I tend to approach things from a physics framework. And physics teaches you to reason from first principles rather than by analogy.
Elon MuskRead
Going from PayPal, I thought: 'Well, what are some of the other problems that are likely to most affect the future of humanity?' Not from the perspective, 'What's the best way to make money?'
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes prioritizing the greater good of humanity over purely financial motivations.
Elon Musk reflects on his transition from working at PayPal to contemplating the larger challenges facing humanity. He suggests that instead of focusing solely on profit, one should consider how to solve significant problems that could impact the future of humanity, indicating a shift towards a more altruistic mindset in business and innovation.
In practice
This quote would be inspiring for a motivational speech at a technology conference.
I tend to approach things from a physics framework. And physics teaches you to reason from first principles rather than by analogy.
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.
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.
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.
Man has the power to act as his own destroyer - and that is the way he has acted through most of his history.
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.
Scars have the strange power to remind us that our past is real.
The moment I have realized God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him - that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.
Allowing the U.S. government to intimidate its people with threats of retaliation for revealing wrongdoing is contrary to the public interest.
I prefer to be accused unjustly, for then I have nothing to reproach myself with, and joyfully offer this to the good Lord. Then I humble myself at the thought that I am indeed capable of doing the thing of which I have been accused.
"I used to think the world was broken down by tribes," I said. "By black and white. By Indian and white. But I know that isn't true. The world is only broken into two tribes: The people who are assholes and the people who are not."
I never wanted to be Marilyn - it just happened. Marilyn's like a veil I wear over Norma Jeane.
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