I tend to approach things from a physics framework. And physics teaches you to reason from first principles rather than by analogy.
Elon MuskRead
If you look at our current technology level, something strange has to happen to civilisations, and I mean strange in a bad way. And it could be that there are a whole lot of dead, one-planet civilisations.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that civilizations may face dire consequences due to their technological advancements.
Elon Musk's quote highlights the potential dangers that civilizations might encounter as they reach advanced technological levels. He posits that something detrimental could occur, resulting in numerous civilizations being unable to survive, leading to a situation where many may remain as 'one-planet' entities, ultimately failing to progress or thrive significantly.
Themes
CivilizationsTechnologyDangerSurvivalStrange
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the future of technology and its implications for humanity.
More from Elon Musk
All quotes →The United States is definitely ahead in culture of innovation. If someone wants to accomplish great things, there is no better place than the U.S.
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The space shuttle was often used as an example of why you shouldn't even attempt to make something reusable. But one failed experiment does not invalidate the greater goal. If that was the case, we'd never have had the light bulb.
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The reality is gas prices should be much more expensive then they are because we're not incorporating the true damage to the environment and the hidden costs of mining oil and transporting it to the U.S. Whenever you have an unpriced externality, you have a bit of a market failure, to the degree that eternality remains unpriced.
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Man has the power to act as his own destroyer - and that is the way he has acted through most of his history.
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I've actually made a prediction that within 30 years a majority of new cars made in the United States will be electric. And I don't mean hybrid, I mean fully electric.
Elon MuskRead
Similar quotes
Maybe it's naive to say, but it almost seems like, in the past, people tried to sell you something you would actually need, like a hammer or a broom or a toothbrush. But now there's this notion that they can sell you anything. And all they have to do is convince you that you need it.
Tracy ChapmanRead
It [AI] would take off on its own and redesign itself at an ever increasing rate. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn't compete and would be superseded.
Stephen HawkingRead
The Open Source theorem says that if you give away source code, innovation will occur. Certainly, Unix was done this way... However, the corollary states that the innovation will occur elsewhere. No matter how many people you hire. So the only way to get close to the state of the art is to give the people who are going to be doing the innovative things the means to do it. That's why we had built-in source code with Unix. Open source is tapping the energy that's out there.
Bill JoyRead
I like going to Burning Man, for example. An environment where people can try new things. I think as technologists we should have some safe places where we can try out new things and figure out the effect on society. What's the effect on people, without having to deploy it to the whole world.
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What it comes down to for me is this: Will the technologies of communication in our culture, serve to enlighten us and help us to understand one another better, or will they deceive us and keep us apart?
Roger WatersRead