I’m saving humanity by having more babies, says Elon Musk (father of six)

The 50-year-old owner of Tesla and SpaceX says: ‘I can’t emphasise this enough; there are not enough people.’

Elon Musk says ‘if people don’t have more children, civilisation is going to crumble, mark my words’. Picture: AFP

As A father of six, Elon Musk appears to practise what he preaches.

The 50-year-old owner of Tesla and SpaceX has called on mankind to save civilisation by having more babies.

“There are not enough people. I can’t emphasise this enough; there are not enough people,” he said.

Musk, a South African who is worth about $US300bn ($423bn) largely based on his stake in the electric car maker and his aerospace company, told The Wall Street Journal’s annual CEO Council that “one of the biggest risks to civilisation is the low birth rate and the rapidly declining birthrate”.

Musk was responding to a question about how the proposed Tesla Bot could solve some of the world’s labour problems. He had previously called the bot a “generalised substitute for human labour over time”.

“So many people, including smart people, think that there are too many people in the world and think that the population is growing out of control. It’s completely the opposite. Please look at the numbers. If people don’t have more children, civilisation is going to crumble, mark my words,” he said.

Asked if this was why he had so many children, Musk said he was trying to set a good example. This year he broke up with Grimes, the Canadian singer, with whom he continues to co-parent their one-year-old son, named X Æ A-Xii.

A growing number of people are deciding not to have children, citing concerns such as climate change and inequality.

In 2019 Prince Harry, a father of two, voiced his concerns about overpopulation and the need for people to have fewer children, echoing previous comments from Sir David Attenborough. Attenborough is a patron of Population Matters, which campaigns to raise awareness of overpopulation.

Last month Prince William, a father of three, said: “The increasing pressure on Africa’s wildlife and wild spaces as a result of human population presents a huge challenge for conservationists, as it does the world over.”

Musk has long been concerned about the welfare of the human population. Last year he tweeted that declining population rates were the second biggest danger to civilisation after artificial intelligence, after which he said he was trying to “set a good example haha”, through fathering children. In the discussion, in Washington, Musk also said the chief executive officer position was a “made-up title” and bemoaned the work required to head the world’s most valuable tech firm.

“The sheer amount of work required to be CEO of Tesla is insane,” he said. “It would be nice to have a bit more free time on my hands as opposed to just working day and night from when I wake up to go to sleep seven days a week. It’s pretty intense.”

The comments left members in the audience wondering how he fitted in time to pursue his repopulation efforts.

Musk had twins in 2004 and triplets in 2006, all boys, with the Canadian author Justine Wilson, his first wife, whom he divorced in 2008. Their first child, a boy, died aged 10 weeks in 2002 of sudden infant death syndrome.

The Times