Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who once called the World Economic Forum ‘boring’, delivered his debut speech at Davos. In conversation with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, the world’s first potential trillionaire talked about age reversal on Thursday. A topic which has attracted many billionaires like Pavel Durov, Brian Armstrong, and other longevity experts.
Talking about the inevitability of ageing, the industry moguls digressed from the downside of longer lives, to pointing at the possibility of ‘solving’ the not-so-subtle expression of ageing. The Davos summit was also attended by US President Donald Trump, just days after the Venezuelan crackdown and the open declaration to annexe Greenland.
Elon Musk on what causes ageing
The world’s richest man explained how getting old and ageing were inevitable milestones in human life. However, calling it ‘very solvable’, he also added how there was ‘some benefit to death’.
He explained that ageing is a prominent and visible phenomenon. “The reason I say it’s not a subtle thing is that all the cells in your body, you know, pretty much age at the same rate. I’ve never seen someone with an old left arm and a young right arm ever in my life, so why is that? There must be a clock that is synchronising across 35 trillion cells in your body,” Musk explained.
A downside to living longer?
However, he also opined that there was a reason why humans don’t have a longer lifespan. The SpaceX chief added, “if people do live for a very long time, I think there’s some risk of an ossification of society. Of things getting locked in place.”
Furthermore, he pointed towards the ‘lack of vibrancy’ that may arise. “It may become stultifying,” he remarked in his speech at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss land. “That said, do I think we’ll figure out ways to extend life and maybe even reverse ageing? I think that’s highly likely,” remarked Musk.
This marked the first time Musk had appeared on the WEF stage. While there were no revelations of discoveries about new projects, the Musk-Fink conversation discussed a wide array of topics. The event will end on Friday, with closing remarks from WEF President Børge Brende and Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Economy and Planning.
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