Neil deGrasse Tyson: Why Elon Musk is the most important technology giant of today

We love our technological heroes, the most recent and successful machine prophets who are transforming our lives faster and faster with each new invention. But who among the personalities of our time ranging from Apple's Steve Jobs to Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg or Microsoft's Bill Gates is the most important?

The renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson answered this question asked during an interview with CNBC. His choice – Elon Musk, The technological entrepreneur par excellence of our time, who founded Tesla Motors, SpaceX, The Boring Company and Neuralink, among other revolutionary societies.

This diversity of Musk's efforts is what Tyson appreciates over other tech influencers: Tyson says that Elon "is trying to invent a future" and not just "the next application".

"As important as Steve Jobs was, no doubt about it – [and] you have to add it to Bill Gates because they are behind the personal computer revolution – here's the difference: Elon Musk is trying to invent a future, not providing the next application, "said Tyson.

What is important, stresses the astrophysicist, is that Musk does not "just give us the next application that will be great on our smartphone", but "think about society, culture, how we interact, to the forces that must be at stake to act, civilization in the next century ".

Indeed, Musk's efforts have led him to re-imagine human travel in space and on Earth, as well as the way humans interact with their machines.

The fact that Musk, as CEO of the revolutionary SpaceX, focuses the bulk of his efforts on the colonization of space is Tyson's main selling point. He thinks that space will provide "unlimited resources" and reduce our reliance on war as a method of distribution. "A whole war category has the potential to evaporate completely with the exploitation of space resources, which also includes unlimited access to energy," predicts -he.

According to Tyson, this focus on space has the greatest potential to affect society, which means that Musk "will transform civilization as we know it".

Although Elon Musk certainly has his detractors, Tyson thinks that they will eventually be conquered by the extent of the achievements of the billionaire who smokes the pot. "W]We are at the frontier of the future of civilization, and no, I do not think it takes full advantage of all sectors of society, "says deGrasse Tyson," but it will eventually do so when the sectors that It is the pioneers who will transform the lives of those who currently have no idea that their life is about to change. "