Lifestyle
Elon Musk talks Neuralink, coronavirus, and the future in Joe Rogan podcast Round 2
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently made his second appearance on the widely popular Joe Rogan Experience podcast, which was released today. Unlike many of Rogan’s podcasts that are streamed live for viewers to watch in real-time, Musk’s second episode was pre-recorded and released on May 7.
Musk and Rogan, who is a commentator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship and a comedian, discussed several topics that have been in the news recently. The two shared their thoughts on Musk’s plans to sell his estate and possessions, as well as his plans for Neuralink and Mars. Rogan and Musk also discussed the coronavirus, which has been a talking point of the CEO for some time.
Plans for houses, real estate, and Mars
Last week, Musk announced on Twitter that he would be selling his houses and almost all of his physical possessions. “Devoting myself to Mars and Earth. Possession just weigh you down,” he said when a follower asked about his reasons.
Don’t need the cash. Devoting myself to Mars and Earth. Possession just weigh you down.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2020
Musk provided an interesting explanation about his decision to sell his possessions to Rogan. “People say, ‘Hey, billionaire, you’ve got all this stuff’ Well, now I don’t have stuff. Now, what are you going to do?” Musk also stated that possessions were a roadblock in personal development. Thus, instead of focusing too much on houses on Earth, the CEO stated that he’d rather dedicate his efforts to Mars.
Musk further noted that he did not see the merit in owning so many properties. After Rogan and Musk talked about Gene Wilder’s house, which is located across the street from his live-in estate, he stated that owning many homes is not practical. Also, he did not want to get caught up in the small details that come with owning a property, like interior design and features. “Does it really make sense for me to spend time designing and building a house, and I’d be getting OCD on the little details…or should I be allocating that time to getting us to Mars. I should probably do the latter,” Musk said.
Neuralink
Neuralink could come as soon as next year, Musk detailed during the podcast. The CEO outlined the process for how a brain chip will be installed, and how it would be implanted in the skull of a patient. According to Musk, a portion of the skull would be removed and replaced by a Neuralink device.
Musk believes that Neuralink could help people with brain-related health issues. It could restore limb functions, eyesight, hearing, help with neurological diseases like Parkinson’s, and improve human movement. Musk also believes that there are potential cognitive benefits to Neuralink, as it could pave the way for hindering brain issues like epilepsy, Alzheimers, and strokes. He thinks the Neuralink device could recognize these issues before the body has time to react and send a “counter pulse” that could stop the problem from occurring in the first place.
The developments of Neuralink could revolutionize human life as we know it. Development is still ongoing, and Musk believes hat a year from now, Neuralink will be available for use.
Thoughts on Coronavirus
Musk has been vocal for his discontent on COVID-19 and how it is currently being handled. Last week during Tesla’s Q1 2020 Earnings Call and then on Twitter two days later, Musk vocalized his request to lift Stay-at-Home orders, stating they were inhibiting the freedom of Americans.
“I think the mortality rate is much less than what the World Health Organization said it was,” Musk said.
He maintained this point of view during the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast, stating that more freedom should be given to citizens. Those who do not want to stay home should not be required to, and those who want to stay home should have the right to do so. Musk did maintain that he is supportive of the use of face masks when people are out in public because it could stop the transmission of any germs, illness, or virus. “I think that would be a great adoption throughout the world,” he said.
Musk’s second meeting with Joe Rogan also included a brief update to Tesla’s plans with the Cybertruck and Roadster, where he indicated the all-electric pickup should come before the supercar.
The constructive conversation between the two influential figures helped clear the air with some of the more controversial topics surrounding Musk today. A year and a half removed from their first meeting, Musk and Rogan’s relationship seems to be relaxed and constructive as the two men maintained plenty of interesting conversational pieces for viewers to feast on.
Watch Episode 1470 of the Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Elon Musk below.
Lifestyle
NTSB findings on fatal Tesla crash tell a very different story
The NTSB confirmed the driver, not Tesla’s FSD, caused the fatal Texas house crash.
The National Transportation Safety Board released preliminary findings Wednesday confirming that a Tesla driver, not the vehicle’s software, caused a fatal crash in Katy, Texas in June. The driver, 44-year-old Michael Butler, had engaged Full Self-Driving Supervised mode on Rose Hollow Lane, a residential street with a 30 mph speed limit, before manually overriding the system by pressing the accelerator pedal all the way to 100%. Data recovered from the 2025 Tesla Model 3 showed the vehicle was traveling over 70 miles per hour when it struck a home and killed 76-year-old Martha Avila, who was inside. Weather was clear, the road was dry, and it was daylight.
Texas man charged in fatal Tesla crash where he blamed Autopilot
Butler told authorities he had passed out at the wheel. But security camera footage obtained by the NTSB told a different story, and showed the car accelerating through an intersection before leaving the road entirely. Police also found that Butler’s phone had Google searches including the terms “Tesla FSD not aggressive enough 2026” and “Tesla FSD too timid,” raising serious questions about how he was using the system before the crash. Butler has since been charged with manslaughter. The victim’s family has filed a lawsuit against both Butler and Tesla, alleging negligence.
The NTSB findings aligned directly with what Tesla VP of AI Software Ashok Elluswamy had already stated publicly on X in the weeks after the crash, writing that “the driver manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100%.” The data confirmed his account.
Yup. In this case, the driver manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100% of the accel pedal in this residential area. They reached a speed of 73 mph during the crash, and had the accelerator pressed even after the crash.
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) June 22, 2026
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s Texas ranch to showcase the lifelong work that changed the world
Elon Musk is building a product gallery at his Texas ranch spanning his lifelong inventions.
Elon Musk took to X earlier today, noting “Am putting together a product gallery at my ranch in Texas.” in response to a resurfaced famous quote from JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s wherein he draw parallels of the Tesla CEO to legendary physicist Albert Einstein.
Dimon made the remark at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland back in January 2025, telling CNBC at the time, “SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink, I mean, the guy is our Einstein.” The remark seemingly ended a long-time feud between the two high profile execs.
While details are thin about the exact location of Elon Musk’s Texas ranch and any pending projects that would serve as a gallery and homage to his portfolio of revolutionary product inventions spanning from 1984 to 2025, land acquisition records point to roughly a location of several thousand acres in Bastrop County, east of Austin near the Colorado River and held through an LLC called Horse Ranch LLC that’s managed by Musk’s longtime personal friend and family wealth manager Jared Birchall. Birchall also serves as the CEO of Neuralink.
Tesla’s “ecological paradise” in Giga Texas may be larger than expected
The broader Bastrop County footprint surrounding the ranch has grown significantly. Entities tied to Musk have accumulated approximately 2,000 acres in Bastrop County as of mid-2026, up from 700 acres earlier in the year, with possibly as much as 6,000 acres acquired in total across Bastrop and Travis counties based on deed records.
No completion date for the gallery has been announced and Musk has not confirmed whether it will be open to the public. As Teslarati has reported, SpaceX just completed the largest IPO in history raising $75 billion, a milestone that makes this particular moment in Musk’s career a natural inflection point for looking back at what he has built through the years.
Am putting together a product gallery at my ranch in Texas https://t.co/xQf5FRy4uz
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 15, 2026
Starting with Blastar, a simple space shooter game Musk coded at 12 years old and sold to a South African magazine for $500. From there the timeline moves through a commercial career that started with Zip2 in 1995, a city guide software company sold to Compaq for roughly $300 million in 1999. That was followed by X.com in 1999, which merged with Confinity to become PayPal, acquired by eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion. SpaceX came in 2002, Tesla in 2003, SolarCity in 2006, the Supercharger network in 2012, Neuralink in 2016, The Boring Company in 2016, OpenAI co-founded in 2015, X acquired in 2022, xAI in 2023, Optimus in 2024, the Cybercab in 2026, and most recently SpaceXAI following the SpaceX and xAI merger. The gallery will also likely include items that blur the line between product and cultural artifact, among them The Boring Company’s Not-a-Flamethrower from 2018, Tesla Short Shorts from 2020, and Burnt Hair perfume released under X in 2022.
Lifestyle
Tesla makes the cut on California’s newest EV Rebate program
California just signed a $270 million EV rebate into law and it starts this summer.
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 168 into law on Monday, July 13, 2026, creating a $270 million EV rebate program that delivers money directly at the dealership rather than as a tax credit applied months later. The program, called MyFirstEV, is funded equally by California’s state budget and participating automakers, with each contributing $135.5 million to make the math work.
The timing is directly tied to the loss of federal support when the $7,500 federal EV tax credit ended, removing the most significant consumer incentive that had driven EV adoption in the U.S. California, which accounts for roughly one-third of all EVs sold nationally, moved to fill that gap with a state-level replacement.
The rebate structure is straightforward. First-time EV buyers can receive $3,500 off any new battery-electric vehicle with an MSRP up to $50,000. Used EVs priced at $25,000 or below qualify for a $1,750 rebate. The credit is applied at the point of sale, which removes the friction of the old federal system where buyers had to wait for tax season to see the benefit. The program goes live later this summer, with the California Air Resources Board expected to release full participation details next month.
California hits Tesla Cybercab and Robotaxi driverless cars with new law
For Tesla buyers, the implications are mixed. The Tesla Model 3 RWD at $42,490 and the Model 3 Long Range at $47,490 both fall under the $50,000 cap and would qualify for the full $3,500 rebate for first-time buyers. The Model Y, which starts at $44,990 after Tesla’s recent price adjustment, also qualifies. The Model X, Model S, and Cybertruck all exceed the cap and receive no benefit. As Teslarati has reported, the program also includes a carve-out exempting California-based automakers like Rivian and Lucid from the price cap entirely, a provision that puts Tesla at a disadvantage since it relocated its headquarters to Texas in 2021.
Other qualifying vehicles include the Chevrolet Equinox EV, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, and Volkswagen ID.4.
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