While many followers of Tesla’s CEO are currently focused on his blunder of allegedly cheating in Path of Exile 2, the owner of X, Elon Musk, has a much darker secret from the days of COVID. Podcast host Sam Harris reveals on Substack that the Tesla co-founder once bet $1 million that the US wouldn’t see 35,000 cases of virus victims during the pandemic’s onset in early 2020. The conversation between Harris and Musk began after the SpaceX founder posted the following on X: “The coronavirus panic is dumb.”
Aghast at Elon Musk’s comment, Sam immediately took to his DMs with the tech entrepreneur, explaining how the Coronavirus was a very big deal. “If we don’t get our act together,” Harris argued, “we’re going to look just like Italy very soon.” Nobody needs to be told that the OpenAI founder has quite a big ego, as all the money, power, and publicity have long gone deep into his head. That said, Musk quickly refuted the concerned neuroscientist, saying that Sam “of all people should not be concerned about this.”
Sam Harris went on in his exposé of Elon Musk’s COVID bet, pointing out how it wasn’t long before the US saw 35,000 deaths and 600,000 cases of the rapidly spreading virus. The podcaster claims “Elon never responded” to his message of the news, an indication that that very text had ended their friendship.
“The problem with Elon, is that he makes no effort to get his facts straight when discussing any of these topics, and he regularly promotes lies and conspiracy theories manufactured by known bad actors, at scale,” expresses Sam Harris.
“There is simply no excuse for a person with his talents, resources, and opportunities to create so much pointless noise,” continues Harris. “There is something seriously wrong with his moral compass, if not his perception of reality.” It is a shame that the religion critic had to reach this conclusion with his former friend, as they initially shared parallel world views and similar perspectives with each. They even still share multiple mutual friends to this day.
Nevertheless, an insensitive bet — likely seen as a jest on Elon’s part — is what tore away the friendship between two brilliant-minded individuals. Since Musk’s COVID bet and its eventual backfire, Harris states that the business guru continues to spread lies on X. Still, many commenters on Sam’s post came to Musk’s defense, claiming that people need to hear Elon’s side of the story or that such a callous bet was due to his “autism.”
Whatever the case, it’s easy to see why so many doubt something as unimportant and petty as Elon Musk’s video gaming ability. Someone who bets money and a bottle of tequila on the lives of tens of thousands of COVID victims likely doesn’t have a proper moral compass they’re following.
