Elon Musk on Russia and the future of civilization

The New Knowledge forum has started in Moscow and will be held in eight cities of Russia. Elon Musk contacted the Russian youth via video link. He talked about how he sees the future in 50 years, joked a lot and talked about modern technologies and artificial intelligence, which could eventually replace modern human professions.

Answering questions from Russian students, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk, said that he liked the way Russian sounds and what role the Soviet Union played in scientific and technological progress.

Musk had said something similar earlier - when he praised the Soviet scientist Sergei Korolev. This caused "resentment" in Ukraine, which regularly emphasizes that the designer is from Zhitomir.

Elon Musk also performed for a Russian audience in October 2019. He took part in the Krasnodar business forum "Business for Small", where he answered questions from the audience about his business, gave advice to aspiring entrepreneurs.

"Strana" collected the main statements of Elon Musk and the reaction to them in Ukraine.

The future of the earth in 50 years

The forum was attended by Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov. He thanked Musk for participating in the educational marathon and asked him to tell how he sees the future in 50 years.

The American billionaire said that in 50 years, humanity will face changes in technology, space travel, and DNA research.

“It is difficult to foresee what will happen in 50 years. There will be big changes in technology, space travel, DNA research,”Musk said via video link.

About the brave Gagarin

Musk said he considered the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin to be a very brave man.

“I didn’t think about it… He’s the first person to go into orbit. Such an amazing experience. It's just amazing. He is a very brave man, you still need to decide on this,”Musk said, answering the question of what he would say to Gagarin if he met him.

"Do not even know. I would just ask him: "Why?" - added the inventor.

About the Tsiolkovsky and Korolev halls

According to Musk, the largest conference rooms in one of his companies are named after the founder of cosmonautics Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and legendary engineer Sergei Korolev.

“We have conference rooms that are named after the great cosmonauts and space explorers, space engineers, one of the largest is named after Tsiolkovsky, and the other - in honor of the Queen,” he said.

Musk called Tsiolkovsky an amazing person, "truly one of the greatest geniuses."

Tesla will officially appear in Russia soon

The head of the Tesla company announced the imminent official appearance of Tesla in Russia, Kazakhstan and other CIS countries. The entrepreneur said it would be "amazing" and talked about the possibility of launching Tesla production in Russia.

“I think we will soon be present in Russia. And Tesla will soon appear in Russia. We have a factory in Shanghai. And we want to have factories in other parts of the world. We are potentially considering Russia,”he said.

Musk also considers the Russian Federation a place where it is possible to open factories for the production of electric vehicles.

About flights outside the solar system

The founder of SpaceX expressed the opinion that for flights outside the solar system, humanity should use antimatter and develop "intelligent" rockets.

“The closest solar system is four light years away. It needs to be explored in a different way. And the most effective way to do this is to use antimatter, as well as the collapse of matter.And then it will be possible to get out of the solar system,”he said.

Transport of the future

Musk noted that in the future all vehicles, except for rockets, will be electric, and planes will be the last to switch to electric propulsion - it will take time to create batteries suitable for them. “All transport will obviously be electric. Ironically, missiles will be the only exception,”Musk said.

Ships, cars, planes, he said, will be electric.

He added that in the future, humanity will consider cars with internal combustion engines as archaic as steam engines look today. All cars will be on autopilot, the businessman is sure.

I admire the achievements of the USSR

Elon spoke in favor of strengthening the dialogue between Russia and the United States. In his opinion, countries need more communication.

“I think there is a lot of energy and talent in Russia. I think there should be more dialogue and communication between Russia and the United States. Mr. Peskov suggested that I do it. I agreed to this proposal. I think this is great. We are establishing contacts so that we have more communication between the United States and Russia. And I think Russia is strong in technology. I admire Russian achievements, the achievements of the Soviet Union in rocket science. This is very impressive.

I believe that this energy will be preserved in the future. And I urge people to fight for the future to be better than the past. To make them more optimistic about the future. There is a general rule that it is better to be optimistic and be wrong than pessimistic and be right,”Musk said when asked why he decided to take part in the event.

Peskov added in a comment to reporters that he also hopes that over time, Putin will talk with Musk, while no specific preparations are underway.

About the exploration of the Moon and Mars and the operation of the ISS

During the forum, the entrepreneur was asked whether it is worth prolonging the operation of the International Space Station (ISS) or is it better for each country to create its own. To which Musk replied that, despite the fact that the ISS is an important project, it is necessary not to linger in low-earth orbit, but to proceed to the construction of a base on the Moon and a city on the Red Planet. “I think the ISS has an important function, cooperation in space is very important.

But at the same time, one must not get stuck on some issues in the field of astronautics. It seems to me that we need to go beyond this issue,”the entrepreneur believes. In this context, Musk also noted that it is necessary to create a base on the moon and a city on Mars: "Earth is the cradle of humanity, but we cannot stay in the cradle all the time."

What will be the first city on Mars

“I think Mars is a planet that you can live on. First, of course, you will have to live under pressure, under glass,”he said about how he sees the city of the future.

About the existence of God

One of the students asked Musk if he believed in God.

“I would say that in the traditional sense of the word I am not religious because I belong to a scientific school of thought,” he replied. And he added that he was interested in where humanity came from and what life is.

“As an adult, I have a philosophy - you need to expand your consciousness in order to get the correct answer from the Universe,” he explained.

About aliens

Elon Musk did not rule out the existence of extraterrestrial life, but clarified that no one has seen it yet.

“As far as we know, we are the only life that exists. Maybe there is another, but we have not seen any signs of it yet,”he said.

Musk said it is important to develop human-AI interaction in order to "push the boundaries of consciousness." He compared human consciousness to a candle whose flame flickers in the dark.

“We need to fight to expand the boundaries of consciousness and make sure that this candle of consciousness does not go out,” Musk said.

Is Musk an alien from the future?

When asked if he is an alien from the future and how he can prove it, the American billionaire joked that he is an alien and an alien from the future.

“Isn't it obvious? I often joke. I am often asked if I am an alien. Of course, an alien. You see, I work with technology,”he joked.

About beautiful Russian and positive energy

“I really appreciate the way they support me now. You seem to have amazing motivation. I love the energy so much! So positive. It all sounds so beautiful in Russian. I love the sound so much!”He told a black student who is studying to be a translator and could speak with Musk in both English and Russian.

How artificial intelligence will supplant humanity

“The progress in translation related to artificial intelligence is amazing. That is, it already practically exists. And the translation is done in real time. Technologies are improving every year.

I think that pretty soon we won't need live translators. At least in the long run. Although, despite the fact that I say a big thank you to the translators right now, I think that artificial intelligence will solve this problem,”Musk said.