During an interview at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity on Wednesday, the Tesla CEO said he hadn’t made any investments in the longevity industry.
“I think it is important that we die at least at some point,” he told Mark Read, CEO of advertising giant WPP. “If we live for too long, I think it does ossify society. There’s no changing of the leadership because leadership never dies.”
He added that this could inhibit new ideas as people won’t change their minds.
“Think of some of the worst individuals in the world. How long do you want them to live?” he joked.
Musk has made similar comments in the past. In 2021, he called death “important,” adding he didn’t think anyone should “try to live for a super long time.”
Several of Musk’s Silicon Valley contemporaries have been dabbling in longevity, leveraging their wealth to fight the effects of aging.
Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel, and OpenAI’s Sam Altman have all invested in companies trying to reverse aging at the cellular level. Others, including Google’s Sergey Brin, are using their money to combat age-related conditions, such as cancer and Parkinson’s disease.
Some entrepreneurs, like Kernel CEO Bryan Johnson, have taken on intensive nutrition, exercise, and wellness plans to try and slow or even reverse the aging process.
Musk has long been concerned about the effect an aging population could have on the world.
He has previously warned that society could “crumble” if people don’t have children and has cited low birth rates as one of the “biggest risks to civilization.”
Representatives for Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.
