Elon Musk Denies He’s A Samurai

The Washington Post ran 22 quotes from a new book (Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future) about Silicon Valley darling Elon Musk. All but two of the quotes passed muster with Musk, but the SpaceX and Tesla founder took to Twitter to set the record straight on the two that didn’t. (The Washington Post, btw, is owned by Musk’s chief tech rival in the commercial space race, Jeff Bezos.)

The quote causing the most controversy is surprisingly not about Musk’s belief that computers loaded up with artificial intelligence are going to take over the world in five years. Instead it was a quote that claimed he condemned an employee for missing work to witness the birth of his child. Not true, says Musk –he “strongly support(s) pregnancy leave.” The other quote that Musk contends is incorrect is the one where he credits himself with having the “mentality of a samurai.” According to Ashlee Vance’s book, Musk said he “would rather commit seppuku than fail.” Musk says he never called himself a samurai. And he’s had so much success that we’ll never know about the seppuku threat.

Of 22 Quotes from http://t.co/VA2KQ03NNR, 2 need correcting: 1. I strongly support pregnancy leave 2. I’ve never called myself a samurai

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 12, 2015