Elon Musk's big future: 8 predictions he made this week

by Nick Lucchesi
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Elon Musk spoke with iconic journalist Kara Swisher at the prestigious Code Conference on September 27, 2021 for a wide-ranging conversation. In typical style, Musk made a number of predictions about the future, many of them having to do with his own portfolio of technology companies.

8. “[Starlink] is going to have some profound positive effects on the world.”

"Starlink is really designed to serve the least-served." Musk says the satellite-based internet will mostly serve rural areas.

7. “With Starship, we’re trying to achieve the fundamental breakthrough which is the holy grail of rocketry: That is to have a fully reusable orbital rocket.”

“Essentially with Starship, it is possible to make the economics close for creating a self-sustaining city on Mars and a base on the Moon for those who want to go there. It’s really very profound development and that’s what I’m spending most of my time on.”

6. “ I think we’ll see great receptivity to the benefits of psychedelics.”

"“I think generally, people should be open to psychedelics. A lot of people making laws are from a different era. As the new generation gets into political power I think we’ll see great receptivity to the benefits of psychedelics."

5. “We want to take the set of actions that maximize the probability that future is good.”

"...And that civilization continues, and that the small candle of consciousness in the void that is humanity continues and the candle does not go out."

4. “If we shift all transport to electric, the demand more than doubles. This is going to create a lot of challenges with the grid.”

"A necessary part of the solution is local power generation on the houses of homes" via solar paneling.
3. “Those humanoid robots are going to happen.”

“We are building a humanoid robot that will be like the car but with legs. I kind of held off doing that for a while because I certainly don’t want to hasten the A.I. apocalypse, but clearly, with Boston Dynamics, those humanoid robots are going to happen. They’re either going to happen with or without Tesla. With Tesla, I’ve got a lot more ability to ensure robotics safety and A.I. I’ll try my best to do that.”

2. “It is not possible to destroy crypto, but it is possible for governments to slow down its advancement.”

“[Cryptocurrency] will hopefully reduce the error and latency in the money system. Governments have a habit of editing the money database, which is like probably some ancient mainframe somewhere in Virginia writing COBOL. That's why it's kind of bleak to think about that.”

1. “I think things will probably start heading in a more positive direction.”

“As Covid lifts and the important meetings [in China between the government and technology executives] return, I think the I think probably there will be an increase in the sort of trust level [between the two]. And I think things will probably start heading in a more positive direction.”