Elon Musk attends the opening of the Tesla Gigafactory for electric cars in Gruenheide, Germany. (File)
Elon Musk, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO, is not concerned about one thing: a long lifespan. In a recent interview with Mathias Dopfner, the CEO of Axel Springer, at Tesla's factory in Fremont, California, Mr Musk discussed a number of topics, when he made a comment on a long lifespan.
Mr Musk said he would like to maintain his health for a longer period of time, but he's not afraid of dying. "I am not afraid of dying. I think it would come as a relief," he said.
When Mr Dopfner asked about “longevity” and “a significantly increased life span”, Mr Musk gave a straightforward answer.
Mr Musk response was, “I don't think we should try to have people live for a really long time. That would cause asphyxiation of society because the truth is, most people don't change their minds. They just die. So, if they don't die, we will be stuck with old ideas and society wouldn't advance.”
Among the other issues that he discussed were the Russia-Ukraine crisis, space exploration, and even loneliness. He said he was sure that everyone has at times felt lonely, and went on to add that, for example, if he was not working on the Starship rocket and was at home by himself, he missed his dog. “I feel quite lonely because I'm just in a little house by myself with no dog,” said Mr Musk.
Mr Musk believes that a “gerontocracy” is unhealthy, in which the government is largely controlled by people who are much older than the majority of the population. Stating that the US had a “very, very ancient leadership”, he added that for leaders it was “impossible to stay in touch with the people”.
In the same context, he said that though founders of the US had established minimum ages for holding local office, they did not include maximum ages since they did not anticipate humans living for so long. “I think for political leadership, you want to be ideally within 10 or at least, 20 years of the average age of the population,” said Mr Musk.
On a lighter note, when Mr Dopfner said that Mr Musk may not be “able to see the vision of SpaceX come true” in his life, the Tesla CEO responded by saying, “I would like to live long enough to see that.”
On the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Mr Musk said that the US government had done a lot, but added, “We cannot let Putin take over Ukraine.”