
Ask HN: What should I ask Elon Musk for HTBTF? - sama
I&#x27;m recording the next episode of this tomorrow w&#x2F;Elon (http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ycombinator.com&#x2F;future&#x2F;) and have time for a few more questions.  Any requests?
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rman666
What does he do to keep his energy level to the point that he can do all he's
doing. From a distance it seems like he must have superman levels of energy.

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samblr
Good question. What's his work out, sleep and diet like ?

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machtesh
He actually has already discussed his sleep, diet, and exercise habits in this
interview:[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE4iFYqi4QU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE4iFYqi4QU)

The part you're looking for is 2-3 minutes in but its worth watching the whole
thing as they ask him some questions that are different from the usual ones.

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zbhojani
Because he gets nine hours a night, has scrambled eggs and salmon every
morning after his daily cardio and yoga....err no he doesn't, he's like the
rest of us. Six hours and coffee if your lucky! He really is human!

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chrisdodger
BIG ONE: How you deal your fam. life, giving the fact that you are so busy
changing the world? Especially kids... This is really valuable info to me.

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codelord
Success of companies is highly dependent on perfect timing. Tesla got the
timing right, and perfect execution also helped its success. Can the same
thing be said about SolarCity? Is the technology and the market ready for
solar?

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rajacombinator
Not an Elon maniac here or familiar with your podcast but it might be
interesting to ask what he considers his biggest strength and biggest
weakness. I rarely hear this asked of successful people.

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Buetol
A few ideas:

\- the optimal form of government (direct democracy for every level, semi-
dictatorship like in companies,...)

\- self-organization: how do he manage his tasks, agenda, priority and how to
maintain a good equilibrium with personal life

\- what he think could be his next fight (after space exploration and removing
the dependency to oil)

\- what can we do against the rich getting richer and taking control of all
the ressources

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andrewtbham
What will be on red dragon launched to Mars during the 2018 launch window?

What are examples of soliciting negative feedback you have gotten that you
found useful?

How did you get your first customers for zip2?

Which electric plane prototypes do you find most interesting?

What are your thoughts on bio-engineered organisms for terraforming Mars?

What are your thoughts on the issues with falcon wing door?

If you were to write a sci fi novel, what might be the premise?

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andrewtbham
Please don't ask these questions... which will solicit these often given
answers:

What advice do you have for entrepreneurs? To reason from first principles
rather than by analogy, and to seek out and listen to negative feedback,
particularly from friends.

How did you get the idea to start your companies? When I was in college there
were five areas I thought would most affect the future of humanity. 1 Internet
2 sustainable energy 3 space exploration. 4 genetics 5 ai

What is your motivation for starting Space X? To make life multi planetary to
avoid an extinction event, man made (climate change) or natural (asteroid).To
make life mult-planetary we need to lower the cost of rocket launches. The key
is reusable rockets. Think about airplanes being destroyed after every trip.

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rehmanh88
Watch Elon musk's interview on khanacademy.org under entrepreneurship. He
answers these questions there.

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ryao
Is the work in making rechargeable lithium ion cells that retain their
capacity over hundreds of thousands of charge cycles going to be
commercialized in batteries and if so, what is the timeframe for that?

[http://www.computerworld.com/article/3060005/mobile-
wireless...](http://www.computerworld.com/article/3060005/mobile-
wireless/scientists-can-now-make-lithium-ion-batteries-last-a-lifetime.html)

The same goes for the aluminium ion cell:

[http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/stanford-
rese...](http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/stanford-researchers-
unveil-new-ultrafast-charging-aluminum-ion-battery/)

Also, why did Tesla call the Model S 100D the first electric car to surpass
300 miles on a single charge when the Tesla Roadster 3.0 already hit that
milestone?

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danielreji
How big of a role does empathy have in truly solving some of the world's
biggest problems?

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amasad
What does Elon base his ethics on? There seems to be an underlying
philosophical framework for the types of projects that he thinks are important
for humanity. He seems to put a lot of weight on future lives -- is he a
utilitarian/consequentialist?

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Mikho
1/ When do the whole world change to electric vehicles considering very small
batteries production capacities overall comparing to amount of cars in the
world. 10, 20, 30 years? It does not look like, even if everybody want to
switch to electric, it is possible to do in the next 10 or 20 years.

2/ Hence another question. When does he think self driving cars become mass
market? Not based on legislation, but cars on the roads en masse. Considering
that a self driving car is probably full electric car, wouldn't low production
capacity of electric cars just halt mass self driving cars implementation in
the next 10 years due to lack of cars to use?

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taf2
Does he worry that the low gravity of Mars may not be sufficient to sustain
life? We know we can survive in zero g for a few years but the damage to the
body can include vision impairment, bone lose, etc... Does this maybe make
Venus a better target?

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dreiser
Well it depends. If human will move to Mars, do they really need not to lose
their bones strength and so? If people on Mars will keep 1/3 of what their
body compared to Earth because there is about 1/3 gravity, they will be fine
for Mars becausee they adapted. But they won't be able to come back.

Venus gravity is just little lower than Earth's but that mean it is harder to
land same amount of cargo there (compared to Mars) + you are definitely not
coming back because of it anysoon.

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jmichelz
Why would they not be able to come back? Just build their bodies back up. Or
keep them in shape to begin with.

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taf2
10 days later I realize... interestingly we know what happens to the body when
it's exposed to zero gravity and 1g of gravity... but we really don't know
what happens at 20% or really anything between zero and one g...

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freddier
What's his worst and best case scenario for the future? Specially regarding
energy, transportation and the social effect things like solar, self-driving
cars and cheap access to space will bring.

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Zenfinch
His experiences working with regulators/Government agencies?

Tesla and SpaceX are in really strict industries when it comes to regulation,
how did he navigate through all of this when going from 0 to product?

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chrisked
Would be interested to know what his biggest regret is and how he dealt with
it.

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atroyn
How does he balance the skepticism that comes with an analytical mind, with
the optimism necessary to pull off something new?

Put another way, how do you build something cool without succumbing to
bullshit?

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koolba
Does he think it prudent for someone to challenge the payment processors with
a new network?

More specifically, does he think it's possible to supplant the current payment
landscape with a new centralized system (non-cryptocurrency)?

The background for this question is that it seems like everybody hates PayPal.
Venmo, while gaining quite a bit of traction, doesn't seem like it's going to
be the one. The rest of the challengers seem to have either died off due to
regulation or lack of uptake.

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berpasan
I know it's a sensitive topic, but it would be so interesting if he could talk
candidly about the co-founder relationship issues at Paypal, with PT and Max.
His bio is very vague about it. Also, what he thinks a team with him, Peter
and Max could have achieved together at Paypal had they worked together for 10
years on creating the bank of the modern era, instead of spliting up and
exiting in a couple of years.

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KeatonDunsford
Relevant for both YC & Elon: Since it seems like every company trying to
hyperscale is experiencing a desperate shortage of tech talent, how can we get
more unexposed people excited about technology? If Elon didn't have an
engineer parent, what could have been another avenue for him to have been
exposed to technology, and how might we be able to target those entry points
globally to train more great founders and engineers?

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rehmanh88
How do you keep yourself motivated, obviously you have been very successful,
and have built great companies. Is it the mission behind the companies that
keeps you motivated? Or is there someone or something? I am sure the daily
drills of running billion dollar companies can be tiresome but what is your
secret for being so motivated and what drives you now to keep pushing the
limits.

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dvdrjo
What is his ultimate ideal vision of the future. We know transportation and
energy. What about healthcare and delivery of health. How about the
fundamental structures upon which our world is built, what will be the role of
government and financial institutions in a decentralized platform world? Will
the cease to have complete control over us and dictate our lives from the
shadows?

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fitzwatermellow
The other day I pulled up behind a Tesla Model X with a SpaceX license plate
frame. The driver looked to be no more than 22 years old. The Hyperloop
competition drew more team designs than the last DARPA Grand Challenge. How
much of doing what you do is about inspiring the next generation to take moon
shots?

Follow up: how the blazes do you keep the SpaceX factory floor so pristine?
I've been inside clean rooms that look worse ;)

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cbanek
There's a zamboni like floor cleaner that goes and cleans the rows. Since they
are assembling the engines not in a clean room, you still have to be worried
about small things falling into them.

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ns55ai
Does SpaceX consider some other business models other than launching
satellites like space tourism , asteroid mining , building a solar panels in
space , building something like CERN Collider in space

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rony77
What are some of his failure stories (not the breakdown in 2008)? His success
stories are very inspirational, but the failure ones can help us relate and
act on the inspiration. We know the superhuman Elon Musk, we need to know the
human Elon Musk. I think that will really help the inspiration spread into
action all around.

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DanielRestrepo
If there is a renewable energy revoluntion since now and on, and having
energy-unit prices between PV and HC that equal in 2023, what will it happen
with oil-dependant economies which have overdebt for current and future
projects? Will it cause another economic crisis?

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voska
Elon, you are known for taking over projects within your companies when you
feel they are not executing well enough (autopilot, manufacturing process,
etc).

There are often several broken projects in a startup; how do you decide when
to take over a project and fix it personally?

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KurtKumar
What's cost of sending a ship to Mars? If $x, can a group provide another $x
so in effect we can send 2 ships. Spread the risk and/or send double the
supplies at the same time knowing that we get window of launch opportunity
only every 24 months

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fudged71
How does he personally deal with things like self-doubt, imposter syndrome, or
depression?

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Rohan_patne
1)How to filter out good ideas?

2)What work/jobs will teenagers of today will be doing in the future?

3)College degree is deemed crucial in India, how important will it be in years
to come? Both for hiring people and maybe for getting hired by some company.

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fscherer
Does he think that the advice which YC gives, usually to software companies,
(ship fast and iterate, make something people want, only talk to users and
build the product) can also be applied to cars and space?

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paurav
This is basically design thinking concept, which can applicable to anything
literally. You can find that in details
[https://www.ideo.com/images/uploads/thoughts/IDEO_HBR_Design...](https://www.ideo.com/images/uploads/thoughts/IDEO_HBR_Design_Thinking.pdf)

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renehd
What tools and/or strategies do you use under maximum stress or pressure?

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michwill
What do you think about:

* As space access becomes cheaper, which economic opportunities will open, at which price point?

* Mining asteroids and Moon

* Space manufacturing. Any manufacturing more feasible in space than on Earth?

* Space power plants (solar?)

* Beamed propulsion. Lasers or microwaves?

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onetallnerd
Has his view on bitcoin changed? How does he view blockchain tech in general.
Does he see machine to machine payments happening on tesla vehicles if so what
tech or back end would he use?

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meagher
How does he assess risks?

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Calist0
He thought that Tesla would most likely fail, and yet he invested 50% of his
Paypal money on Tesla, and the other 50% on SpaceX.

Risk is irrelevant to Elon.

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meagher
Even if risk is _irrelevant_ to Elon—assumption—he still likely assesses it.

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alex_hirner
If there is one thing you can change in the process of battery R&D, what would
it be?

And likely a related question: Which scientific data is not readily available
but would help battery R&D?

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Calist0
Question for Elon:

What do think humanity's purpose is? You believe that colonizing space will
protect us from extinction-- what purpose do we have to as a species to go on?

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paurav
What is his work ethic? Before merger of Solar City and Tesla, he was heading
3 companies (including space X) which has been reduced to 2 now.

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machtesh
What other companies would he be starting if he had the time

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Calist0
He answered this question before. I think his answer was supersonic jets, or
electric jets. Also, Hyperloop.

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KurtKumar
Should initial settlers going to Mars be given a tax free exemption status on
earth for life (or eternity)?

Should we extend that to their heirs as well?

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mattDamon23
You mentioned that you work over 80 hours a week. Going between SpaceX and
Tesla and having a family, how do you not burn-out?

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jasonallen19
Hi Elon,

Since you have a passion for Mars and Space Ships, has the video game project
"Star Citizen" crossed your path yet? They're doing some pretty amazing things
with how they're able to render a full solar system and planets you can
actually land on.

I ask because it would be very interesting if Space X utilized this software
to create simulations for Mars! The game engine could support simulating
leaving earth in a SPACE X craft, the travel to Mars, landing, and exploring.

-Jason

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choonway
If you were to build commercial space stations around earth/mars, how would
you do it as compared to the ISS?

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suchdark3
After AI what does the average person's day look like?

How do we create structures to prevent imperialism and war in space?

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Rainymood
My girlfriend wants to ask: do you have any ideas for an upcoming space
engineering thesis (2 years till graduating)

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stano
How do you think that the advent of autonomous electric semi trucks will
affect rail based freight long term?

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gangodu
Build products people use or create products people would want to use? How's
Tesla or SpaceX doing it?

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Rainymood
Is there any mantra you repeat in your head to keep yourself going or guide
your way through difficult decisions?

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ObsoleteMailMan
How can we become the best engineers?

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aswinsagar
How/where does he get the all these super cool energy to do all these ground
breaking work?

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rayfoo
What are his thoughts on the role of Artificial Intelligence and Machine
Learning in medicine?

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tlack
Tesla's self-driving technology is much of America's first real interaction
with coming autonomous vehicle technology. Let's say he's stopped on the
street by my grandmother. How does he explain to an older person the ways in
which this revolution will be controllable, compatible with humans, and not
destructive to much of our labor-driven society?

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pcmaffey
What's the biggest limitation he's facing right now with Tesla / SpaceX?

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mwsmpsn
Is OpenAI the most important non-commercial endeavour you are involved in
right now?

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tristanho
Given that Tesla, OpenAI, and SpaceX are successful, what does Elon work on
next?

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Simorgh
What can be done to accelerate distribution of hi tech to developing
countries?

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DrNuke
Is he really going to attempt terraforming / colonisation of Mars any soon?

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dmoney
How do we find the cheat codes for the simulation?

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funkju
What could NASA learn from SpaceX and vice-versa?

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rheza
A first principles breakdown of poverty.

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endswapper
How long until a solar powered spacecraft?

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dreiser
What will be future with neural lace technology look like in 2022? (5 years)

Would we cheat death with same consciousness without dependency on our
physical body?

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alexjv89
what books does he recommend to entrepreneurs and more importantly why..

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jamestodd
Thoughts on Aramco IPO?

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mardoqueo
cryptocurrencies

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sean1rose
Tabs or Spaces

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zbhojani
:)) Brilliant

