I tend to approach things from a physics framework. And physics teaches you to reason from first principles rather than by analogy.
Elon MuskRead
Government isn't that good at rapid advancement of technology. It tends to be better at funding basic research. To have things take off, you've got to have commercial companies do it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Governments are more effective at funding foundational research than at driving rapid technological progress, which relies on commercial enterprise.
In this quote, Elon Musk suggests that while government funding is essential for supporting basic scientific research, the real acceleration of technology occurs when commercial companies take the lead. He emphasizes the importance of the private sector in transforming foundational discoveries into innovative products and services that can rapidly advance society.
Themes
GovernmentTechnologyInnovationCommercialResearch
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on the role of government in tech advancement at a conference.
More from Elon Musk
All quotes βThe United States is definitely ahead in culture of innovation. If someone wants to accomplish great things, there is no better place than the U.S.
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The space shuttle was often used as an example of why you shouldn't even attempt to make something reusable. But one failed experiment does not invalidate the greater goal. If that was the case, we'd never have had the light bulb.
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The reality is gas prices should be much more expensive then they are because we're not incorporating the true damage to the environment and the hidden costs of mining oil and transporting it to the U.S. Whenever you have an unpriced externality, you have a bit of a market failure, to the degree that eternality remains unpriced.
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Man has the power to act as his own destroyer - and that is the way he has acted through most of his history.
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I've actually made a prediction that within 30 years a majority of new cars made in the United States will be electric. And I don't mean hybrid, I mean fully electric.
Elon MuskRead
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