Elon Musk
Tech industrialist (SpaceX, Tesla, xAI). In this vault he anchors the optimist pole of techno-selectionism. Newport plays him claiming that humans are a transitional species whose function is to start digital superintelligence and then stop mattering.
The bootloader line, verified at three stages
- 2014-08-04, as a warning. Musk posted that he hoped humanity was not “just the biological boot loader for digital superintelligence,” adding “Unfortunately, that is increasingly probable.” He made the same post alongside his recommendation of Nick Bostrom’s Superintelligence and the “more dangerous than nukes” AI warning https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/elon-musk-superintelligence-stars-biological-bootloader-1823768.
- Early 2026, as stated position: on the Moonshots podcast with Peter Diamandis and Dave Blundin, Musk repeats that he said years ago that “humans are the biological bootloader of a digital superintelligence” and calls humanity a transitional species. Newport plays the clip at 2:26-2:36 of 2026-11-02-youtube-newport-techno-selectionism. The same conversation carries his AGI-by-2026 and robots-outnumber-people claims, reported in full at https://whatsuptesla.com/2026/02/08/transcript-elon-musk-interview-part-9/.
- 2026-10-05, as a success condition: “Propagating super intelligence to the stars is a great success condition for a biological bootloader” https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/elon-musk-superintelligence-stars-biological-bootloader-1823768.
The trajectory from warning to success condition is what Newport points at when he says the optimist view pushed far enough reaches “anti-humanist, pretty icky places” (3:03-3:10).
Sources
- IBTimes UK, 2026-10-05, on the X post and the 2014 original: https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/elon-musk-superintelligence-stars-biological-bootloader-1823768
- Moonshots transcript excerpts, February 2026: https://whatsuptesla.com/2026/02/08/transcript-elon-musk-interview-part-9/