I’ve actually not read any books on time management.
I wouldn’t say I have a lack of fear. In fact, I’d like my fear emotion to be less because it’s very distracting and fries my nervous system.
So, there’s quite a big keep-out zone, and when you factor the keep-out zone into account, the solar panels put on that area would typically generate more power than that nuclear power plant.
The primary means of energy generation is going to solar. It will at least be a plurality, and probably be a slight majority in the long term.
We have this handy fusion reactor in the sky called the sun, you don’t have to do anything, it just works. It shows up every day.
I think there are too many smart people pursuing internet stuff, finance, and law. That is part of the reason why we haven’t seen as much innovation.
That’s my lesson for taking a vacation: vacation will kill you.
Constantly seek criticism. A well thought out critique of what you’re doing is as valuable as gold.
The key test for an acronym is to ask whether it helps or hurts communication.
Well, my motivation behind Tesla is really to do as much good as possible for the environment and the electric-vehicle revolution. I think there is still a lot of work to do and if we were to sell to a big company, I’m not sure it would progress at the same pace.
Biofuels such as ethanol require enormous amounts of cropland and end up displacing either food crops or natural wilderness, neither of which is good.
What I’m trying to do is to maximise the probability of the future being better.
When we got Tesla going at the very beginning, if you asked me what I thought the odds of success were, I would have said less than 50%. I would have said that failure is the most likely outcome.
Actively seek out and listen carefully to negative feedback.
People will buy the car just because it’s a great car. We want them to think it’s excellent value for money and then, oh yeah, it happens to be electric.
The overarching goal of Tesla is to help reduce carbon emissions and that means low cost and high volume. We will also serve as an example to the auto industry, proving that the technology really works and customers want to buy electric vehicles.
My mentality is that of a samurai. I would rather commit seppuku than fail.
Don’t just follow the trend. You may have heard me say that it’s good to think in terms of the physics approach of first principles. Which is, rather than reasoning by analogy, you boil things down to the most fundamental truths you can imagine and you reason up from there.
We have a strict ‘no a-hole policy’ at SpaceX. And we fire people if they are. I mean, we give them a little bit of warning. But if they continue to be an a-hole, then they’re fired.
Engineering is the closest thing to magic that exists in the world.