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In a Wide-Ranging Interview, Elon Musk Talks About Visiting Mars, Battle To Keep Tesla Afloat, and Neuralink (medium.com)

Posted by msmash on from the in-musk,-we-believe dept.

Elon Musk reckons there's a 70 percent chance he'll go to Mars, even as he knows there's a good chance he won't survive there. "I'm talking about moving there," the SpaceX and Tesla CEO said in a wide-ranging, but brief interview with Axios on HBO. "We've recently made a number of breakthroughs that I'm just really fired up about."

In the interview, he also spoke about Neuralink, the company he launched last year to build brain-enhancing implants. "The long-term aspiration of Neuralink would be to achieve a symbiosis with artificial intelligence," he said. "If we have billions of people with a high-bandwidth link to an AI extension of themselves, it would actually make everyone hyper-smart."

Musk also revealed that Tesla had been "single-digit weeks" away from death with the company "bleeding" cash as it ramped up Model 3 production. He said he was worried about imploding and that the stress of working seven days a week and sleeping at the Tesla factory was very painful."It hurts my brain and my heart," said Musk, who recently publicly urged people to explore electric cars, even if they come from companies Tesla competes with.

12 of 180 comments (clear)

  1. Model 3 Yaaay by stooo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    the good thing is, Tesla is on the right track now....

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    1. Re:Model 3 Yaaay by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 5, Insightful

      the good thing is, Tesla is on the right track now....

      No, the good thing is that as Tesla succeeds, it forces other companies to make competing offers. Tesla Motors lit a fire under all the car makers and now they are scrambling to catch up. Without Tesla Motors electric cars would still be in the "well it's a nice idea..." category.

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      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    2. Re:Model 3 Yaaay by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 4, Informative

      At least they are producing the long and mid range Model 3 now, and they are making many of them. Which is good, there aren't that many options on the market with comparable range (around 400km), price and specs. You have the Hyundai Kona and the Kia e-Niro, and not much else. And the waiting lists for those already stretches to over a year, they just don't make enough of them. Huyndai expects to make 30.000 EVs a year... less than Tesla makes in a month.

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      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    3. Re:Model 3 Yaaay by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 4, Informative

      Tesla made quite a few advances in battery tech and the production of batteries (together with Panasonic), their batteries are by far the cheapest per kWh. They also put a lot of effort into battery charging and conditioning, something that other automakers still struggle with, especially when it comes to fast charging (BMW and the Hyundai Ioniq had issues with that). Other automakers are building on the lessons learned from the Tesla drivetrains. So while they didn't invent the electric car, it's fair to say that they re-invented it with a great many innovations. Other auto makers are catching up and in a few cases like low-range EVs they are pulling ahead, but Tesla is still beating them on volume. Hell, Tesla is beating Mercedes on overall sales, in the US.

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      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    4. Re:Model 3 Yaaay by andydread · · Score: 4, Insightful

      c'mon... you know he didn't say anything about inventing the electric car. Tesla made electric cars cool. Tesla proved that electric cars can spank the hell out of ICE cars in dramatic fashion from acceleration to handling (due to dramatically lower CG). That made electric cars cool to the public and drove demand. Tesla is doing it the free-market way. You know this so I don't understand the point of your comment.

    5. Re: Model 3 Yaaay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      If you are intellectually honest and want to hold Tesla liable for "murdering" with their cars, then you better haul in every single other car manufacturer too.

      Here's a hint: if you use autopilot, you are still responsible for the safe operation of the vehicle, and the vehicle tells you so before it allows you to turn on Autopilot. Also, Autopilot is clearly stated for use on divided highways only, so anyone that crashes into stopped vehicles on surface streets because of Autopilot is already at three strikes: 1. not keeping control of their vehicle; 2. not heeding the legal warnings about use; and 3. using it outside of the intended bounds as clearly stated in the instructions.

      Go anonymously fuck yourself.

    6. Re:Model 3 Yaaay by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Tesla deserves a lot of credit, but they were not the only ones driving this revolution.

      Nissan produced an affordable, practical EV that figured out a lot of the basic issues with an electric drivetrain, from the instrumentation to the integration with existing car tech to how to sell it to the public. They also built large rapid charging networks in several countries.

      There are many more too, especially in the commercial vehicle space. People said busses were too large to go electric, so BYD and others build 450kWh batteries and proved they worked just fine. LG have made a huge breakthrough in getting the battery cost down by using flat "pouch" cells (like in phones) rather than cylindrical ones. Hyundai and Kia have developed the most efficient EV drivetrains and figured out how to subtly adjust the bodywork to make their vehicles look "normal" but also get excellent range.

      So credit where credit is due. Tesla gets a lot of press but they are only the performance end of the market, they don't even make an affordable model and are only a bit player in many important markets like Europe, Japan and China.

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      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. Re:Mars... by Gavagai80 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Many people have enjoyed exploring Antarctica, even when it's mostly just sitting around in ugly research bases through the winter and occasionally looking at a bleak white landscape. It's not for me, but I'm sure there are people who will enjoy Mars.

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  3. Zap mosquitoes with lasers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    IMHO, there are people that zap mosquitoes with lasers, then shy away from delivering an actual useful product at the end. And there are people who deliver a mosquito laser zapping box, but along the way, blind a few early adopters while they get the real world kinks out.

    I put Musk in the later category. The world needs more Musks, I just don't want to be an early adopter of his products.

  4. Would mod up if I could .... but yes! by King_TJ · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't think any explorer, ever, just came to a new land for the first time and lived an immediate life of comfort.

    The point is, somebody has to be first to attempt to colonize a new land (or world in the case of Mars), and that's a task certain people find a VERY rewarding challenge

    And yes - a few people enjoy spending time in places with very harsh conditions, where there aren't many other human beings around. My dad was friends with a teacher who took a sabbatical leave to visit Antarctica and live in one of those research facilities for a year or so. He came back with some amazing photos and stories, and didn't regret it a bit. (Not saying he'd be eager to do it again or to move there permanently ... but it's something not many people have experienced, so I can see the attraction.)

  5. Super smart... by Voice+of+satan · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "If we have billions of people with a high-bandwidth link to an AI extension of themselves, it would actually make everyone hyper-smart."

    I am afraid most of us would become immensely powerfully idiotic. Most humans are probably born as smart as your good scientist or good writer. Like most people are born with a body with the potential to be an athlete.

    It is just most people have not desire for excellence. They are not educated that way. Our problem is not that much a lack of brain processing power. We already have intelligence magnifying tools. Take writing for example. Wonderful things have indeed been written and that is not over. But most people won't bother with books and plenty of magazines with stories about celebrities are sold. Internet is used to watch porn and hurl insults to each other, etc...

    Tools and system are fine and all. But you need the right people to do nice things with them. We are not there yet.

  6. Re: Range and taking EVs seriously by c6gunner · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The only real range issue I see with it for local driving is that at highway speeds the range goes to shit because it only has the one gear. I think a highway gear would help a lot

    It shouldn't. Induction motor efficiency doesn't vary with RPM the way an ICE engine does. Electric motors tend to be pretty inefficient at low loads and more efficient at higher ones. Efficiency does taper down slightly at the high end but certainly not enough to cause range to "go to shit".