Extraterrestrial

Elon Musk shares his current thoughts on aliens and consciousness

By T.K. Randall
January 30, 2026 ·  51 comments

Image: Elon Musk at the SpaceX CRS-8 post-launch press conference
Credit: Kim Shiflett / (PD) NASA While Elon Musk is regarded as something of a controversial figure these days - like him or loathe him - when he speaks, people tend to take note, especially when it concerns his space exploration goals.

Speaking at a panel with BlackRock CEO Laurence Fink at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland earlier this month, Musk suggested that he was perhaps better placed than anyone else to find evidence of extraterrestrial life on Earth.

That said, however, he remains skeptical of the likelihood of this actually happening.

"We have 9,000 satellites up there, and not once have had to maneuver around an alien spaceship," he said.

"I don't know. Bottom line is, we need to assume that life and consciousness is extremely rare, and it might only be us.""If that's the case, then we need to do everything possible to ensure the light of consciousness is not extinguished."

Describing consciousness as a "candle in a vast darkness", he emphasized the importance of colonizing other worlds to ensure that humanity survives in case of a disaster on Earth.

"That's the purpose of SpaceX," he said.

This isn't the first time Musk has touched upon the topic of alien life - back in 2022 he noted that he hadn't seen any evidence of aliens, but would be sure to tell everyone if he ever did.

"I will definitely tell you if there's aliens," he said.

Source: Newsweek | Comments (51)

Tags: Elon Musk, Alien, SpaceX