Subjects / History
24 answers
“Orwell was incredible. However, as an idealistic young man, even he was initially captured by communism. Until he saw it firsthand in the Spanish civil war, he didn’t realize he was fighting for the bad guys.”
— Elon Musk, 5 June 2026 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
“I just bought Twitter because I thought it was having a negative effect on civilization…”
— Elon Musk, 14 November 2025 · Watch: Ron Baron and Elon Musk Discuss the Future · 19:22 ↗ · In the archive
“Exploring is a relatively minor factor, compared to making consciousness multiplanetary, as the latter greatly extends the probable lifespan of civilization”
— Elon Musk, 30 November 2024 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
“…it becomes obvious that the by far the biggest source of energy is the sun.”
— Elon Musk, 23 October 2024 · Watch: Tesla Q3 2024 earnings call (2024) · 28:06 ↗ · In the archive
“If civilization is reasonably stable for the next ~30 years, a self-sustaining city of a million+ people will be built on Mars”
— Elon Musk, 13 October 2024 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
“Legal immigration is great, illegal immigration where there are no checks regarding who is coming in is civilizational suicide”
— Elon Musk, 29 August 2024 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
“A declining birth rate happens towards the end of every civilization and is a function of extended prosperity. Caesar tried, and Augustus succeeded, in passing laws to encourage more children, but these were not enough.”
— Elon Musk, 30 July 2024 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
“…extremely important that we become a multi planet civilization and create a self sustaining city, ideally on Mars, because that's quite far away from Earth.”
— Elon Musk, 21 December 2023 · Watch: X Spaces with Cathie Wood (ARK Invest) (2023) · 1:31:43 ↗ · In the archive
“But the civilization can last for tens of thousands of years, perhaps hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of years.”
— Elon Musk, 21 December 2023 · Watch: X Spaces with Cathie Wood (ARK Invest) (2023) · 1:33:45 ↗ · In the archive
“…maybe there were many other civilizations, but they failed to pass the great filter of going from one planet to being a multi planet civilization.”
— Elon Musk, 21 December 2023 · Watch: X Spaces with Cathie Wood (ARK Invest) (2023) · 1:32:47 ↗ · In the archive
“…in order for a note to be shown, people who have historically disagreed must agree…”
— Elon Musk, 2 November 2023 · Watch: In Conversation with Rishi Sunak · 24:55 ↗ · In the archive
“Low birthrate is under-appreciated as causal in the fall of civilizations. Rome was having birth rate issues even during the reign of Caesar.”
— Elon Musk, 17 April 2023 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
“Free speech is the bedrock of democracy. It is a fundamental defense against autocracy & statism, which is why we must fight so hard to preserve it. The founders showed great wisdom, based on painful historical lessons, in passing the First Amendment.”
— Elon Musk, 18 February 2023 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
“According to Obama’s DoJ, the Ferguson shooting was unequivocally self-defense, so the Ferguson protests were – if you believe Obama’s DoJ – based on a false premise. That’s not to say that other injustices don’t occur, but this does not appear to be one of them. @CommunityNotes …”
— Elon Musk, 23 November 2022 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
“20 to 30 years from first human landing if launch rate growth is exponential… Assumes transferring ~100k each rendezvous and ~1M total people needed.”
— Elon Musk, 15 July 2022 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
“Most people still think China has a one-child policy. China had its lowest birthdate ever last year, despite having a three-child policy! At current birth rates, China will lose ~40% of people every generation! Population collapse.”
— Elon Musk, 6 June 2022 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
“We should be much more worried about population collapse Population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming”
— Elon Musk, 18 January 2022 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
“Origin of Doge Day Afternoon: The ancient Romans sacrificed a Dogecoin at the beginning of the Doge Days to appease the rage of Sirius, believing that the star was the cause of the hot, sultry weather.”
— Elon Musk, 13 March 2021 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
“I think the important part is just that we get people there and we get the equipment necessary to establish a self sustaining civilization, at least one self sustaining city.”
— Elon Musk, 31 January 2021 · Watch: Clubhouse conversation (The Good Time Show) (2021) · 10:16 ↗ · In the archive
“…civilization will end our games will be so realistic that you can't tell the difference…”
— Elon Musk, 13 June 2019 · Watch: E3 Coliseum · 29:28 ↗ · In the archive
“Crazy, that was over 22 years ago. Thanks for believing in us!”
— Elon Musk, 20 June 2018 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
“This is completely false. Never even heard of Cortica. Just taking my kids on a Spring Break trip to see ancient historical sites in Israel & Jordan.”
— Elon Musk, 20 March 2018 · Post on X ↗ · In the archive
“From the point at which the first ship goes to Mars, it's probably somewhere between 20 to 50 total Mars rendezvous. So it's probably somewhere between maybe 40 to 100 years to achieve a fully self-sustaining civilization on Mars.”
— Elon Musk, 27 September 2016 · Watch: IAC 2016 — Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species · 26:25 ↗ · In the archive
“I actually think that the most likely outcome is that humanity will last for a long time…”
— Elon Musk, 23 March 2011 · Watch: The Economist Ideas Economy: Innovation (Berkeley) · 2:13 ↗ · In the archive