Elon Musk hasn't become the world's richest man without upsetting the apple cart a few times, but the Tesla founder's latest quotes are perhaps his most marmite yet.
The South African billionaire, who could soon be set to bank himself a staggering one trillion pay package as Tesla stocks continue to soar, almost has as many zeroes in his bank account as he has kids at this point, and it's hard to see anyone knocking him off his perch any time soon.
Love him or hate him, Musk has done some pretty impressive things within the world of science and technology, particularly when it comes to combining his two companies and sending a Tesla into space.
Science and religion go together like oil and water, but despite previously claiming that he doesn't believe in anything, Musk recently clarified that he now believes 'God is the Creator.'
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Appearing on Tuesday's episode of The Katie Miller Podcast, he said: "I believe this universe came from something. People have different labels [for God]."
Despite accepting this more traditional form of Christianity, praising Jesus' teachings of love, kindness, and forgiveness for their wisdom and societal value, he had a slightly more modern take on how the universe was created.
Similar to the viral simulation theory, which speculates that since our own Earth doesn't have the technology to create a whole world, it's likely that we're living in another, more advanced world's simulation, Musk suggested that God might be simply running a computer simulation, with our lives being nothing more than 'somebody's video game'.
Now, it would suck if some advanced alien species were forcing me to write this article and also keeping itself entertained by all the chaotic world events we've had in recent years, but perhaps that is Musk's excuse for some of his more controversial behaviour in the last decade.
Musk also speculated that our world could be an 'alien Netflix series,' saying that the purpose of life would therefore be to keep humanity excited to increase our 'ratings' and prevent our creator from turning the computer off, which is perhaps why we've had the threat of World War Three, a global pandemic and Donald Trump in charge of the US in the last five years alone.
He said: "If you apply Darwin [the theory behind the survival of the fittest] to simulation theory, then only the most interesting simulations will continue.
"Therefore, the most interesting outcome is most likely because it's either that or annihilation. So, really, we have one goal. Keep it interesting."
Of course, as AI gets more advanced and threatens to take over our jobs and eventually the world, the prospect of it being powerful enough to create a whole world is becoming far less farcical, so perhaps we may be the ones to create a video game where we control human subjects, in a far more advanced version of The Sims.
Topics: Elon Musk, Religion, Science, Technology, AI
James Moorhouse