Shadowing Practice: Elon Musk (Full Interview) | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) - Learn English Speaking with Video
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My first guest is the man who made electric cars a thing, and is currently working on perfecting reusable rockets, space travel, connecting the human brain directly to computers,
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connecting cities with electromagnetic bullet trains, the Starlink satellite system that's so important to the war in Ukraine, and then on Tuesday...
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He's gonna work on that tunnel thing on traffic.
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He also tweets a lot.
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Elon Musk, ladies and gentlemen.
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Look at you.
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Wow.
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Did I get the full order of things that you do in a day there?
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When I was reading there, I left out the tunnel thing at the end.
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Do you work on all these things?
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Do you do all these things every day?
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Do you work on all of them in a single day?
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No. No. But I do have a long work day.
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Um, Yeah.
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So-- I work a lot.
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Well, I'm so thrilled you're here because, you know, we do a show where we talk about what changes happen in the world
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and but we just talk there's a very few people who actually make change happen.
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You are one of those people, probably.
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You know.
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I just want to say I love this audience.
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Well, you're a likable guy.
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Thanks.
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I mean, they attack you a lot.
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They do.
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- - And you seem to laugh it off, which I think is fantastic.
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- Yeah.
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- I love it that you have a sense of humor, because a guy as important as you, who makes changes, could use your powers for evil and not good.
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The fact that...
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Yeah, absolutely.
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You could.
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I would, of course, I would, yeah, never use them for evil.
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No, I know.
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But, but the way I know that is because you have a sense of humor.
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Yeah, you really do.
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I do.
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Yeah, you like laughing.
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You like to be funny.
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I kill me.
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- Right.
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No, as opposed to somebody like Zuckerberg, who I'm not even sure is a real boy.
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- Yeah.
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Um.
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Yeah, I actually love comedy and and I show you know like I Many years ago, I actually was in the audience here and watched your show.
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Oh, really?
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So I've been a long -time admirer of your show.
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Oh, well, thank you.
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- I...
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- Let me get back to you being a genius.
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Okay.
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But that has always been my view, is that I was a history major, and when you study history, what you realize is that You know, there's the great man theory,
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and they talk about kings and princes and queens and presidents.
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It's really the people in tech who changed the world.
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They're the people who deal the cards, whether it's fire or electricity,
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for good or bad, or the cotton gin or the iPhone or the atom bomb.
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Those are the cards, and the rest of us just play it.
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Would you agree with that assessment?
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I think technology is the thing that causes these big step changes in civilization.
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So obviously you've got things like say, the Gutenberg Press, before which-- - Right.
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- It was very difficult to get books.
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- Yes.
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- They were very rare.
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- Even if you had a thirst for knowledge, you really couldn't do anything about it.
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because there were very few books to read. So.
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and the internet is something beyond the good word press, I think.
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You know, it's a When I first saw the internet, coming into being in a way that the general public could use it.
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It felt like the Humanity as a whole was uh, developing a nervous system.
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So previously the way the information would travel would be by osmosis, one person to another or one person calling another.
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Um, But uh...
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The access to information is very limited.
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Now, with the Internet, It's like having a nervous system.
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It's like any part of humanity has access to almost all the information of humanity.
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Hmm.
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Like you could be in the middle of the Amazon jungle, with say a Starlink terminal and have access to more information than the president did in 1980.
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Right.
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Well, anything on your phone.
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Everything.
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-Is...
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-Yeah.
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Okay.
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So you are one of these dealers.
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These people who deal the cards in civil society.
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I deal some memes, too.
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Yes, you do.
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Some, uh...
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So I think a lot of people thought when you bought Twitter that this is kind of an outlier.
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Like, how does this, what doesn't fit with these other things you're doing?
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I never thought that.
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Because I think you're dealing with big civilizational issues and problems, and I was right on your page.
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I think Twitter is one of them.
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I mean, you have talked about this woke mind virus.
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Yes in really apocalyptic terms.
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- Yeah.
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- I don't-- You should explain why you don't think it's hyperbole, to say things like it's pushing civilization towards suicide, First of all, what is the woke mind virus?
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And if we don't deal with this, nothing else can get done.
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Tell me why you think that.
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Yeah, so I think we need to be very cautious about anything that is anti -meritocratic.
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and anything that is that results in the suppression of free speech.
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So, You know, those are two of the aspects of the work my virus that I think are very dangerous.
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is that it's often anti -murocratic.
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You can't question things.
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Even the questioning is bad.
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So, uh, You know, you know, another way to almost anonymous would be cancel culture.
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And obviously people have tried to cancel you many times.
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- Many times.
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- Yeah, I mean you're-- - Every week.
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- Yeah.
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- From left and right, I've had it from both sides.
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Yeah, and it's interesting.
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People, you and I are both like in that little group of people.
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Maybe it's a bigger group.
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Yeah, who we who are called conservative who haven't really changed
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i don't see him think of you as a conservative definitely Yeah, like I at least think of myself as a moderate, you know, so I I mean,
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At least like I've spent a massive amount of my life energy building sustainable energy you know,
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electric vehicles and batteries and solar and stuff to help save the environment.
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That's not a.. you know...
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It's not exactly far right.
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No, you drew that diagram...
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You drew that diagram once where you're here.
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I related to that.
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And, like, the world has changed.
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I feel the same way.
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I feel like very often wokeness is not building on liberalism.
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It's the opposite of liberalism.
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I can mention it.
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Yes, exactly.
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Many examples where it's the opposite, including free speech.
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Free speech is actually extremely important.
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And it's bizarre that we've come to this point where...
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Like, free speech used to be a left or liberal value.
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And and and yet we see from you know the in quotes left.
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a desire to actually censor.
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And That seems crazy.
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I mean, I think we should be extremely concerned about anything that uh, it undermines the First Amendment.
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There's a reason for the First Amendment.
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The first amendment is because people came from countries where they could not speak freely.
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and where Seeing certain things would get you thrown into prison.
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And they were like, "We don't want that here." And by the way, in many parts of the world, including possible that people might think are relatively similar to the United States.
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The speech laws are Draconian.
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England is quite different.
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I won't name any countries. But, um...
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- England, why are we protecting them?
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They have no First Amendment.
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- - It's very easy to prove libel in England.
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- Whereas here it's almost...
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- I love England, but...
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- Yeah, you too.
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But I wouldn't want to say the wrong thing. Or...
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- Yes.
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- You could be sued easier.
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I mean, there are laws...
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In France, I think, if you deny the Holocaust, which I think is abhorrent, but I also think it should be part of free speech.
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you can be thrown into jail.
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Okay, so this...
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I really can't emphasize this enough.
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We must...
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we must protect free speech.
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And free speech only matters.. it's only relevant when it's someone you don't like saying something you don't like because Obviously, a speech that you like is easy.
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So it's a and it's The thing about censorship is that, for those who advocated, just remember, at some point, that will be turned on you.
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Woke mind virus, how did it start?
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Was it bats?
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Was it an escape from a lab?
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I mean, what is your assessment of what?
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Because it's fairly recent.
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Why did -- why -- how did it start and why?
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I was trying to figure out where it's coming from.
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I think it's actually been a long time brewing in that it's...
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uh, I think it's been going on for a while.
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IT IS NOT A LITTLE BIT.
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Um, The amount of indoctrination that's happening in schools and universities is, I think, far beyond what parents realize.
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and I only came to realize this somewhat late,
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The experience that we had in high school and college is not the experience that that kids today are having.
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and hasn't been for I don't know.
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10 years, maybe 20 years.
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So Are parents themselves also a big part of the problem?
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They-- Well, I suppose in some cases that parents...
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But I think like the...
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Parents are just generally not aware of what their kids are being taught or what they're not being taught.
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- But they're letting the kids think that they're equal.
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- Well, I mean, yeah, let me give you an example that a family told me, which his daughters go to college in, oh, sorry, go to high school in the Bay Area.
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And And he was asking them, like, well, so who are the you know, who are the first few presidents of the United States?
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They could name Washington.
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And I said, well, what do you know about him?
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Well, he was a slave owner.
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What else?
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Exactly nothing right like okay.
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That's maybe you should know more than that and You know.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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And that is the woke mind virus.
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Exactly.
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Yeah.
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Exactly.
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It's like, you know, the, Uh, You know, slavery is obviously a horrific institution,
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but we should still know more about George Washington than that.
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And by the way, one that was practiced all over the world forever since the beginning of time by every race, including people of color.
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I'm sorry to tell you that.
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It's huge in the Bible.
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Absolutely.
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The Bible loves it.
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Really?
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Yes.
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They're quite strict about, like, you know, don't take someone else to slave and that kind of thing.
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Right, but no one ever says just don't do it.
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They don't.
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They don't.
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They don't.
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At no point.
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- What does it say slavery is bad in the Bible?
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- No, no. - They did not condemn it at all.
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so so it's um but twitter is not doing bad right i mean i saw today that Tucker Carlson recently fired.
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You were just on his show and he lost his job, so I hope this isn't an old-- - Well, yeah.
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- Yeah, I-- - But, uh-- - Hopefully, uh-- - What are you, the angel of death?
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- Yeah, no, exactly.
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I'm not the Typhoid Mary of talk shows.
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- - But his-- - For some reason, people just get fired after.
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His rant yesterday, or today, on Twitter I think it was yesterday or something.
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It did more than every Cable news monologue or something like that.
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Is that right?
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I Well, Twitter has a tremendous audience.
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So there's 250 million people that spend an average of half an hour a day on Twitter.
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So it's about 120.
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to 130 million user hours per day, and it's been increasing.
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So Um, the-- we didn't do anything.
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To be clear, we did nothing special whatsoever.
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I learned about it afterwards, that he had posted something on Twitter.
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-Mm.
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-Um, so it's just that Twitter has a lot of people's attention.
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And it tends to be the people that are
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uh that read read a lot or are interested in current events um and um generally are pretty influential.
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But most of the people who tweet are the same people, right?
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I mean, the people who actually tweet are supposed to just reading it.
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Yeah.
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I feel like that's-- I've read this many times-- that that's a very small percentage of the people on Twitter.
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And it seems like-- see, here's why I don't tweet anymore.
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Because you may be the mayor of Tweet Town now.
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Yeah.
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The mayor of Tweet Town.
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I'm getting a cap with that.
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And I'm glad-- and I like it that the mayor likes my jokes.
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But the reason I don't do it anymore is because the mob of Mean Girls is still there.
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-And that has not changed.
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-I know.
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Like, it's too easy to get canceled.
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And I don't even know what pisses them off.
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They're so nuts, these kids.
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I feel like I'm walking on a roof with a blindfold.
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I could fall off any time.
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That was the most innocuous thing.
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But it's like, you know, I said George Washington was a great president.
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Oh, how dare you?
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Yeah.
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Yeah, exactly.
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I had some flaws, but overall, uh, instrumental in the situation of the United States.
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So, um, well, you have to say, like, what does canceled mean?
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You know, uh, I mean, it's, yes, people attack on Twitter.
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That's one thing, but frankly, that's just going to increase engagement.
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So I would just ignore it.
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Well, that's easy for you because they can't take your job away or any of your main ten jobs, but they could take mine.
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And they did once, by the way.
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-A scale affair.
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-You know, I was, like, literally cancelled.
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- -Yeah, I mean, like, when the show is cancelled...
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-It's like...
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But, okay, so you were in Congress, uh, at Congress the other day, talking with Chuck Schumer about AI.
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I'm very interested in this, 'cause you've been on this for years.
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I've always thought you were right about this.
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I think you're right about almost everything.
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I mean, let's have more babies and raise them on Mars.
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I don't get that, but OK.
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Well, I just think we should be cautious about civilizational decline with-- and we have plummeting birth rates most places, yeah.
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Right.
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And also plummeting resources.
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No, no, no, resources will be fine.
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but they're not fine now.
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Look, I'm not suggesting complacency.
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We do want to move to a sustainable energy economy as quickly as possible, but we're not in any danger of resource collapse.
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But lots of people don't have enough food or water.
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Water.
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We will run out of water.
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They're running out of sand.
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No, Earth is 70 % water by surface area.
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But you can't drink that.
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Desalination is absurdly cheap.
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Why don't we do it then?
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- We do, it is done.
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- You have a lot of free time.
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- It is done, there is a lot of desalination done.
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- Okay, but-- - There's plenty of water.
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This is not an issue, I wanna be clear.
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- All right, so, but let's talk about AI, because like you were on this tip 10 years ago when nobody else was, and I always thought he's right.
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Why, because I've seen too many movies, everything that happens in movies, that happens in real life.
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And, you know, if you make things that are way smarter than you, Why wouldn't they become your overlords?
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So what did you say to Chuck Schumer?
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And what are we doing about this?
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I know you want to pause in AI because it in the just in the last six months with chat GPT, which came from a company you started.
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Yes.
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- - Um...
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Well, I mean, a friend of mine has a sort of modification of Occam's razor, you know, instead of the simplest thing being the most likely, like, the most ironic outcome is the most likely.
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- Right.
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- Right.
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Yes. So, um...
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With respect to AI, I just think we should be -- we should have some sort of regulatory oversight.
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Uh, you know, for anything that is a danger to the public, if it's sort of aircraft, cars, food and drug and whatnot, we've got some regulatory oversight,
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like a referee, essentially, and making sure that Companies don't cut corners.
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So I think that since if one if one agrees that AI is a potential risk to the public,
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then there should be some regulatory body that oversees
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what companies are doing so that they don't cut corners and potentially do something very dangerous.
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That's-- yeah.
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And if we don't do something-- lay out a scenario for me in the next two, five, 10 years.
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If nothing is done, because we're very good at doing nothing, especially when it comes in the way of profit, and this is a big profit engine now for companies,
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they're going to want to just compete with each other.
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I mean, there are people like Ray Kurzweil who doesn't think it's a problem at all.
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Actually, Ray Kurzweil's prediction for artificial superintelligence is 2029.
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He's not far wrong.
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Right.
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But he doesn't think it's a problem, whereas people like you and Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking think it's a problem.
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Um, Yeah, it depends.
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If some people want to live forever
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or for a much longer period of time and they see AI as the only way
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digital super intelligence is as the only thing
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that can figure out how to get them to live forever I think
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because well isn't that category and So he would prefer to have AI.
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artificial general intelligence than not because it can figure out longevity. So are you optimistic?
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I read in your Rolling Stone article back in the day
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that you said you can never be happy unless you're in love.
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Well, you can be half happy, I suppose.
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I mean, there's two things, I think.
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To be most happy, if you're happy in love and you love your work, then you'll be, I think, fully happy if you Lack either of those two.
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If you have one of those two things, we have happy You know, roughly.
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I feel like the theme in a lot of your works that connect all these different things is connecting.
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Like you want to connect things.
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You know, you want to connect on the Hyperloop, and you want to connect this to Mars, and Even Twitter.
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- Or a Connect Four.
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- You want...
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- I love that game.
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- What?
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- Connect Four, you know, we could...
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Sorry, this is a comedy, right, you know?
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- Gotta throw some comedy in there.
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- Okay.
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- But it's hard for you because I've, When you bought Twitter, you're kind of doing what you did when you took over, when you started Tesla.
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You lived at the factory, right?
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I feel like that's your...
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That's your pattern.
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You get into this thing, and then you've got to live at the factory to make it work.
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You've been back in-- you moved to Texas, then you went back up to San Francisco because of Twitter.
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I was living in the library of Twitter for a while.
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um yes but it's i think things are reasonably stabilized right now it was
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just on the fast track to bankruptcy after that position.
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So I had to take drastic action.
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There wasn't any choice.
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- I'm just saying it's hard for a woman.
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- Yeah.
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- To like when the guy lives at the factory.
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Yes.
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- - Yes, it is.
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- That could be a stumbling block.
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- Um, yes.
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Uh, but, um...
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- No, no. Overall with, you know, my concern with Twitter was to...
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it is somewhat of the digital town square and it's important that there be both the reality and perception of of trust uh,
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for a wide range of viewpoints.
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and There was a lot of censorship going on.
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And we've we sort of uncovered a lot of
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that with the Twitter files including a lot of government driven censorship which It's it's I mean,
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it seems that that's got to be a constitutional violation, what was going on there.
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Um, So, and I can, since I'm like an avid Twitter user, I could detect that like something's not right here.
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And so that's really why. at the deposition.
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It wasn't because I thought this was an easy way to make money or something like that.
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Man, this is being mayor of Twitter town, Tweet Town or whatever, is definitely like there's a lot of arrows pointed at you, flying at you. Of course.
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But you seem to handle that okay.
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I hope you do, because...
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Yeah.
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Look, I mean, geniuses are going to be a little quirky sometimes, but your heart is always in the right place.
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You were trying to fix this world.
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And look, I could talk to you forever.
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We can't today.
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I'd love to get high with you.
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I know a great place to go.
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But I can't tell you how much I appreciate you.
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I know you have a lot of choices and places you can go.
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Thank you, Elon Musk, ladies and gentlemen.
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All right, I'll see you soon, Elon.
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Why practice speaking with this video?
Engaging with the full interview featuring Elon Musk on "Real Time with Bill Maher" presents a unique opportunity for English learners to practice their speaking skills in a dynamic context. This video showcases a conversation rich in innovation and humor, making it particularly suitable for those seeking to enhance their speaking abilities. Utilizing the shadowing technique, learners can improve their fluency and comprehension by mimicking Musk's intonation, rhythm, and pronunciation.
The interactive nature of talk shows like this allows learners to hear a variety of expressions and tones. The conversational format encourages active listening and offers examples of how to express opinions and ideas clearly—a vital skill for success in IELTS speaking practice. Moreover, imitating the speaker's responses can help learners build confidence and develop a more natural speaking style.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
- Questioning Techniques: Musk frequently uses questions to engage his audience, as seen in his rhetorical inquiries. For instance, when he wonders about the responsibilities that come with power—“could use your powers for evil and not good”—learners can practice forming questions in their dialogues.
- Causal Language: Expressions such as “the fact that…” followed by a clause can be useful for linking ideas. Learners can practice these structures to explain their thoughts more effectively.
- Contractions and Informal Speech: Musk uses casual forms like “I’d” and “you’re,” which are common in spoken English. Understanding and using contractions can help learners sound more conversational and fluent.
- Adverbs of frequency: Musk mentions “every day” when discussing his work routine, reinforcing the importance of adverbs in expressing frequency, which can be quite beneficial in descriptive speaking contexts.
Common Pronunciation Traps
While shadowing this interview, learners may encounter several pronunciation challenges. Words like “actually” and “important” can be tricky due to their vowel sounds and syllable stress. For instance, saying “actually” with the correct stress can help in sounding more fluent. Additionally, phrases like “connecting the human brain” can be a mouthful—practicing these will help in achieving smoother speech.
Furthermore, Musk's unique accent may influence how words are pronounced; thus, paying attention to his articulation can aid learners in adjusting their own pronunciation. Engaging in shadow speak allows learners to not only repeat phrases but also internalize the sounds, ultimately leading to improved clarity in their communication.
By focusing on these areas while watching the video, learners can effectively elevate their speaking skills and enhance their overall English proficiency.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | it's been going · it's been increasing |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've been · has always been · have talked |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | man who made · people who actually · people who deal |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | are called · can be thrown · will be turned |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.