Gary Zhou 
Elon Musk recently used Clubhouse, a drop-in audio chat service, to talk about a number of interesting topics. The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX spoke during the session about the Mars ambitions of SpaceX, aliens and UFOs, cryptocurrency, Neuralink, use of Lidar, and more.
When asked about the SpaceX Mars project, Musk noted that he aims to get to the red planet. He stressed that traveling to Mars would not be a journey for the faint-hearted, as he said it would be difficult and risky to get to the planet alone. He also stated that although it currently takes about six months to get to Mars, SpaceX is looking to bring down this trip in the future to just about one month.
Amusingly enough, Musk’s space discussions finally led to conversations about aliens and UFOs, to which the CEO reacted positively. Musk noted that while no single piece of definitive evidence exists that aliens currently exist today, this does not indicate that humans are certainly alone in the world. The CEO also poked fun at the usually fuzzy UFO sighting images, as he noted that any strong extraterrestrial evidence should provide very direct pictures.
“When people say that there are sightings of aliens, I say, ‘Listen man, the resolution of the picture needs to be at least 7/11 ATM good, okay? We can’t have that Loch Ness monster b*llsh*t. It’s like, c’mon, is that like a 500-megapixel camera or what? What are you talking about? Where’d you find that thing? It’s got to be at least like an iPhone 6-level camera,’” Musk joked.
Musk also shared some details about his companies, such as Neuralink, in addition to his discussions on Mars and his jokes about UFO sightings, which he noted would be important to at least encourage humans to keep pace with a benevolent AI. He stated that in about a month or so, Neuralink will probably be releasing some new videos showing its development, which is very exciting considering the work done by the startup. The CEO also discussed cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Dogecoin, with Musk joking that since fate loves irony, if DOGE becomes the currency of Earth in the future, it will be quite amusing.
Musk spent some time debating issues such as Tesla’s battery plans and his position on Lidar that had already been discussed in the past. Yet if one part of the session stood out, it was when the CEO shared some insights into why few people like him exist. Musk clarified that his journey is one that is painful and challenging for the faint-hearted, and certainly not for most. “I felt a strong propulsion to do the things I’ve done. There are sections of my life that were long and painful and I’m not sure people would wanna do that… If you need encouraging words, don’t do a start up. Doing a start up is like eating glass and staring into the abyss,” Musk said.
Musk noted that a lot of what he does is actually not fun, though he did mention that he enjoys in-person meetings far more than email communications. “Anything’s better than meal frankly,” Musk said, adding that context switching is a “mind killer.” “It’s hard to switch between Tesla and SpaceX,” he added. Later during the session, Musk noted that he is thinking of probably taking a week off at some point to breathe and relax a little, and perhaps write a book of his experiences in the future.
Elon Musk’s Clubhouse session could be accessed below.
