Elon Musk discussed aliens, AI, global electricity demands and Mars during his appearance at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos on Thursday.
Although not originally scheduled to speak at WEF's annual meeting, Mr Musk flew into Switzerland from California to take part.
BlackRock chief executive and WEF co-chairman Larry Fink interviewed him in front of a packed auditorium at the event's congress centre.
He asked Mr Musk if there was a common thread that all of his companies and projects had in common.
The Tesla, SpaceX and The Boring Company chief said that ultimately his goal was to “maximise the future of civilisation” and to “expand consciousness beyond Earth”.
At the beginning of his answer, he joked about what he tells people when they ask him about whether or not aliens exist.
“I tell them I am one,” he said, before pointing out that amid all the satellites orbiting Earth and all the SpaceX shuttles being launched, none of them had to dodge alien spacecraft.
“We need to assume that life and consciousness is extremely rare, and it might only be us,” he said, briefly pausing and then following up his train of thought.
“If that's the case, then we need to do everything possible to ensure that … the light of consciousness is not extinguished,” Mr Musk added. He said that particular thought process was the main motivation behind his exploration of space and trying to make life on other planets possible.
“I basically want to maximise the probability that civilisation has a great future and to expand consciousness beyond Earth,” said the SpaceX chief.
Mr Fink's interview also touched upon energy production, robotics and Tesla's plans to implement autonomous vehicles.
Mr Musk, who also leads xAI, acknowledged the technology's incredible energy demands and praised China for increasing its energy production.
He also gave a tantalising glimpse of a goal being pursued by SpaceX.
“Within a few years, we want to be launching solar-powered AI satellites,” Mr Musk said, adding that the limitless of space would make the endeavour well worthwhile.
“There's so much room in space, and it's enormous what you can scale to,” he said. I think, ultimately, you can have hundreds of terawatts in the air.”
Mr Fink, well aware of Mr Musk's penchant for seemingly fanciful predictions, also asked him if he had ever planned to travel to Mars.
The Tesla chief pointed out some of the many challenges in pursuing a trip to the Red Planet.
“It's six months each way but the planets only align every two years,” adding that there are also problems finding life support systems to support humans upon arrival, among other worries.
“I've been asked a few times if I want to die on Mars, and the answer is yes − but not on impact,” he said.
Mr Fink stayed away from any questions that might have challenged Mr Musk, whose affinity for the Trump administration has led him to make controversial and polarising moves over the past year.
“He's a great friend,” the BlackRock chief told the crowd, before giving Mr Musk the last word.
“I would encourage everyone to be optimistic and excited about the future,” he said. It's better to err on the side of caution and be an optimist and wrong, “rather than be a pessimist and right”, Mr Musk explained.
