Atreju Festival

[Applause] hello everyone it's [Applause] okay very strong message you right here with your son one of your son so demographic for us is so important yes I I you know I think this is important to always photography just a moment sorry sorry about that just a moment phph stand [Applause] where Fantastico great we can manage we can manage I'll see you soon H all right all right great well hey [Music] guys all right we're really excited because 12 hour how how long is the trip from hos to Here by plate I I think it's about uh eight eight or nine hours okay so you're fresh like in the first morning yeah exactly so first question is about demography and uh I spoke with you in the past about that and I think it's very important for you and you pointed on that

a lot of your discussion and your purpose is it yeah I I think I you know I really want to emphasize that it's important to have children and to create the new generation and as simple as it sounds if people do not have children there is no new generation so um so I I I very very much strongly recommend that um you know I'm very much in favor of uh Humanity expanding and creating a bright and exciting future for the world and um but but but fundamental to the furtherance of human civilization is having humans as as simple and basic as that sounds um and uh you know every year I look at the uh the birth rates and I'm like it's it's kind of a bit depressing because uh birth rates seem to decline every year um and I I think uh you know that perhaps my my

biggest advice um to leaders to government leaders and and and to to the people in general would would be to make sure to have children to create the new generation um and I think any any incentives that can be done to incent the new generation to make it easier uh for woman to have children um and to support the children I think would be uh very wise um this is so fundamental uh and uh I really can't emphasize that enough if if if you don't have a new generation there is no New Generation Um or with current birth rates I think it may be the generations are are birth rate is maybe half half of the replacement rate and what that means is in three generations the population will be one roughly roughly oneth of its current size in three generations maybe

four generations the you the population will be one tenth of its current size so I I I I always um want to emphasize this point because it is so basic and fundamental that if if if there's not at least a birth rate which is keeping population constant then uh a people will will will disappear um disappear Mr M disappear disappear we have a lot of immigration somebody says that immigration is important for that reason what what's your point on that immigrations is coming in Europe and is coming in America from the south of America and the Europe from the south of the Mediterranean Sea what do you think about that well I I think one can't depend on other countries for immigration and in fact if you look at say the the population worldwide um and this is

almost everywhere in the world and it seems to be a function of how um once a country industrializes once a country urbanizes the population uh immediately starts to decline um so one could say for example um like like China could not possibly solve uh its population with uh immigration because if you you know China is currently tracking to be maybe lose 40% of its population every generation you know that would be 700 million 800 million people um or 700 roughly 7 6 700 million people it's a lot basically you'd have to have the entire United States immigrate there twice every generation to Simply maintain numbers just for China so immigration the there simply Aren't Enough numbers in Immigration um and I I think I think there is value to to a culture

uh you know and and we don't want cultures we don't want Japan to disappear we don't want Italy as a culture to disappear we don't want France as a culture to disappear I think we have to have the maintain the sort of reasonable cultural uh identity of the various countries um or they simply will not be those countries um you know Italy is it Italy is the people of Italy the buildings are there but but really what is Italy Italy is the people of [Applause] Italy so I I mean I just think it's a and and I I speak as someone who is very much um very much an I'm an En environmentalist I and I believe in having you know building a sustainable future for the world um I think there are very few people who as as an individual who have done more than than I have

for to help the environment with electric cars and solar and and uh batteries to create a sustainable energy future because we absolutely need a sustainable energy future um [Laughter] but but but there is an aspect of the environmental movement that I think has gone too far um really said from you yes so said for me you know I think I am objectively one of the world's leading environmentalists in terms of doing things not i' say so like I'm an En environmentalist who does things of talk of action not talk I act um so so I feel I could say as uh as an environmentalist that the environmentalist movement has gone too far um and in that if if you in the natural extension of the environmentalist movement if you go too far you start to look at Humanity as

a bad thing you start to look at Humanity as though we are a plague on the surface of the Earth um as though humanity is a bad thing and in fact there are some people who think and and say explicitly that um in fact there was on the front page of the New York Times there was a guy who said There are 8 billion people on Earth it would be better if there were none which is crazy definitely um so you told me a joke about that you told me once a joke about the cows and the problem with the cows you remember that oh yeah don't worry about the cows cows are fine cows are not going to destroy the environment cows are fine yeah uh yes you know we have a lot of a lot of lows European laws against uh all the people who work with them you know is a big issue for

us because it seems green issue but is a very industrial issue for us yeah I think farming and cows are not do not have a any meaningful effect on the environment yes underline please I I yes objectively this is true so so the if you say like there's there's really only one thing that matters from an environmental standpoint uh for carbon which is that we are taking uh billions eventually trillions of tons of carbon from very deep with it under the Earth and putting transferring it to the atmosphere and oceans that's the that's actually really all that matters is is taking um vast amounts of carbon from underground where it's buried and moving it into the atmosphere by burning it um and if you do that for long enough eventually you will get climate change

now I think the climate change alarm is a little somewhat uh overblown in the short term it's still a concern in the long term but I think it's exaggerated in the short term great um now now I have to I'm trying to thread the the needle here between what uh you know like what is pragmatic and what is sensible what really matters and what doesn't matter what really matters is that over the long term over the course of the next uh several decades that we gradually reduce how how many M millions and billions of tons of of carbon that we remov from underground to the atmosphere because we're running sort of a climate experiment that is dangerous um but but I also don't think that I think of it as a a fundamental civilizational risk it it is it's not going

to destroy life on Earth it's not going to destroy Humanity but will it will create uh hardship if you change the climate um o over many decades so it's it's it's I think my my my message is like I think much more pragmatic and and I think I think correct and sensible um and I and I don't think we should uh demonize oil and gas I think we we should say look that is obviously necessary in the short term um and the medium-term too and it'll be take several decades to become sustainable so I think if we just without getting too worried about it uh seek to have a sustainable energy future um gradually then that's what will happen um and so but I think that some of the environmentalist movement has is part of what is causing people to lose hope in the future

so I guess what I'm trying to say is that we should have hope in the future we should be excited about the future and we should build the future we want what about um Elon you call it um the walk mind yes your is the name you gave to that that Island Walk mind uh illness what's that virus yeah so so it's coming to Europe I have to advise you H yes well this is not something you should import from America please don't import the W M virus is bad um so the I mean essentially that to summarize maybe the workm virus it consists of creating very very divisive um identity politics so it actually amplifies what virus M virus in my view amplifies racism amplifies uh frankly sexism and all the isms and while claiming to do the opposite it it actually divides people

and makes them uh sort of hate each other and it makes people hate themselves um and it's also anti- meritocratic it's not like um you know it's not Merit based so you want you want to have people succeed based on how hard they work and the talents not who they are whether they're man woman what what what race or you know gender what none that stuff is all creating it's an artificial uh you know mental Civil War that is created um and it's not and let me it's no fun okay it is like it is like w mind virus and fun are incompatible there's no fun in that no joy it's it's w virus is all about condemning people instead of celebrating people um you know like when in the work it just doesn't celebrate it's all about condemning and being divisive and and being

uh just I think it's just evil frankly really yeah yeah it's bad so bad yeah but have you get a lot of problems saying so on on your social in Exel have this point of view you are good friend of Obama administration and now they don't really like you so much for for this kind of speech you do in public or not I don't know I I mean I I just um I'm very I'm very pro-human I'm very Pro civilization I I'm in favor of uh Humanity um and and our Collective Consciousness expanding um on Earth and going beyond Earth um being a multiplanetary civilization and being out there among the stars and finding out the nature of the universe like all the things that you know it's that seems like to me an you know exciting thing something you can get really excited about

is is you're going to get excited like we want to have ideas that make you look forward to waking up in the morning look forward to the day look forward to the future and you know so so you have to say what what excites you about the future what moves your heart about the future what makes you say like yes I'm glad about what will happen in the future that's what we must you know focus on and that's that's why we have to have a new generation we've got to build and we got to grow and and uh like I said we understand this understand the the the the nature of this beautiful universe that we find ourselves in and the meaning of life or even what questions to ask about you know meaning of life um let us explore this wondrous creation and and have a good time

doing it yeah that's my philosophy let me let me go back for a little because I want to ask you about your perception of Europe as a building not as as people because Europe do a lot of L want a lot of integration of cultures different cultures and has different approach to the immigration we heard Melone did a lot on that with Premier Ram I see in the first line of Albania what do you think about the this approach of Europe approach as building I would say as an establish well I I should say like on to be clear on on immigration overall I'm I'm very much in favor of legal immigration I think that um generally I think which one should welcome come to a country anyone who is willing to work hard uh and is honest you know has high integrity and will add

to you know any given country if somebody is an asset to the country why not have them join that's obviously a great thing to do um so I think it's good actually to uh have an increase in legal immigration and and a simple legal with paper with yeah just some some approval process um but with a simple requirement that look if somebody's going to add to a country um like just really hardworking and H high integrity let them in I think that's great um but if there's if it's illegal immigration and there's no filter well how do you know who's coming and you don't know so you you have to have some you know uh basis for saying somebody should come in or not come in and and and and my argument is like it should be a very simple basis are will they will will

they add to the country will they be a productive part of the economy and um do they admire the culture do they want to join because of the culture uh then that's great um but if you know if there's no process for that then you don't know I think you know at least some number of the people that come in will will not be necessarily uh and I want to be careful because my words will be misconstrued I'm not saying all illegal immigrants are are are are bad I think probably perhaps most of them are good but but there will be some if there's no process for reviewing not at all then how can you say that everyone who is an illegal immigrant is is going to be honest and hardworking you can't say that because you simply don't know um so so I want to be clear top

line pro-immigration but but let's increase legal immigration but but we should stop illegal immigration I think this is just logical you you have a lot of company so sry you can drink because I want to do the list of the companies you have five seven minutes to do that I mean I'm joking with space x x n link so many X's all the X's guess what my favorite letter is okay X I guess it's a good place to invest Italy and it's a good place place to invest some of I mean not your money but some investment from your company of the American companies of the I would say competitive companies in this place what's your opinion no I mean I think Italy is an incredible country incredible culture I love I love visiting I love the Italian people I think you guys are

amazing than soia so um so I I I I want I you know personally I want I want the actually I want the prosperity of itah and I want the prosperity of every country um I want the prosperity of humanity as a whole and and like I said I want us to have an exciting uh future where we're we're fired up about what's going to happen and really excited so uh you know and and I think um you know Italy is a great place to invest it's a great uh you know great country um and uh but but I I do want to emphasize that the the that I I do worry that about the the low birth rate and you know if if a if a company is to invest in Italy they're like well you have to say like will there be enough people to work there you know it's simple question you know if if if the workforce

is declining then if the workforce is declining then then there then who will work at the company if there's no people is no people to work yeah but I mean in 5050 years 60 no no I think it's even sooner than that though you know you're so worried about that is the problem I I feel like a total Cassandra here um because like I seem to be worried about it much more than other people um but you know there just uh needs to be people if you don't make a new generation of people there is no new generation of people so that's it I I know I'm I'm I'm being you know being repetitive here um but um I'm just I'm just trying to state state facts you know so and uh yeah so it's a good place to invest I no I agree it's a good place to invest um and uh a wonderful

country so um please make more talian is what I'm saying you said once that the internet is the is the system is the n i i i write down the your word the nervous system of humanity what's it you said once to me and what's intelligence for you sorry the int artificial if that is the nervous system inell artificial intelligence what's I mean use another metaphor uh you asked me what do I think of artificial intelligence um obviously well you can think of artificial intelligence as um this is perhaps the you the biggest inflection point in intelligence since Homo sapiens um yeah yeah yeah um artificial intelligence is will be essentially sort of a a new species or is a new species um so I think one of the biggest challeng is if if I look at say civilizational

risk um you know the the risk to the future of humanity um you know birth rate is one of them if we just don't have kids and dwindle away um that's one which I've talked a lot about the other is uh you know there's always like potentially nuclear war of course that kind of thing um the uh then AI is also an existential risk and we need to be um I think we need to be careful with the Advent of AI um it but it is very much it's it's very much a double-edged sword you can think of AI as kind of like the magic Genie you know that like digital superintelligence will be capable of doing anything anything pretty much anything but he doesn't have any Consciousness I'm I'm wondering about that I mean there is a whole question of like what is consciousness in fact

so here's like I always I thought a lot about what is consciousness and where does Consciousness arise um you know to say like because I I think in terms of physics you know um and at least if physics is true then we go from a side of the universe where things are almost entirely hydrogen and then if you leave the hydrogen out long enough eventually it co leses into stars and then those stars explode and then they re recondense um you know so so Mo like most of the mass in your body is was once at the center of a star which is kind of wild billions of years ago and so so where where along the lines of of hydrogen to human does Consciousness arise you get very serious when you speak about that yeah it's a real question if you leave hydrogen out in the

sun long enough it it starts talking to itself here we are hydrogen talking to itself how to deal with that so if it is so important how to deal I mean lows um personal Behavior how to deal with that artificial intelligence because it's a process I mean I think we need to keep keep a close eye on artificial intelligence um I mean I'm in favor of some regulatory Insight uh just so that there's someone can at least um be a referee like if you think of any game like there's always a referee for a game for for industries that affect the good of the people there's are there are regulatory agencies that oversee those Industries anything that's dangerous is overseen by uh some kind of referee or regulator um I think we should have the same thing for AI um just

to to help ensure that it is beneficial um the the good part of AI is that we are headed for a future of abundance um so Ai and Robotics will mean that there will no shortage of goods and services you there there will be goods and services if you can think of it you can have it basically so this is uh quite profound like I said it's the magic G um Ai Ai and Robotics will get you anything you want um now usually in these sort of fairy tales about magic Genies it doesn't turn out so well um you have to be careful what you wish for even if what you wish for or wishes um [Music] so it's just something we should be cautious about okay um on the plus side it's will bring many benefits like I said it will usher in an age of abundance um so the positive scenario

of AI is that there's an age of abundance and there's no shortage of goods and services that any scarcity that is that exists will be only because we Define it to be scarce so and it it does seem to be somewhat of an inevitable thing uh AI so you know there's that supposedly that that Chinese saying about uh may you live an interesting times well I think we currently live in the most interesting of times in all of history right now um so anyway so my recommendation on AI I think we want some kind of regulatory oversight just to make sure um that it's beneficial AI great we hope so and what about the governments like um I mean they are elected by people like meloney and this government and the other government they have any risks or what do you think about

these challenge for the for the executive of the Nations about all these new U process sorry I'm not sure I understand the question what's re for the government of this artificial intelligence are there any risks I mean that democracy is finished well I I think there's certainly risk of artificial intelligence um affecting voting opinion I suppose and manipulating public opinion um so I think there's there's some risk of yeah a AI um in the public I think that's that's the of that um so yeah um okay you know but I think Pro like like I said 80% probable that AI is beneficial 20% harmful okay something like that I I'm I'm always worried because you know we have a new government this two years this government almost two years and we have a Europe for us

is our artificial intelligence it seems like artificial intelligence but it's not very intellig ENT sometimes Europe and so I'm wondering what do you think about the government and about Europe for us is so important the relation and understand artificial intelligence and the future but in the present we have laws uh you know constraints that comes from Europe what do you think about that if you have any opinion on that what do you think about Italian government which is trying to have a position I would say a position money I don't know if there more than a position you want me to be more tough than a position it's okay what do you think it's it's good to have a position in Europe to be uh I mean I would say different from a main course of European politics

um do you mean do you mean like country decisions versus EU decisions or decision about green about the politics immigration oh I mean there's a separate question of like I think regulations in Europe um there are too many regulations in in general not I'm not speaking about specific case of AI I I think one could look at this as overall a fundamental function of of a stable civilization the long the longer that any given civilization is stable and does not have a a big war the more rules and regulations will accumulate over time so rules regulations laws they are Immortal they never die so but people die so if every year um more and more rules regulations and laws are added uh you you will eventually make everything illegal um and you can think of it

sort of like gala's travels where galiva if if the nation is galiva is being tied down by one little regulatory string at a time and eventually you have millions of strings and then the giant can't move and so and I think there needs to be uh something where we uh Delete rules regulations and laws um because if we keep if we simply if all we do is add them eventually we will be able to do nothing okay sh sh shall I do some question about your companies because here there are all the young people not only the young people from important important Italian party and they most most of them use the social network they use x and I I I saw in the past days that the the CEO of Disney said I don't want to invest any advertising on X and he's Investing For example

in the meta in Instagram and he said that there are problems of I don't know which kind of problem they find on next compar I want child exploitation on yeah what what's what's going on and why why an import investor like Disney said something so tough on on X what's going on there well I think first of all I think X will be will be fine um and um we are actually already seeing um advertisers return to okay to X um so I guess they were I don't know upset with something I said or something I don't know um but um they you know advertisers I think are the brand advertisers are a little they're always worried about their brand and um you know maybe I think maybe a bit more than they should be um but I think it's a short-term issue um like I said the advertisers

sometimes get upset but then they usually calm down and they return to advertising so um come on you know that there is the walk virus over the well oh yes I have to say I don't want to answer it for you yeah yeah no no you're right you're right the if if we're going to fight the work mind virus then the work mind virus will fight back and unfortunately Disney is deeply infected with the work mind virus in fact if you ask an AI what is the most work company on Earth it's Disney you know but and and you have to say what would I mean I think they should be asking themselves what would Walt Disney think of Disney today I think he's turning in his I think he's not happy sure sure you know if if the namesake of the company is not happy that's probably a bad

sign you know because Walt Disney what did he care about he cared about bringing joy to people's lives he ped you know um making wonderful things that children and families could enjoy um and uh you know it was it created some of the the coolest um uh you know art in the world and stuff that even 100 years after it's created we still remember it and it's still it's still a major thing you have to say how great was Walt Disney it was amazing um but now Disney at least point now is deeply infected with the workm virus I think that will you know that will change over yeah oh I hope so he right the European commission they're not investing on X you know that maybe there a little they got the work mind virus too yeah you don't care I I I think so you know

and and and it's like why are they importing this this crazy thing from America you know it's like it's just some thing that was created basically by sort of far-left crazy people in US colleges and now it's spreading all over the world um and it's it's like you you know like the thing is the work myv it's it's not a message of Joy it's a it's a message of division sure it's not a message of love it's a message message of hate and I was like and so I'm like I I'm like like you know let's uh I don't know I'm in favor of like let's have a future that's got more love more like more and I let us build a fun exciting future and and and work by vir it's all about condemning one group and condemning this condemning that it's like and and and and it's also like

just being like a it just wants to scold you all the time and and treat you like a you know I don't know who wants to be scold it you know it's not fun um so anyway um I think we want to you know have a like so I guess at its heart my concern is that the workb virus is anti- civilizational um and of civilization anti- civilization I think civilization sure but if it represents a cost for your company what's you know you have a tradeoff between the cost of your position and the and the cost for the company what's your choice and what how how much is important in your behavior the the Free Speech uh standing that's the question I I do think free speech is incredibly important because if people cannot speak their minds um and then we we won't have a democracy

democracy is the foundation of democracy is free freedom of speech but also saying [Applause] something so Andrea Andrea stro is laughing at that because he knows that it's so important for you but tell me more about the Free Speech because here is very important person here couldn't speech for a lot of people because they were considered Mavericks and worse than that free speech for everybody is important not just for the person who say the right things correct exactly no no exactly the Free Speech means that free free speech is only relevant free speech is only meaningful when if if you allow people you don't like to say things you don't like so that's how you know it's working you know that's how you know it's working um because it as once you start

to censor uh people you don't like saying things you don't like it's only a matter of time before that censorship turns on you eventually you know live by the sword Die By The Sword live by censorship die by censorship [Applause] [Music] [Applause] yeah why you spoke about free you bought Twitter for the free speeech just for the Free Speech not for the business inside you bought oh yeah yeah well I mean here's the thing so um you know I think you have to say like if civilization is not strong if civilization doesn't grow um then nothing else matters you know prophets don't matter if civilization collapses there's there's no profits there's no you know you we we are not we we cannot exist absent civilization so sometimes may people may say like well is

this an altruistic thing I mean I think it's for me it feels altruistic but even if it's even if one is not altruistic even if one is very uh self-centered um you have to say if you simply think long term you have to be Pro civilization because you cannot exist without civilization okay how how important from 0 to 10 in the scale from 0 to 10 money you are the richest person in the world how is important money for you from 0 to 10 zero is the less important and is is the good word I don't know I don't want to one or two or something no come on no I mean you have one or two just just one or two well if you say like the I mean the the reason I guess I have what so-called wealth or it's really just shares in the company is that I've created these companies

you know and these companies like SpaceX and Tesla Tesla is 140,000 Jobs Direct uh worldwide and I five times that number maybe maybe almost a million jobs when you look at the whole supply chain for is what Tesla's created and then SpaceX is is about 15,000 people and also you know like maybe a full total supply chain 50,000 people so you know I mean I've basically W with the help of many talented people built these companies and then the the so-called these these wealth statistics simply they simply add up what the ownership is in the companies and say okay this is a certain amount of money but I don't actually have that in money I have it in stock I just it's just it's just that the companies have succeeded um but how was the last the last launch of

the SpaceX tell me something last question please joavan the last launch I see ma there sitting on the floor why are you sitting on the floor are you worried about the highness [Music] Mar how was the last launch was a you were optimist about your SpaceX the big big yeah so well well Starship so the the the the exciting thing about Starship is that it's the first rocket design that could make life multiplanetary that could enable a self- sustaining um base on the moon and a city on Mars um so because it is is not just a very large vehicle but it is designed for full and Rapid reusability um so that would um lower the cost of access to space by I don't know maybe 100 or more and so and basically it's it's the first rocket that is capable of um building

a base on Mars and a base on the Moon yes that's that's that's [Applause] yeah so you know you know there's the the the great Italian physicist Enrico FY I'm I'm a big admirer of FY and he had uh he was very good at asking profound questions questions um and one of his questions which is called the fmy Paradox is where are the aliens and one of the explanations is that and perhaps I think the one that I think is most appears to be most accurate is that Consciousness is extremely rare that it's you know we we people often ask me have I do I know about aliens or something like that you know I get asked that a lot um and the crazy thing is that I've seen no evidence of aliens whatsoever um this this means that I think most likely at least in this part of

the Galaxy um we are the only Consciousness that exists and so you can think of human consciousness really as like a a tiny candle in a vast darkness and we must do everything we can to ensure that the candle does not go out great we can finish with that we can finish with that okay we can finish with this oh and so so um it's worth reading about the FY Paradox and because people have thought very hard about this um because there are these because one of the things is like well maybe they are these great filters and and and and these civilizations don't pass these filters one of the filters is um do we become a multiplet species or not if we do not become a multiplet species then eventually at some point something will happen to the planet either it will

be uh man-made or it will be uh something natural like a a meteor like whatever killed the dinosaurs for example so and then eventually the sun will actually expand and will destroy all life on Earth so if one cares about life on Earth at all we should care about becoming a multiplet species and eventually going out there and becoming a multi- stellar species and having many Star systems you know we we we want the exciting parts of Science Fiction to not be fiction forever we want to make them real and um yeah great so thank you very much El give me give me your glass give me your glass for you