Photo by Nikhil Kamath on YouTube
Will We Still Need to Work in the Future?
This is likely the topic everyone cares about most. In the interview, Elon Musk dropped a bombshell: Within the next 10 to 20 years (perhaps even as soon as 10-15 years), work will become “Optional”.
What Does This Mean?
Simply put, with the rapid advancement of AI and Robotics, the cost of producing goods and services will drop to extremely low levels, while efficiency will be incredibly high. By then, we will no longer work for “survival” (making money to buy food), but because we “want” to do it.
He used a very interesting analogy: Gardening.
We can go to the supermarket to buy vegetables anytime; it’s convenient and cheap. But why do some people still like to grow vegetables in their own backyard? Because it’s a hobby, it’s a pleasure.
Future “work” will become like this. We can hand over those boring, repetitive, and dangerous tasks to AI and robots, while humans focus on things we find meaningful and creative.
| Period | Nature of Work | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| Now (Survival Mode) | Survival Necessity | To earn money, support a family |
| Future (Creative Mode) | Leisure Hobby | For interest, self-realization |
From UBI to UHI
You may have heard of “Universal Basic Income” (UBI), but Musk believes the future will be “Universal High Income” (UHI).
Why? Because once Scarcity is eliminated, the resources available to each of us will be extremely abundant. “If you can think of it, you can have it.”
This sounds like the “Post-Scarcity Society” in science fiction, but Musk believes this is the inevitable result of AI development.
Will Money Really Disappear?
Since work becomes a hobby, what about “money”? Musk’s view is even more radical: The concept of money may eventually disappear.
Why Would Money Disappear?
You might think: “How is that possible? How can we buy things without money?”
This goes back to the essence of money. Musk believes that money is just “an information system for labor allocation”.
Let’s do a thought experiment: If you were stranded alone on a desert island, would a trillion dollars be useful? It would be completely useless. Because there is no other labor on the island for you to allocate, and you cannot buy any services.
So, if in the future world:
- No human labor needs to be allocated (robots are doing it all).
- Resources are infinitely abundant (robot productivity is exploding).
Then this “accounting system” (money) loses its meaning of existence.
So What Will Be the Future Currency?
If money disappears, what is the real hard currency? The answer Musk gives is: Energy.
Because in a highly automated world, what drives all computation, production, and robot operation is energy. Energy is a hard limit in physics; you cannot conjure energy out of thin air through legislation, you must actually produce it.
This is also why he values Energy Autonomy and Solar Power so much.
Are We Living in a Virtual World (Simulation)?
This is a cliché topic, but it sounds particularly convincing coming from Musk: Simulation Theory.
He believes the probability that we are living in “Base Reality” is infinitesimal. The reason is simple:
- Evolution of Games: Look at the game “Pong” from 50 years ago (just two rectangles and a dot), and then look at today’s AAA masterpieces, where the graphics are so realistic it’s hard to tell real from fake.
- Future Extrapolation: If we assume human civilization can continue to develop, we will definitely be able to create a simulated world identical to reality in the future.
The Most Entertaining Outcome is the Most Likely
Musk put forward a very interesting point: If there really is a creator (or simulator), which simulation would they keep?
The answer is: The interesting one.
Just like when we watch movies or play games, no one wants to see a boring plot. So, if you feel that the current world is absurd, dramatic, and often gives you the feeling of “who wrote this script?”, that might actually be a good thing.
The most entertaining outcome is the most likely.
This is probably the most humorous comfort for this chaotic world, right?
Why Build X and Collective Consciousness?
Back to his company, why did he buy Twitter and rename it X? Was it purely for free speech?
Actually, his ambition is bigger: he wants to build humanity’s “Collective Consciousness”.
From Single Cell to Super Brain
This is another biological analogy. A single-cell organism can do very limited things, but when tens of trillions of cells combine into a human, we generate intelligence and consciousness, capable of creating complex things.
Humans are the same. A single human is smart, but if we can “connect” all human brains together, this collective intelligence will be incredibly powerful.
So the goal of X is:
- Reflect the truth in real-time: Let information flow fastest and truest.
- Break language barriers: Through AI real-time translation, people all over the world can communicate directly (no longer divided into Chinese circles, English circles).
- Even knowing what questions to ask: Through collective consciousness, we can more accurately clarify “what questions should we ask about the universe”.
For Musk, X is not just a social app; it is the neural network of the human species.
Advice for Young People
Finally, Nikhil Kamath asked him what advice he has for young entrepreneurs. Musk’s answer was very down-to-earth:
Don’t think about “making money”, think about “being useful”.
Make > Take
He advises everyone to strive to “Make more than you take”.
This is actually quite counter-intuitive. Many people nowadays are teaching how to “make a quick buck” or “monetize”. But Musk believes that if you make products or services that are truly useful to society, money will naturally follow. This is like pursuing happiness; the more you deliberately pursue happiness, the harder it is to get; but when you focus on doing meaningful things, happiness comes quietly.
My Thoughts
If it were in the past, hearing “no need to work” and “money will disappear”, I would probably think this person is dreaming. But in the past few years with the explosion of AI Generated Content (AIGC), watching the evolution of ChatGPT and Claude generation by generation, I started to feel that the “sci-fi future” might really be coming faster than we imagine.
Are you ready to enter “Creative Mode”? Or are you still worried that your “Survival Mode” skill points are not high enough? Perhaps, now is a good time for us to start thinking “If I don’t work for money, what do I want to do?”.
This article only covers the tip of the iceberg; I highly recommend everyone to watch the full interview video!