Elon Musk and Bill Gates have never really been the best of friends, but now Gates is addressing Musk’s Mars ambitions in a new conversation with the BBC.
While sitting with Amol Rajan, Gates spoke about such hot topics as artificial intelligence and its future potential to transform the world “quite dramatically”, longstanding COVID conspiracy theories and his divorce from now ex-wife Melinda French.
But one topic that piqued viewers’ interest was the mention of Musk — and whether Gates foresees the SpaceX CEO becoming more involved in philanthropy later in life.
Related: Bill Gates surprisingly praises Elon Musk after leaked altercation: ‘You wouldn’t want to underestimate Elon’
“Ultimately, I don’t think he’s going to want to spend it on himself, other than going to Mars a few times, which might cost a bit,” Gates said. , subtly digging into Musk’s highly publicized goal of having his space exploration company SpaceX send a manned flight to Mars by 2030. “So yes, I think one day he will join the ranks of philanthropists using his ingenuity.”
Rajan then asked Gates if he thought Musk’s decision to go to Mars (whether he funded the mission himself or used money from elsewhere) was a “money wise move” that he believes the billionaire was firm on.
“Not in my opinion,” Gates said before agreeing with Rajan’s comment that there are more pressing things to do on Earth first. “It’s actually quite expensive to go to Mars. You can buy measles vaccines and save lives for $1,000 per life saved, and so it’s sort of a reason not to go to Mars.”
Related: ‘I Give Way More Money To Climate Change Than Elon Musk’: Bill Gates And Elon Musk Reignite Feud
The dueling billionaires have figured it out several times before. In May 2022, Gates told a French journalist that he “donates a lot more money to climate change than Elon Musk or anyone else”. The clip quickly went viral on social media and received a “sigh” response from Musk on Twitter.
Sigh
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 4, 2022
In April 2022, an unnamed source leaked text messages between the duo to the New York Times, which were then circulated on Twitter, in which Gates had asked Musk to pool efforts and funds with him in a philanthropic effort to help fight climate change.
Musk declined Gates’ offer after accusing him of shorting Tesla stock, telling the fellow billionaire he couldn’t take the offer seriously because of Gates’ “massive short position against Tesla,” which Musk claims is “the restraint that does the most to solve climate change” .
So apparently Bill Gates struck @Elon Musk to discuss “climate change philanthropy”, but Elon asked if he still had a half billion dollar short position $TSLA.
Bill said he didn’t shut it down so Elon told him to get lost. No idea if this is true lol pic.twitter.com/iuHkDG3bAd
– Entire Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) April 22, 2022
As of Monday afternoon, Gates’s net value was an estimated $117 billion.
Related: The 5-hour rule used by Bill Gates, Jack Ma, and Elon Musk
