War may be hell, but it certainly can interrupt a lot of the routine.
Just ask Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk.
Multiple types of planets
Musk, the world’s richest man, spoke with former “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno on September 21 during an episode of “Jay Leno’s Garage.” The comedian and entrepreneur spoke during a tour of Musk’s SpaceX facility in Brownsville, Texas.
“I think we have a great team,” Musk said. โWe are making great progress here. We are trying to achieve the Holy Grail of rockets, which is a fully reusable and fast rocket. No one has ever made a fully reusable rocket and it can never be brought back down as fast as airplanes.โ
Musk added that the reusable rocket is “the fundamental kind of invention, if you will, necessary to make humanity a multi-planetary species.”
Wearing an “Occupy Mars” T-shirt, Musk told Leno about his vision of colonizing the Red Planet, where nothing lasts forever – including Earth.
โEven if we are sure that Earth will be fine forever, do you want to stay here forever?โ Asked. “It’s not like, ‘Let’s run to Mars.’ It’s, ‘Do we have a spirit of adventure?’ There are greater things to think about than the banality of everyday life.”
Patents for the weak
Then Leno led the conversation to the topic of grammar.
โSo tell me about the regulations and the routine and all that kind of nonsense?โ Asked. “How big is the part of all that problem?”
โThe thing we have to worry about is that the rules and regulations are getting more and more every year, right,โ Musk said.
“In the past war has eliminated bad rules and regulations, but we also prefer not to wage war as a way to get rid of rules and regulations.”
And with more and more regulations coming in every year, he warned, “we will eventually not be able to do anything.”
“We need to be careful about over-regulation and having too many rules and regulations and basically stopping innovation and ultimately limiting the progress of civilization,” he said.
Of course, Musk has had his own problems with the rules, having run into the heads of the likes of regulators like the Securities and Exchange Commission and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Musk also cut patents during the interview as he discussed the 300-class stainless steel used to build the SpaceX rocket.
“Is this something you patent?” Lino asked.
“I don’t care about patents,” he said. “Patents are for the weak. Patents are generally used as a method of blocking. They are like using landmines in war. They prevent others from following you. Most patents are BS.”
