A Prius is not a true hybrid, really. The current Prius is, like, 2 percent electric. It's a gasoline car with slightly better mileage.

The problem is that at a lot of big companies, process becomes a substitute for thinking. You're encouraged to behave like a little gear in a complex machine. Frankly, it allows you to keep people who aren't that smart, who aren't that creative.

It would take six months to get to Mars if you go there slowly, with optimal energy cost. Then it would take eighteen months for the planets to realign. Then it would take six months to get back, though I can see getting the travel time down to three months pretty quickly if America has the will.

I started SpaceX with the expectation of failure.

Patience is a virtue, and I'm learning patience. It's a tough lesson.

Silicon Valley has some of the smartest engineers and technology business people in the world.

Mars is the only place in the solar system where it's possible for life to become multi-planetarian.