Entrepreneur Elon Musk, the wealthiest person in the world, revealed during an interview this week with Mathias Döpfner, the CEO of Business Insider’s parent company, Axel Springer, that he was nearly killed in an attack when he was a child living in South Africa.
When asked if it was true that he was bullied in school, Musk responded, “I had a very unhappy childhood. There were many years when I was very sad.”
“It was hell at school and hell at home,” Musk said. “It’s important to know that South Africa is a very, very violent place. Violence is normal. And it’s not unusual, so I’m not talking about just words. I was almost beaten to death at one point. So, it was a close call. I was in hospital for a while. So anyway, this is not a rare story, frankly.”
Later in the interview, Musk, who has sold most of his possessions, including his homes, said that it was important for people to “feel life.”
“The sensory experience of life, you can’t get too caught up in the cold calculus of the cortex,” Musk said. “You need to feel it in the limbic system, ask yourself, what does your heart say? And then take a moment to appreciate the many good things in life.”
When asked whether he had a hard time being alone, Musk responded, “Very few people like being alone.”
“Humans are naturally a very social creature,” Musk continued. “And maybe what is defined as alone is not necessarily alone. I mean, if you’re really alone and maybe just have books, not even communication, I think that’s what drives most people crazy. I mean, there’s a reason why in prison, solitary confinement is considered a big punishment. You want to have friends and family and someone — you ideally want to be surrounded by people you love and who love you.”
Musk recently made news when he announced last week that he was “giving serious thought” to launching a new social media platform to take on Twitter in response to Twitter clamping down on free speech.
Musk conducted an informal poll late last week on Twitter, which stated: “Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?”
More than 2 million people responded to the poll with 70.4% saying that Twitter did not adhere to the principle.
“The consequences of this poll will be important,” Musk continued. “Please vote carefully.”
Musk followed up on the poll on Saturday, writing: “Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy. What should be done?”
“Is a new platform needed?” he asked.
“Buy twitter,” political commentator Mike Cernovich responded. “If you’re a leftist making death threats against conservatives. or organizing riots, Twitter respects your freedom of speech. Twitter also respects the freedom of speech for media hoaxes like when every major outlet framed an innocent Covington high school kid.”
Musk responded, “Doesn’t sound very balanced.”
Musk conducted another informal poll on Twitter on Thursday in which he asked if “Twitter[’s] algorithm should be open source.”
More than 1.1 million people responded to that poll with 82.7% saying, “Yes.”
“I’m worried about de facto bias in ‘the Twitter algorithm’ having a major effect on public discourse,” Musk continued. “How do we know what’s really happening?”
