Sam Harris is likening Elon Musk to a “clown” and offering an account of their ongoing rift.
Harris, a neuroscientist-turned-philosopher and political pundit, has been the target of insults from the billionaire tech mogul for years now — and he said Wednesday that their feud began over a 2020 text message exchange due to clashing opinions on the likely severity of COVID-19.
“Of all the remarkable people I’ve met, Elon is probably the most likely to remain a world-historical figure — despite his best efforts to become a clown,” Harris wrote Wednesday on Substack, noting they first met when Musk was “on the brink of bankruptcy” around 2008.
Musk has shed plenty of fans over the years, some of whom lost faith when he seemingly abandoned his plans to eradicate traffic congestion or pioneer interplanetary travel. Harris, though, fell out with the billionaire when Musk tweeted on March 6, 2020, that “the coronavirus panic is dumb.”
Harris wrote Wednesday that he texted Musk and urged him to “walk back” his stance, warning that the virus would ravage the U.S. “if we don’t get our act together.” He proposed that Musk unleash his army of engineers to mass-produce ventilators for the infected.
“Sam, you of all people should not be concerned about this,” Musk allegedly replied.
Harris says they agreed to a bet after some more back and forth, with Musk allegedly wagering $1 million for charity (against a $1,000 bottle of tequila) that there would be fewer than 35,000 COVID-19 cases ― not deaths ― in the U.S. Harris says he agreed.
After the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the coronavirus death toll in the U.S. had reached 35,000, however, Harris allegedly texted Musk: “Is (35,000 deaths + 600,000 cases) > 35,000 cases?” — only to never hear from the billionaire again.
“This text appears to have ended our friendship,” Harris wrote Wednesday.
In May 2022, a little over two years after Musk’s tweet, it was reported that 1 million people in the U.S. had died from COVID-19.
Harris wrote that he certainly started hearing from Musk indirectly, however, when he “began maligning me on Twitter for a variety of imaginary offenses.” Many of these were archived by users on the platform, which Musk acquired for $44 billion in 2022 and renamed from Twitter to X. Harris eventually left the site entirely.
“I abandoned Twitter/X altogether, having recognized the poisonous effect that it had on my life — but also, in large part, because of what I saw it doing to Elon,” he wrote on Substack. “I’ve been away from the platform for over two years, and yet Elon still attacks me.”
We Need Your Support
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
Today, Musk has gained immense political influence. President-elect Donald Trump said in November that he plans to have Musk lead a yet-to-be-created federal advisory group, and Musk reportedly might get his own office on the White House campus.
Harris noted Wednesday that Musk’s wealth “has grown by around $200 billion” since he spent a quarter of a billion dollars to help get Trump elected in November. He concluded by saying he hopes Musk’s tremendous power and almost unfathomable wealth inspire him to focus on what’s important.
“Such astonishing access to resources gives Elon the chance — and many would argue the responsibility — to solve enormous problems in our world,” Harris wrote. “So why spend time spreading lies on X?”