Elon Musk had admitted that one of his biggest worries is the fall of civilization — and yet he listens to podcasts about that scenario to help him fall asleep at night.
In a conversation at the Milken Global Conference in Los Angeles on Monday, the Tesla titan described his odd habit to Michael Milden, the chair of the institute.
"I listen to podcasts about the fall of civilizations to fall asleep," he said in answer to what keeps him up at night.
"Anything that's a civilizational risk" and "anything that undermines the foundations of democracy in America or elsewhere" as well as "anything that's leading us away from a merit-based system," he explained about his deepest concerns.
The South African-born entrepreneur said it's his belief artificial intelligence, declining birth rates or a "single world government" are among factors that could lead to the collapse of civilization.
The U.K. news outlet the Independent noted that Musk has previously predicted in 2017 that "over time I think we will probably see a closer merger of biological intelligence and digital intelligence."
And he's working on that prospect, announcing in January the first human had received a brain implant from his Neuralink company.
At the Milken conference, Musk also argued it's "very important" we build AI "in a way that is beneficial to humanity" — and ensure it shouldn't be taught "to say things that are not true. Even if those things are politically incorrect, it should still say what it believes to be true."
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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