Part IV
On Behalf of Humanity
There is something special—far more rewarding than money—about working with an epic team to make breakthroughs.690
Building Our Future
I can’t emphasize this enough: As long as we push hard and are not complacent, the future is going to be great.691
If you care about the reality of goodness instead of the perception of it, philanthropy is extremely difficult.
If philanthropy is acting from a love of humanity—my companies are philanthropy.692
Q: What do you say to people who criticize you for not “having your name on a hospital wing” or making other nonprofit donations?
I do have a small foundation. I am giving some money away. But generally, if there’s a way to fix something within the market system, building a company is the better way to do it. Sometimes there isn’t or there are complications to it.693
If it’s possible to solve a problem with a profitable venture then that’s the best thing to do. In the grand scheme of things, there are a few failures in the market that have to be addressed with a nonprofit. There are some, but not many.694
SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink, and the Boring Company are philanthropy. SpaceX is trying to ensure the long-term survival of humanity as a multiple-planet species. We also provide global internet through Starlink. That is love of humanity. Tesla is accelerating sustainable energy. This is a love-based mission. Neuralink is trying to help solve brain injuries and the existential risk of AI. That is love of humanity. The Boring Company is trying to save people’s time by solving traffic, which is hell for most people. That is also love of humanity.695
My fundamental intent is to improve the probability of the future being good. SpaceX and Tesla will do more good for humanity than anything I could do with philanthropy. It is difficult to give away money effectively if you care about the money actually doing good, not merely having the perception of doing good.696
Tesla sells twice as many electric vehicles as the rest of electric car makers in the United States combined. Tesla has done more to help the environment than all other companies combined. Therefore, it would be fair to say as a leader of that company I’ve done more for the environment than any other single human on Earth. I care about the reality of goodness, not the perception of it.
What I see all over the place is people who care about looking good while doing evil. Fuck them.697
I care about reality. Perception be damned.698