Just Be Useful
Musk: If somebody is doing something that is useful to the rest of society, I think that's a good thing. It doesn't have to change the world. Even if it's just a little game, or some improvement in photo sharing — if that has a small amount of good for a large number of people, I think that's fine.
Stuff doesn't need to change the world just to be good.
Stuff doesn't need to change the world just to be good.
The Five Problems
Musk: The five things I thought about in college — making life multiplanetary, accelerating the transition to sustainable energy, the internet broadly, genetics, and AI.
I didn't expect to be involved in all of those. I thought I'd start with electrification of cars. Then I put that on hold to start an internet company in '95 because there seemed to be a time for particular technologies when they're at a steep point in the inflection curve. I didn't want to do a PhD at Stanford and watch it all happen.
The Utility Formula
Musk: Whatever this thing is that you're trying to create — what would be the utility delta compared to the current state of the art, times how many people it would affect?
Something that makes a big difference but affects a small to moderate number of people is great. Something that makes even a small difference but affects a vast number of people — the area under the curve would actually be roughly similar for those two things.
It's really just about trying to be useful.
Utility delta times how many people it affects. It's really just about trying to be useful.