Elon Musk pitches a vision of the future in a magazine run by China’s internet censorship agency - The Verge
Elon Musk promotes Tesla, SpaceX, and Neuralink in a magazine run by the Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s internet watchdog and censorship agency.
Elon Musk pitched sustainable energy, brain implants, and space exploration in an article published in a Chinese magazine run by the country’s internet watchdog and censorship agency, according to a translation from Yang Liu, a reporter for the Chinese state press agency, Xinhua. (via WSJ reporter Karen Hao).
Formed in 2013, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) is in charge of creating and enforcing policies surrounding online content, user data, and digital security. The CAC later created a magazine that, according to China Media Project senior researcher, Stella Chen, typically includes regulatory announcements and research on internet policy. The magazine was initially called New Media before it was rebranded as China Cyberspace earlier this year.
The July issue of China Cyberspace features articles from Musk and Ant Group CEO Eric Jing Xiandong, the company that runs the Chinese payment service Alipay. Liu provides an English translation of Musk’s article in a post on his Substack newsletter, Beijing Channel. Musk says he was invited by the magazine to share his “thoughts on the vision of technology and humanity,” and then proceeds to describe and promote the technology used by the companies he owns — Tesla, SpaceX, and Neuralink — that he believes can “help achieve a better future for humanity:”
To that end, any area that contributes to a sustainable future is worthy of our investment. Whether it’s Tesla, Neuralink, or SpaceX, these companies were all founded with the ultimate goal of enhancing the future of human life and creating as much practical value for the world as possible — Tesla to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy, Neuralink for medical rehabilitation, SpaceX for making interstellar connections possible.
He also cites some of his loftier goals as examples of the kind of technology his companies could (eventually) create, such as a “self-sustaining city on Mars,” a way for humans to “integrate with artificial intelligence,” and “fixed battery banks.” Musk also mentions the yet-to-be-seen humanoid Tesla Bot, and suggests that people may potentially be able to buy a robot as a gift in “less than a decade.”
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