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Thanks to the invitation of China Netcom Magazine, I am very happy to share my thoughts on technology and human vision with my friends in China.
With the accelerated development of science and technology, one day science and technology may surpass human understanding and control. In this regard, some people are optimistic and some people are pessimistic. But I believe that as long as we are not complacent and always keep a sense of urgency, the future of mankind is bright under the impetus of scientific and technological forces. This is like a self-fulfilling prophecy: if human beings want to make the future beautiful, they must take actions to make the future beautiful.
I hope to do my best and make the greatest contribution to the bright future of mankind by scientific and technological means. To this end, any field that helps to achieve sustainable development in the future is worth our investment. Whether it is Tesla, BCI or space exploration technology company, the ultimate goal of these companies is to improve the quality of human life in the future and create more practical value for the world as much as possible. Tesla aims to accelerate the transformation of the world to sustainable energy, BCI is engaged in medical rehabilitation, and space exploration technology company makes interstellar connection possible.
Clean energy: the future of sustainable development
For clean energy, the starting point of my thinking is how to make and store energy continuously and for a long time, and how to provide continuous power for future production and life. In my opinion, the future of sustainable energy involves three links.
The generation of sustainable energy. The sun is like a huge nuclear fusion generator. At present, human beings have developed very little energy. In the long run, solar energy will become the main energy source of human civilization. Of course, wind, water, geothermal and nuclear energy are also beneficial energy supplements.
Storage of sustainable energy. In view of the alternation of day and night and the change of weather, we need a large number of fixed battery packs to store solar energy and wind energy, because the sun will not shine all the time and the wind will not blow all the time, and intangible energy needs to be sealed in a large number of fixed battery packs.
Electric traffic. Vehicles, including cars, planes and ships, are completely electrified. Electric rockets may be difficult, but we may be able to make propellant for rockets through sustainable energy. In the end, the world economy will be completely driven by sustainable energy.
The world is moving towards the track of sustainable energy transformation, and mankind should constantly accelerate this process. Because the sooner this change is realized, the less risk human beings pose to the environment and the more benefits they will get. When the supply of clean energy is endless, the cost of carbon sequestration and seawater desalination will be lower, and the problems of climate change and water shortage will be solved; When fossil fuels leave the historical stage, the sky will become cleaner, the world will be quieter, the air will be fresher and the future will be brighter.
Solar energy, battery packs and electric vehicles outline a bright future. Next, we need to concentrate on solving the constraints. The development of vehicle electrification has become the knowledge of all countries, but the popularity of pure electric vehicles in the world needs the support of batteries of the order of terawatt-hours. According to our estimation, human beings need about 300 TWh of battery energy storage to achieve sustainable energy conversion. The biggest difficulty in promoting sustainable energy lies in the large-scale production of lithium battery cells. Specifically, from mining, element extraction to the production line under the battery core, and finally forming the battery pack, it needs to go through many complicated links. It can be said that the production of battery cells restricts the rapid development of sustainable energy economy.
As a pioneer and innovator focusing on energy innovation technology, Tesla was originally established to solve the problem of energy innovation. On the one hand, we build a comprehensive sustainable energy product from three aspects: energy production, storage and use; On the other hand, we are committed to innovative research and development of advanced battery technology, redefining battery manufacturing and canceling battery capacity restrictions. I believe that through the combination of solar energy, wind energy, batteries and electric vehicles, the world will transition to a sustainable future. I'm glad to see more and more enterprises join this field. In the cause of energy innovation, China enterprises will be a force to be reckoned with.
Humanoid robot: doing what humans do
Nowadays cars are more and more like intelligent networked robots with wheels. In fact, in addition to cars, humanoid robots are becoming a reality. In 20021year, Tesla launched the universal humanoid robot (Tesla Bot). Tesla robots are close to adults in height and weight. It can carry or carry heavy objects and walk in small steps. Its front screen is an interactive interface to communicate with people. You may be curious, why design this robot with legs? Because human society is based on the interaction between two arms and ten fingers of biped. Therefore, if we want the robot to adapt to the environment and do what humans do, it must have roughly the same size, shape and ability as humans.
The initial positioning of Tesla robot is to replace people in repetitive, boring and dangerous work. But the long-term goal is to make it serve thousands of families, such as cooking, mowing grass and taking care of the elderly.
To achieve this goal, robots need to be smart enough and have the ability to produce robots on a large scale. The "four-wheeled robot" we produced-the car-has changed people's travel and even their lifestyle. When one day we solve the problem of automatic driving of cars (that is, artificial intelligence in the real world), we can extend artificial intelligence technology to humanoid robots, which will have a broader application prospect than cars.
We plan to launch the first humanoid robot prototype this year, and strive to improve the intelligence of the robot and solve the problem of mass production. Since then, with the expansion of production scale and the reduction of cost, the practicability of humanoid robot will be improved year by year. In the future, home robots may be cheaper than cars. Maybe within ten years, people can buy a robot for their parents as a birthday present.
It can be predicted that with the help of robots, we will create an era with extremely rich goods and services, and everyone can live a rich life. Perhaps the only scarcity in the future is that we create ourselves as human beings.
Brain-Computer Interface: Empowering the Disabled
Compared with electric cars, perhaps some friends in China are not familiar with BCI. This kind of company is mainly engaged in the development of computer and human brain fusion technology. The brain chip it develops is as big as a coin, similar to wearable devices such as smart phones, but it can be more deeply integrated with the user's body-recording and stimulating brain activity by implanting it into the cerebral cortex.
At this stage, this technology is to help the injured on a personal level. We received a lot of regrettable emails: a 25-year-old young man had an accident riding a motorcycle in the golden age of his life, which made him unable to eat independently, which was a great grief to both individuals and families. In view of this, brain-computer interface technology will focus on curing or alleviating brain injury and other related diseases for many years to come. For example, it can help those who suffer from spinal cord injury and mental illness to restore limb sensation or motor function, or make quadriplegic patients easily operate computers or mobile phones with their brains.
This technology can also improve a wider range of brain injury problems, whether these diseases are congenital or accidental, or caused by age and external stress factors, including severe depression, morbid obesity, sleep problems, potential schizophrenia and so on. These are expected to be alleviated by man-machine equipment.
With the development of brain-computer interface technology, in the long run, this connection is expected to expand the channels of communication between the outside world and the human brain, and "visit" more brain regions and new neural data. This technology can effectively integrate human beings with artificial intelligence, and finally expand the new interaction between human beings and the world, themselves and others. Even if the goal of man-machine combination is difficult to achieve, brain-computer interface technology will play a huge role in the field of medical rehabilitation.
Space exploration: the possibility of living across planets
Finally, my greatest hope is that mankind will create a self-sufficient city on Mars. Many people ask me, why should we explore outer space and turn human beings into multi-planet creatures? In the vast universe, human civilization is like a faint candle, like a glimmer in the void. When one day, the expansion of the sun makes the earth uninhabitable, we can fly to a new home by spaceship. If human beings can live on other planets, it means that human beings have one of the conditions for screening through the universe. At that time, we will become interstellar citizens and human civilization will continue.
The first step to realize trans-planet human settlement is to reduce the travel cost, which is also the original intention of space exploration technology company-we first build recyclable rockets, and then continuously improve the carrying capacity by building reusable giant spacecraft. As of the beginning of this year, Space Exploration Technology Company has successfully achieved 79 rocket reuse flights, delivered goods to the space station and sent ordinary people into space. We also designed and built the largest launch vehicle in history-Starship, which can carry 100 passengers and materials at a time. In the future, we plan to build at least 65,438+0,000 "starships" and send groups of pioneers to Mars to build self-sufficient cities.
With the accelerating process of changing life by science and technology, the world is developing with each passing day, and life is more than simply solving one problem after another. We all hope that when we wake up in the morning, we can look forward to the future and be happy about what will happen. I hope more people can join us and strive to accelerate the transformation of the world to sustainable energy. We also welcome more like-minded China partners to join us in the exploration of clean energy, artificial intelligence, man-machine cooperation and even space, and create a promising tomorrow.
According to the "Hot List" data of Easy Car App, Tesla China pays attention to 177600 every day, ranking second among new energy brands. For more data, please visit the Easy Car App.