(Austin, Texas) Welcome to a special 4-part X series with details and highlights from Elon Musk’s X Space conversation with Katherine Brodsky on February 19, 2024.
Elon gave insights into the journey of SpaceX and Tesla, sharing his initial doubts about the success of SpaceX and Tesla, which he founded after making a fortune from PayPal.
Elon: “I didn’t think anything like SpaceX and Tesla would happen. I turned 30 in 2001, SpaceX was formed in 2002 and Tesla was really technically incorporated in 2003 but really didn’t get going to 2004 so 2004 is a more accurate date for Tesla than 2003.
When SpaceX and Tesla were formed, I thought they would probably fail. I gave them less than a 10% chance of succeeding.
I made quite a bit of money from PayPal. I was the largest shareholder of PayPal and I had about $180M dollars so I figured I would waste half of it on building rocket and electric car companies.
It turned out they needed all of the money, so I spent all of the money to give to SpaceX and Tesla and Solar City.
I just really wanted to be involved in technologies that would change the world.”
Elon emphasized the importance of being present at work and discussed the challenges faced by Tesla in manufacturing.
Katherine Brodsky: “Do you think there’s anything that people might misunderstand about you?”
Elon: “No, nothing at all, ha ha. Me? Sarcasm? Ha ha. Never, I couldn’t think of something sarcastic. There’s so much printed about me, that I can’t even read it all. It would take a large portion of my day, simply to read all of the nonsense articles that are written about me. I find the regular media, often called the legacy news, I find it depressing, and speaking of misinformation, it’s remarkable how often there is just misinformation or sloppy information printed in some of the biggest publications in the world. The Wall Street Journal has now printed three articles claiming that I am high all the time. Which is really, I guess a compliment?”
KB: “You are high, in the sky!”
Elon: “From an altitude standpoint, I am high a lot, because I fly around like a lunatic working, not to visit a private yacht or an island. I don’t have a private island or a yacht or even a holiday home. In fact, someone looked at my flight schedule and put it to pinball music. Literally, my flight path looked like a pinball machine, which I think makes it clear, that you do have to be at work in person. You can’t really work from home and be as effective. If I could work from home, why am I flying around all the time? I fly around all the time because it makes a very big difference to be close.
I spent many of nights in the factory, at Tesla or SpaceX. Mostly at Tesla. Tesla has been much more of a challenge on the manufacturing front. Tesla is, in general, just much more of a drama queen (if that’s still a thing one can say, ) or a drama king. A drama monarch, ha ha.”
Elon importantly explained misinformation and free speech, and the role of social media in free speech.
When Elon bought Twitter, he exposed the level of government control over Twitter through the release of the Twitter Files. He also believed that it was a civilizational risk. Free speech must be allowed in a functioning democracy, people must be able to express their opinions and access accurate information to make informed decisions.
Elon: “The amount of government control, the degree to which Twitter was at the behest of many arms of the government, that surprised me. There really were, in my view, many violations of the First Amendment. The government cannot exercise de facto control of the media (in the USA). The reason that amendment was put in place, is because people came from countries where they were forbidden to speak under penalty of prison or death. so they wanted to have the ability to speak freely without fear of severe punishment, or at least not from the government.”
Far-Left Control and the Niche Ideological Influence of Twitter
Elon: Twitter was very much controlled by far-left activists. Very far left. It was really controlled by a niche ideology that geographically is limited to the city of San Francisco and Berkeley, it does not even extend to the city of South San Francisco, or not even Palo Alto.
Worm Time
That far-left ideology that would ordinarily be geographically contained, was effectively piping (an ideology) what most people would consider extreme to anywhere in the world that would allow Twitter to exist.
I thought it was effectively worm time for the world, something needed to be done about that. I thought it was actually a civilizational risk.
In the context of a sudden, unpredictable change, “worm time” represents a profound and unsettling shift in reality that challenges our understanding. It can manifest as a social, political, or cultural change, or even alter the very nature of reality. This concept reminds us of the fragility of our understanding and the potential for transformative change beyond our comprehension.
Elon: I think if the United States does all that, then people think, ‘well, I’ll escape to New Zealand’ or some other place. That’s not realistic.
If the United States falls, Canada is going to become a province in Russia and I don’t know what’s going to happen to the other countries but they’re not going to survive under the protective umbrella of the United States. The United States is the central pole to all that holds up the entire edifice of Western civilization. We have to make sure that the United States is strong and remains a democracy.
The rebranding of Twitter to X needed to happen. The old name no longer fits the platform’s expanding range of services. Elon compared it to naming a company after a single product and emphasized the need to let the bird fly free!
Elon: “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy. It cannot have a true democracy unless people can say things they want to say and learn the truth of things. Otherwise you will vote based on lack of information or a distorted view which will make the vote effectively meaningless. You don’t know on what basis to make your vote, so this is something that is extremely important and that’s the reason I acquired Twitter and I think we do want a fresh start, hence the different branding and also X is a much broader system than Twitter, which is a name that possibly made sense when you’re doing 140 character or short textual tweets. It was like birds twittering away. But once you start having a three hour videos and audio – video calling, and we’ll be launching payments later this year, then the name no longer fits.
It would be like naming a company that has a broad range of products after one product. It does not make sense to do that. And also we want to free the bird and let it fly free and be something else.”
My thoughts
I think we’re pretty fortunate to be living during the rise of the incredible companies that Elon Musk has built and is still building. Watching the progress of SpaceX is incredible because SpaceX is ushering in a multi planetary era for civilization. Tesla is a joy of a company that brings happiness to people every day, with every car sold.
I have witnessed the Wall Street Journal and Business Insider, and Reuters and more spread false information about Elon Musk every week. Elon is correct that it is depressing. These and other publications are laying off many people, as reported in the past few months. The news happens on X, in real time, by people who are present where the news is happening.
It’s beautiful to see X changing so rapidly. Everyone I have spoken with feels the same way. They can’t imagine what would have happened if Elon had not purchased Twitter. The changes happening are on a complex engineering level, but also on an ideological level that promotes free speech, and the First Amendment. Elon said, it’s important that people understand all of the information and not have a distorted view before they vote. Casting a vote without proper information renders that vote meaningless.
I’ve enjoyed putting together part one for you. I hope you enjoyed reading it. I will be thrilled to share part two soon. Elon’s interview with Ms. Brodsky was two hours in length. There are a lot of chunks of information there. That’s why this is a four part series. Take care, God bless you, and feel free to comment, that helps me know what you’re thinking and also gives support to my writing.
WHAT'S UP 𝕏 by Gail Alfar 
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