How Protected Is Elon Musk? - YouTube

Channel: The Infographics Show

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If you had a net worth of $39 billion and were juggling a full-time job revolutionizing
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the electric vehicle industry while trying to find life on Mars, you’d probably want
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to make sure you had some adequate protection in place.
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Just think of all the people who might want to come after you – oil giants, kidnappers
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looking for a ransom, maybe even some Martians.
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What would you do to ensure your safety?
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There’s probably not a lot you can do to prevent the threat of alien creatures, but
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with all that money, you can definitely lower your chances of being met with more earthly
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threats.
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Maybe you’d want a decent CCTV system in your house, a few security guards, and someone
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to monitor your cybersecurity.
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Well, with such mediocre and uninspired ideas about protecting yourself, I can see why Elon
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Musk is a billionaire changing the world whilst you’re sat watching YouTube videos.
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Considering that Mr. Musk literally called one of his businesses ‘The Boring Company’
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and he once sent a rocket off to space with a mannequin inside listening to a loop of
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David Bowie’s ‘Life on Mars’ playing, you can expect him to make some slightly,
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well, eccentric decisions for his security.
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Think flamethrowers, watchtowers, and intergalactic operations as all part of the picture.
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But, first of all, let’s start small.
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Even if you’re working 90-hour weeks, you still need a place to sleep and eat.
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Musk currently lives in a 1.67-acre estate in Los Angeles worth 17 million dollars.
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It’s a pretty flashy home that includes a two-story library, home theatre, gym, swimming
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pool, and a huge wine cellar.
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Having such a fancy mansion in a place as high-profile as Los Angeles could be a recipe
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for disaster, but Musk is bound to have some pretty stellar security.
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The safety measures implemented aren’t public knowledge, for obvious reasons, but there
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are a few things we know.
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For one, the entire security system of the place can be controlled from a mobile device.
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If anyone tried to intrude and pull any funny business, you can bet that staff would arrive
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in seconds and at the push of a button.
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Judging by Musk’ contemporaries, he probably has his fair share of staff.
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Tech billionaires in Silicon Valley are known for the throngs of body guards they hire since
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the high-profile nature and wide reach of these people and their work makes them particularly
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vulnerable.
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For instance, fellow tech entrepreneur Mark Zuckerberg has sixteen bodyguards at his home
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working shifts to ensure there’s always someone there for if something goes wrong.
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By the way, the house has recently hit the market, bodyguards not included.
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If you have a few million to spare and you like the sound of the swanky library, you’re
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welcome for the heads up.
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As for Elon and where he plans to go next, we can only assume he has his sights set on
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another planet completely…
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You already know that Musk works a 90-hour week.
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He’s probably the type of guy to take a pillow with him into the office and have a
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power nap under the desk.
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So, security at work might be even more important to him than his home security.
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You might expect Musk to go all futuristic when protecting the headquarters of his companies
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– maybe a laser maze that sets off alarms or a tiny drone monitoring the premises at
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all times.
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However, in this case, it seems Musk has some nostalgia for the old ways of doing things.
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In 2018, he announced his plan to build a 50-foot watchtower for his corporation The
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Boring Company, complete with a knight to yell insults at people in a French accent.
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I’d make a cheap joke by giving my best impression, but I don’t want to get into
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trouble…
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There’s no sign of the watchtower yet, but since it’s Musk we’re talking about, I’m
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not sure we can assume he wasn’t being serious.
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As far as protecting yourself goes, it doesn’t get more comprehensive than installing a literal
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watchtower.
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In the same year, Musk launched a range of flamethrowers branded with the Boring Company
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logo, called ‘not a Flamethrower’ but which definitely were flamethrowers.
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Was this all a plan to arm Musk’s most loyal minions and followers with weapons to protect
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him, should the moment arise?
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Presumably the security staff at The Boring Company are all equipped with the flamethrowers
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and ready to shoot at anyone who dares to enter the premises uninvited.
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It might sound like a joke, but I’m definitely staying away.
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So, what about the daily commute?
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Musk lives in LA, a place well-known for its ridiculously complex highway system and congested
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traffic.
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This leaves plenty of opportunities to be shot at or hijacked whilst driving to work.
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But Tesla vehicles are some of the most secure around so, as the founder and CEO of the company,
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Musk must be pretty well covered in his car.
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Imagine someone is driving him down the road when suddenly an intruder intercepts and jumps
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in the car.
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Each Tesla vehicle has GPS tracking Tesla itself has access to – so, as long as he
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remains in the car, his employees would soon be able to figure out his whereabouts and
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attack a kidnapper with flamethrowers.
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Even if the kidnapper managed to turn off the remote access feature.
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In fact, the cars have a remote disabling system that can also be accessed at all times,
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so an impostor could literally be stopped in their tracks.
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These security features apply to every run-of-the-mill Tesla vehicle, but the new Cybertruck takes
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things to the next level – as well as offering protection in the case of theft and intrusion,
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it also has an extremely durable exterior shell.
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Okay, so maybe that shell isn’t quite as durable as Elon once thought – once during
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a Cybertruck pitch a metal ball smashed the truck’s windows instead of demonstrating
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their strength – but I’m sure the engineers have fixed the problem by now.
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Tesla claim the shell of the truck is nearly impenetrable, and it features armor glass
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to avoid any damage from high impact crashes.
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So, if anyone was to try to crash into his car or shoot at him through the window, he’d
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probably fare better than you in your Ford Fiesta.
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Musk has been seen out and about driving the Cybertruck around Los Angeles a few times.
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Publicity stunt or not, the Cybertruck certainly isn’t doing Musk any harm when it comes
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to personal protection.
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Of course, even the most secure vehicle can’t completely protect you from dangers and threats
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whilst driving.
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But luckily, the whole purpose of Musk’s Boring Company is to build a tunnel you can
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use to drive under cities.
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The tunnel is designed to eventually transition into a high-speed capsule in a vacuum tube
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that can whisk people about between cities underground.
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It can’t hurt to know that, if anyone is ever after you and you need to get away fast,
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there’s a whole tunnel under your town at your disposal.
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Plus, it does come complete with a watchtower and guard – sounds like a decent level of
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protection to me.
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In any case, you can bet that Elon Musk isn’t going to be alone while he’s cruising around
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LA and attending meetings.
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You can be sure he has a few people hired to laugh at his jokes, hold his coffee, and
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protect him in the case that anything goes wrong.
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Whenever Elon is spotted in public, there are usually a few bodyguards nearby.
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And Musk’s security guards aren’t just any old security guards.
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They’re known to capitalize on a little-known quirk of the legal system that allows anyone
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to easily obtain permission to carry concealed firearms.
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In the small town of Lake Arthur in New Mexico, a 2004 federal law granted all its officers
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and unpaid volunteers in the police force the right to have concealed-carry privileges
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that overrule other local gun restrictions.
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As a result, there are more than 300 reserve officers in the town of just 443 people – because
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that isn’t suspicious at all.
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Amongst the noble volunteers are not just Musk’s security guards but also the staff
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of other billionaires, including the Koch brothers.
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Bribes may or may not have been involved.
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Be right back, I’m off to Lake Arthur…
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So basically, Musk probably has a load of undercover security guards who are allowed
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to conceal their weapons.
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Don’t be fooled by the sweet-looking guy in the jeans.
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Going near him in public isn’t advisable.
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But it’s not just the physical world that Musk needs protection from – these days,
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the online world can be just as dangerous.
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If you’ve ever sent your life savings to a beautiful girl you met on the internet who
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needed it for an operation only to never hear from her again, you’ll understand what I
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mean.
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Please tell me it’s not just me…
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Luckily, Musk takes cybersecurity and privacy seriously, in both his personal and professional
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life.
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He’s prided himself on the attention paid to cybersecurity at all the companies he’s
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founded or work for with.
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Through founding a company that went on to merge with PayPal, SpaceX, and Tesla, his
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enterprises have never been hacked and he’s taken care to implement secure systems.
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So, you can bet that he’s putting just as much effort into protecting his own sensitive
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data and personal information.
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In fact, Musk doesn’t use Facebook due to privacy concerns, and he even wipes and destroys
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his phones on a regular basis to ensure no sensitive information gets out there.
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Classic billionaire antics.
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Meanwhile, I’m still here using the iPhone my mum bought me for my twentieth birthday…
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Musk may not be a Facebook fan, but he is known for being an avid Twitter user.
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This leaves him open to attacks and criticism from online trolls that even his dodgy security
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guards can’t save him from.
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Luckily, he has an army of trolls to protect him on Twitter.
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Because, you know, I’m sure that’s what the man is lying awake worrying about at night.
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Anyone who tags Elon or his company on Twitter with a slightly negative sentiment can expect
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to be met with an onslaught of abuse from his many fans.
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But even when you’re a multi-billionaire that can afford top-of-the-range security,
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it’s nice to know you’re getting support from the government.
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Luckily for Musk, Donald Trump recently said that Elon Musk is one of the country’s great
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geniuses and we need to cherish and protect him.
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Give me a moment, my eyes are welling up…
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It’s unlikely the government is helping to foot Musk’s security bill or launching
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a special CIA mission to make sure he’s safe, but it seems he has a special place
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in the President’s heart.
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We can only assume they’d step in during his moment of need.
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At the end of the day though, there are some things that even internet trolls and the President
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of the United States of America can’t prepare you for.
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The next ice age, world war three, or zombie apocalypse could be just around the corner
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– and who would protect you then?
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Some might be happy to slip away in such a dire situation, but not Musk – he has a
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legacy to protect.
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Even if everything goes wrong on Earth, he needs to know that it won’t be the end of
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the road.
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Everyone loves a good conspiracy theory about secret clubs of billionaires plotting how
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they’d get away from Earth and found a new civilization if everything went to pot and,
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let’s face it, Musk would probably be sat at the head of the table in this kind of meeting.
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He’s literally the founder of a company that hopes to start human civilization on
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Mars.
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His company SpaceX is currently trying to develop the Starship, a huge reusable space
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vehicle to take people to and from Mars, and hopes to launch the first rocket to Mars in
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2022.
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He’s already planning how to find water resources, identify hazards, power sources,
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and everything else needed to sustain life on the planet.
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This is all public information, so who knows what’s going on in private?
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Maybe Musk secretly has a private rocket all set up with the essentials so that he can
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jet off to Mars in at the push of a button should things come to that.
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On the bright side, it seems he’s hoping to take other people with him too rather than
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go at it alone – he’s hoping that one million people will be on Mars by 2050.
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Choose me, Elon, choose me!
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With the resources at Elon Musk’s disposal, it’s easy to infer that he must be one of
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the most protected people in the world.
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Even if his multi-billion dollar company, the president, and extensive private security
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system all let him down, he can literally escape to Mars to keep himself safe.
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How many other people have that in place as a backup plan?
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Even though we don’t know much about the finer details of Musk’s personal protection,
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it seems that his security is as weird and wacky as he is.
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If you’re rethinking your own safety plans at this point, you might want some further
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inspiration.
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Why not check out our videos about how protected the President of the US or the British Royal
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Family are?