Lex Fridman has launched a new episode of the show, guest Elon Musk, which is also the fourth time Musk has been interviewed by Lex Fridman.
China is mentioned in this interview. Although the content is not much, it is inspiring for shaping and disseminating Chinese stories.
Lex Fridman is an in-depth talk show, each of which lasts several hours, in the form of a conversation with no editing in between. The guests are mainly scientists, scientific and technological workers, entrepreneurs and other well-known figures in the field of cutting-edge fields. Musk is a frequent guest on the show, and he is relaxed in interviews, but he is a little tired and sometimes a little withdrawn.
1. About China
In this episode, Lex Fridman asked Musk about China: Is the conflict between China and the United States inevitable?How to avoid it?For example, do you want to strengthen communication between the two sides?Because Musk has invested in China and has also been in contact with many Chinese companies, he should have insights into this issue. In addition, Lex also asked Musk to tell us about what he knows about China.
Here's what Musk has to say.
1.There are many smart and hard-working people in China, much more than in the United States. These people are full of energy.
2.In recent years, China's infrastructure has been much more powerful than that of the United States: train stations, high-speed rail, high-rise buildings, and everything. It is recommended to go to Beijing or Shanghai: look at the high-rise buildings and take the high-speed train. Sit from Beijing to Xi'an and see the terracotta warriors. China has a very long history. Chinese writing is one of the oldest written languages of mankind, that is, the oldest.
3.Historically, China has always been internally focused, not "acquisitive", and will not go out and invade a bunch of countries.
4.For example, there have been many civil wars in China's history, and these civil wars have been very violent. For example, during the civil war during the Three Kingdoms period, China may have lost 70% of its population as a result, and the American civil war was a big deal. People in China today think about China's own problems ten times more than foreign problems. In other words, 90% of the things that Chinese think about are domestic things.
5.China is not a monolithic, not a national subject or an idea. This is very important because many people in the United States and the West like to describe or imagine Chinese people as being "**", all people are one idea, have no will of their own, cannot or dare not have their own will. This is the most vicious way to dwarf the Chinese, which is equivalent to portraying the Chinese as "humanoid animals" and depriving the Chinese of their subjectivity and agency as "people".
6.To explain Sino-US relations, Musk said a paragraph about the United States:
1) Historically, many major powers have been acquisitive, but the United States is a rare exception, and the United States is not considered to be an external expansionist. For example, after World War II, the United States had a nuclear bomb and could take any country without a single soldier, but the United States did not, but instead helped Europe and Japan rebuild. This is a very rare thing in history, and it should be said that it is unprecedented.
2) The United States has a lot of problems, and people often criticize the United States, but historically, the United States is not bad (Musk is comparing the United States to various empires in history). The United States has done a lot of "conspicuous acts of kindness", a concept that Musk mentioned several times in this interview, he believes that Israel should do good deeds after being attacked by Hamas, not retaliate), such as the "Berlin Airlift" (the largest air transport operation in history) after World War II to lift the blockade of Berlin by the Soviet Union. Also, to evaluate whether a country is good or not, you can look at how they treat prisoners of war. For example, if you go back to 1945, if you are in Germany, there is the Soviet Union on one side, and the United States, Britain and France on the other, which side do you surrender?Musk strongly recommends surrendering to the United States because the United States treats prisoners of war better, which is a realistic consideration.
3) There is no such thing as a morally perfect country, and if you look at the whole history, the United States is generally benevolent, although far from perfect. The United States must also always be self-critical.
7.To sum up, neither China nor the United States is acquisitive, which can be regarded as a "common value" or "shared principle". (With this, there is room for cooperation and peace between the two sides.)
8.China is very serious about Taiwan and considers it a fundamental part of China. China has long made this position clear. Taiwan is like a "state" of China in the eyes of the United States, and Taiwan in China's mind is much more important than Hawaii in the eyes of the United States - although Hawaii is also important to the United States!
9.China says it wants to reunify Taiwan, either peacefully or militarily – but from China's perspective, this is 100% possible.
10.Musk did not make specific suggestions on how to improve relations between China and the United States. He began the interview with the Israeli-Hamas war, where Musk mentioned that Israel should be able to do "conspicuous acts of kindness" and not retribution. When it comes to the Sino-US issue, in fact, it also follows this logic, that is, the two sides must respond to the logic of a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye to cut off the vicious circle.
2. Summary: 1Why care about this interview?
1) The world's top entrepreneurs, speaking is influential;
2) I have some understanding of China, after all, I have invested and opened factories in China, and I have been here many times, and I can also get in touch with the upper echelons of China.
3) His interest in China is not only about business, but also because he has a lot of respect for Chinese history and civilization.
4) In addition, Musk himself is a person with broad interests, a love of learning Xi thinking, and insight.
5) Paying attention to Musk's views on many issues - especially major issues of right and wrong for a long time, it can be found that this person has a pattern, is detached from low-level interests, has a conscience and good intentions, should be said to be a "good person", and is also trying to do good things. Many of the things he cares about and does may even affect his "main business" (Tesla). Of course, maybe he doesn't think he has any prescriptive main business.
6) He has always been a person who "speaks for China" in the international community. Considering the anti-China environment in the United States, we can see how he expressed his position.
7) Lex Fridman's show is not edited, it is all improvised, which is more realistic;Because of the in-depth content, the positioning is relatively niche, and the audience is all Kochi people, so you can take a look at Musk's remarks
2.Inspiration for the "China Story".
1) China's cultural soft power is promising: Musk mentioned the terracotta warriors and horses, and writing. China's long history and culture are extremely attractive to foreigners who have a little spiritual and intellectual pursuit, which can arouse their curiosity and gain their respect. In terms of using cultural soft power, China has great potential
2) There is a big difference between those who have been to China and those who have not, and foreigners must be invited to China: as long as you have been to China and have a walk, you can know more about the real situation in China;If you haven't been here, you can only be blinded by the mainstream prejudice of the West. Musk has invested in setting up factories in China and regards China as an important market, so he has an understanding of China, and his impression of China is naturally different. In this regard, there is an information asymmetry between China and the United States: Chinese learn English, watch American dramas, and understand American pop culture, while the United States, in turn, does not understand China. Therefore, it is better to let foreigners come and actively communicate with them. If there is no communication and interaction, the estrangement and misunderstanding will only get deeper.
3) Talking about China's advantages and achievements, it is enough to grasp a few core and easy-to-understand ones: I can't say how high Musk's evaluation of China must be, but his comments on China are very real: first, good people: smart, hard-working, and energetic people;Second, the infrastructure is very good. For a country to develop, it must first have these things, which are the fundamentals of fundamentals. If you talk too much about systems, concepts, and retreats, it is easy to get around yourself, so it is better to talk about these simple, direct and intuitive things. People are good, things are good. These things (infrastructure) are also built by the people, and they are real things for the country and the people. That's all it takes.
4) It must be explained that China has always paid attention to local affairs and has never intended to engage in foreign expansion. The mainstream view of US politicians on China is that China wants to replace the United States and become the new world boss: to engage in economic hegemony, military hegemony, export ideology and system, establish a transnational bloc, and eventually dominate the international community. Every step China takes is purposeful, for example, China is engaged in the South China Sea, which is to dominate Southeast AsiaThe purpose of reunifying Taiwan is Japan. The China imagined by the United States is actually the United States itself, or the Angsa pirates. This psychological mechanism is called "projection", projecting one's own image onto the other person. As the old Chinese saying goes, "the heart of a villain is the belly of a gentleman". There is also a more apt saying: "The dog's eyes look down on people". However, the reason why the United States sees China this way has a lot to do with the Soviet Union: because in these respects, the Soviet Union and the United States are completely symmetrical, and the existence of the Soviet Union convinces the United States that all great powers are ultimately the same as the United States. In fact, human beings have always had this problem: hunters cannot understand farmers;The pirates could not understand the peasants either. Therefore, to tell China's story well, it is particularly important to tell China's history to foreigners: it has always been internal, and there is no idea of foreign aggression. Therefore, Musk said that the Chinese are "internally focused", which shows the "internality" of the Chinese and helps the Chinese "speak". However, it would be inaccurate to say that the United States is not "acquisitive": the essence of the United States is still predatory and expansionist, imperialist and hegemonic, but the United States adopts more "advanced" means than military -- economic means and cultural means. This is called a soldier who surrenders without a fight, dominating the other side economically and culturally, and is a more high-dimensional imperialism. Therefore, China and the United States are essentially "different" and do not have so much shared value
5) The Taiwan issue must be explained in an easy-to-understand way. Musk explained the Taiwan issue relatively well: he used the example of Hawaii to compare Taiwan very vividly, and it is easy for Americans to understand;He also made clear China's expectation that reunification would happen 100 percent and was on the table. Since the Taiwan issue is the most direct risk point for Sino-US conflict, foreigners must fully understand Chinese mainland's demands on Taiwan. There is a very core point in this, and there are not a few foreigners who believe that China is actually "invading" Taiwan and is a move of external expansion, and this proves that China has foreign territorial ambitions. In essence, they cannot understand that Taiwan is part of China, and do not understand that in the eyes of the Chinese, it is part of the internal affairs. This can be followed by what Musk said, since ancient times, China has been concerned about local affairs, and there have been many civil wars in history. The Taiwan question is a domestic affair, a continuation of China's civil war after World War II. From the very beginning, it had nothing to do with outward expansion.
6) The spread of "Chinese stories" is sometimes as simple as possible: as Musk talked about with Lex in the interview, Chinese people are very hardworking, want to work hard to improve their lives, want to live better, care about their own affairs, care about their own affairs, and care about their own country's affairs, which is fine. And this thing has been like this for thousands of years, in the same vein, China has never been a threat to foreign countries. This is a good portrait that can be used as a starting point for everything. In fact, foreigners can see that the most commonly used blessings, pursuits, and visions of Chinese people. Fu Lu Shou, all the best, Wishing you prosperity. It's all very pragmatic stuff. The cultural soft power that Japan later spread to the United States and the West is Zen Taoism, Eastern metaphysics and traditional culture, animation and games, and so on, all of which are non-political and depoliticized. These are often far more effective than politicized things. China's political system and values can be explained publicly, but this is a more difficult matter, and it is appropriate to do it after establishing a basic portrait of China and the Chinese
7) "Foreign monks are good at chanting scriptures": To tell Chinese stories, not only in China itself, but also in foreigners. People like Musk come out to speak, and a sentence is a hundred, thousand, or even tens of thousands. Although he doesn't have a deep understanding of China, as soon as he says a few things, it is an outline, a portrait, and it is very effective, and people can easily understand and listen to it. Although some MAGA Republicans use Musk's business interests in China to blacken him, saying that he is being bought by China, the elite group and the Kochi group (such as Lex Fridman's readers, who belong to Kochi among Kochi), will not be affected by these anti-intellectual populist remarks, and Musk's words will have great penetration and influence on them
To sum up, although Musk's interview is not much, it is inspiring for shaping and spreading Chinese stories.
*: "tuzhuxi" WeChat***