
Joe Rogan podcast appearance
In mid-September 2018, Musk appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast and discussed various topics for 21/2 hours. Within five days, the appearance had registered 10 million YouTube views.
One of the highest profile and controversial aspects of the program was
Musk's puffing from a cannabis-laced cigarette offered by Rogan. The Washington Post observed, "In the media's hands, it became a story about Musk's growing instability ..."
Tesla stock dropped after the incident, which coincided with the
confirmation of the departure of Tesla's Vice President of Worldwide
Finance earlier that day. Fortune wondered if the cannabis use could have ramifications for SpaceX contracts with the United States Air Force, though a USAF spokesperson told The Verge that there was no investigation being carried out and that the Air Force is still processing the situation. In an interview on 60 Minutes,
Musk said of the pot-smoking incident: "I do not smoke pot. As anybody
who watched that podcast could tell, I have no idea how to smoke pot."
Awards and recognition
- In 2006, Musk served as a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board.
- Inc Magazine Entrepreneur of the Year award for 2007 for his work on Tesla and SpaceX.
- 2007 Index Design award for his design of the Tesla Roadster. Global Green 2006 product design award for his design of the Tesla Roadster, presented by Mikhail Gorbachev.
- American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics George Low award for the most outstanding contribution in the field of space transportation in 2007/2008. Musk was recognized for his design of the Falcon 1, the first privately developed liquid-fuel rocket to reach orbit.
- National Wildlife Federation 2008 National Conservation Achievement award for Tesla and SolarCity. Other 2008 recipients include journalist Thomas Friedman, U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Florida Governor Charlie Crist.
- National Space Society's Von Braun Trophy in 2008/2009, given for leadership of the most significant achievement in space. Prior recipients include Burt Rutan and Steve Squyres.
- Listed as one of Time's 100 people who most affected the world in 2010.
- The world governing body for aerospace records, Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, presented Musk in 2010 with the highest award in air and space, the FAI Gold Space Medal, for designing the first privately developed rocket to reach orbit. Prior recipients include Neil Armstrong, Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites and John Glenn.
- Named as one of the 75 most influential people of the 21st century by Esquire magazine.
- Recognized as a Living Legend of Aviation in 2010 by the Kitty Hawk Foundation for creating the successor to the Space Shuttle (Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft). Other recipients include Buzz Aldrin and Richard Branson.
- In February 2011, Forbes listed Musk as one of "America's 20 Most Powerful CEOs 40 And Under."
- In June 2011, Musk was awarded the US$250,000 Heinlein Prize for Advances in Space Commercialization
- In 2012, Musk was awarded the Royal Aeronautical Society's highest award: a Gold Medal.
- In 2013, Musk was named the Fortune Businessperson of the year for SpaceX, SolarCity, and Tesla.
- Awarded the President's award for Exploration and Technology of the Explorers Club at the annual gala on the 16th of March 2014.
- In 2015, he was awarded IEEE Honorary Membership.
- In June 2016, Business Insider named Musk one of the "Top 10 Business Visionaries Creating Value for the World" along with Mark Zuckerberg and Sal Khan.
- In December 2016, Musk was ranked 21st on Forbes list of The World's Most Powerful People.
- In May 2017, Musk was awarded the Oslo Business for Peace Award.
- Musk was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2018.
- Musk was awarded as member (fifth class) of the Most Admirable Order of the Direkgunabhorn in 4 March 2019 for involving in the rescue at Tham Luang cave, Chiang Rai Province, Thailand.
In popular media
2010–2016
In Iron Man 2 (2010), Musk met Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in a restaurant, and had some brief lines regarding an "idea for an electric jet." In January 2015, Musk made a guest appearance playing himself on The Simpsons in an episode titled "The Musk Who Fell to Earth"; the episode poked fun at many of Musk's ideas. In November 2015, Musk appeared in an episode of The Big Bang Theory, playing himself, volunteering at a soup kitchen with Wolowitz. Musk was featured in the 2015 environmental documentary Racing Extinction, in which a custom Tesla Model S was designed to help project images of critically endangered species onto public buildings, including the Empire State Building and the Vatican. In 2016, Musk appeared as himself in the romantic comedy film Why Him? where he was briefly met by one of the main characters, Ned Flemming played by Bryan Cranston, in a bar at a party. Also in 2016, Musk was referenced by Dr. Martin Stein on The CW time-travel TV show DC's Legends of Tomorrow. During time travel to the past, Stein meets his younger self and introduced himself as Elon Musk, to disguise his own identity.
2017–Present
In October 2017, Musk was prematurely immortalized as a historic pioneer on the CBS All Access series Star Trek: Discovery. Set in the year 2256, Captain Gabriel Lorca attempts to motivate a scientist on his ship by asking him "How do you want to be remembered in history? Alongside the Wright Brothers, Elon Musk, Zefram Cochrane? Or as a failed fungus expert. A selfish little man who put the survival of his own ego before the lives of others?" According to a TechCrunch
article published the day after the episode aired, this mention is
"also interesting because of its notable omission of Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos: This other space entrepreneur is such a big fan of Star Trek that he pitched and succeeded in landing a cameo in Star Trek Beyond as an alien being, but he doesn't rate a mention from Lorca among the spaceflight pantheon." Musk is significantly referenced numerous times in Hat Films' 2017 album, Neon Musk. In November 2017, Musk appeared as himself in season 1, episode 6 of The Big Bang Theory spin-off prequel series Young Sheldon. The successful first landing of a SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage on a drone ship on April 8, 2016, is shown being covered by CNN. This is followed by a scene where Musk is shown alone in his office reading the notebook that young Sheldon mailed NASA in 1989 (a scene shown earlier in the episode) containing calculations detailing how this feat could be accomplished. In February 2019, Musk co-hosted YouTuber PewDiePie's show "Meme Review" with Justin Roiland under the request of PewDiePie's fans.
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