Elon Musk, a multibillionaire tech tycoon and father of ten children, stated on Monday that the world needs to "produce more babies" and keep searching for oil.
The world is currently experiencing a "baby crisis," according to the richest man on the globe, who has previously warned that low birth rates represent a "threat" to civilization. He made this statement ahead of an energy conference in Norway.
When asked what the biggest issues the world was facing, Elon Musk mentioned the switch to renewable energy sources but also mentioned that the birth rate was "one of my favorite... things to be concerned about."
“We don’t want the population to drop so low that we’ll just eventually die,” Musk, founder of American electric car manufacturer Tesla and SpaceX, told reporters in Stavanger, southwest Norway.
“At least make enough babies to sustain the population,” he added.
The birth rate is dropping and the population is aging in many Western civilizations and densely populated nations like China.
Musk continued, "They say civilization may end with a whimper or a bang. We will pass away in adult diapers with a whimper if we don't have enough children. And that will make you sad.
He also said the planet still needed new fossil fuel sources.
“I think realistically we do need to use oil and gas in the short term, because otherwise civilisation would crumble,” he said, adding that “some additional exploration is warranted at this time.”
He went on to advocate the maintenance of nuclear power plants, describing himself as “pro-nuclear.”
Following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February and Europe's subsequent attempt to wean itself off of Russian oil and gas, the nuclear issue has been revived. Several European countries had already agreed to phase out nuclear power.
Musk added, "I know this may be an unpopular opinion in certain circles, but I think you should not shut down a well-designed nuclear power facility."
The businessman has ten children total, one of whom passed away at the age of 10 weeks. He has been divorced three times.
One of his children, who just turned 18, submitted a petition earlier this year asking a California court to change her name and gender identity from male to female.
According to court documents, one of the reasons for the name change was that she did not want "to be related to my biological father in any way, shape, or form."
Musk also has two children with the musician Grimes, a girl they named Exa Dark Siderael Musk – although the parents said they will mostly call her Y – and a boy born in May 2020 called “X Æ A-12”, or more simply, X.
Musk announced last autumn that he was “semi-separated” from the singer.
The American press recently revealed that he also had twins in November with an executive at Neuralink, Musk’s brain-implant maker, a few weeks before the birth of Exa Dark Sideræl Musk.
