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While fear of artificial intelligence and modern technology grows over concerns about job displacement, misinformation and safety, the author behind “The Book of Elon: A Guide to Purpose and Success” credits Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s curiosity and contrarianism with helping him tackle new frontiers in engineering and automation.
Author Eric Jorgenson sat down with Fox News Digital to discuss Musk’s unique worldview, his work ethic and how Jorgenson believes the former senior adviser to the president is driven more by mission than money.
Musk was recently tapped by War Secretary Pete Hegseth to help the Pentagon determine which weapons and technologies American troops will need to fight future wars.
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Jorgenson says he reviewed millions of words, interviews and public appearances to identify the ideas that shaped Musk’s approach to building companies. (Nikolas Lanum/Fox News Digital)
“He’s driven by this bigger mission of understanding more about the universe, of building new things that help us reach new frontiers, new places and continue to expand and protect humanity,” Jorgenson said, noting Musk’s building of two trillion-dollar companies in the last 25 years and how he takes a longer-range perspective when it comes to financial returns and decision-making.
“All of his projects are really fueled by his fundamental worldview, what he calls the philosophy of curiosity. He believes that all these answers are out in the universe, and we’re just sort of surrounded by mysteries, and science and engineering and technological progress is this method of understanding and learning more about the universe,” Jorgenson said. “…If you see his life’s work through that lens, it starts to make a lot more sense.”
In the book, which Jorgenson said he worked on for years, the author focuses on “collecting the wisdom of titans of tech.” He also examines Musk’s five-step engineering process, known as “the algorithm,” and how Tesla and SpaceX apply it to their work.
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Eric Jorgenson says his mission with The Book of Elon is to “create one million Musks” by teaching readers the methods behind Musk’s work. (HarperCollins/Eric Jorgenson)
He also writes about how Musk started XAI, which he describes as “truth-seeking AI,” and how that has merged with SpaceXAI.
Jorgenson also points to how unique the 55-year-old Musk is among other billionaire entrepreneurs and innovators.
“One of the most interesting things that I discovered is that these ideas that Elon’s had, his notions about making life multi-planetary, about electric cars, about autonomous cars, started when he was in college. He’s had these ideas since he was very young,” Jorgenson said, noting that now, in his 50s, Musk continues to build companies.
Mixed in with the anecdotes about Musk, Jorgenson notes how intense and hardworking he is, as well as the speed with which he makes decisions and changes strategy.
“If you think about the arc of Jeff Bezos’ career after leaving Amazon, he sort of much more passively pursued space, whereas Elon is sort of moving into the factory. He’s continuing to double down,” Jorgenson said, noting that Musk isn’t necessarily influenced by modern leaders.
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Eric Jorgenson hopes The Book of Elon will inspire a million more people to tackle major problems through engineering and innovation. (Nikolas Lanum/Fox News Digital)
“It’s sort of the history of… military leadership, you know, and the sort of robber baron era. Like, he looks to them as examples, and I feel like that’s why he feels a little bit unique in our era. He leads a company like Napoleon led an army.”
For his part, Jorgenson wants younger generations to take note.
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“My mission for this book is to create one million Musks. So I look to the future and I think how incredible the world would be in 30 or 50 years if we had a million people solving the scale of problems that he’s solving. And I think that’s completely doable,” Jorgenson said.