Why is sci-fi fundamental to Elon's worldview and work?
“Foundation Series & Zeroth Law are fundamental to creation of SpaceX” - Elon Musk
Why is sci-fi fundamental to Elon's worldview and work?
Answer is found in his formative years.
Elon was facing an existential crisis in his teenage years. He said, “I began trying to figure out what the meaning of life and the universe was. And I got real depressed about it, like maybe life may have no meaning.” He read books to try to figure out the meaning of life. He read Nietzsche who made him even more depressed. He discovered sci-fi books in his local library. That was his salvation. He found the idea of using science and technology to save humanity to be a very meaningful project.
What is peculiar to Elon is he has civilizational vision for using science and technology - to save humanity. This is why the goal of SpaceX is to make human beings a spacefaring civilization. In the Foundation series the psycho-history genius Hari Sheldon helps civilization navigate through a major crisis by creating a remnant far out in space.
Elon gives his all for these save humanity projects. He took all the money he made in Paypal in order to fund SpaceX and then fell short. He borrowed money from family and friends in order to try to keep the vision alive because he felt this deep urgency to do all he could to save humanity.
Where did Elon develop this deep connection to being the one to save humanity?
It started with his response to childhood bullying. Elon was bullied as a kid. His response was to go sit in a corner and read superhero comics. Here too we see the same pattern of
Elon uses his civilizational vision to motivate people. Walter Issacson talks in his biography about how even though Elon's employees hate working for him, they still want to work with him because the vision he calls them to is deeply motivational and addicting, because it gives meaning to existence. No wonder that Elon's civilizational visions had their origin in his own existential crisis.
This itself is a theme of super heroes, when you have developed a super power out of your own sense of existential crisis, this can help others facing similar crisis. Elon exemplifies this notion in his own life.
Joseph Campbell in his book the Hero with a Thousand Faces argues that most hero figures are Christlike in the sense that it is through their suffering that salvation comes. I am not saying that Elon is a Christ-figure. Elon does not care for the individual. In order to achieve the vision of saving humanity Elon is willing to trample upon people who work form him, especially when he is in the demon-mode, as his ex-girlfriend Grimes calls him.
This lack of care is the antithesis of the values of Jesus, when he says he will leave the 99 sheep to go after the 1 lost sheep. Jesus way of saving humanity is not just by casting a grand vision, but by care.
It is human nature to thrive in the presence of a grand vision, a trait theologically speaking, comes from our being made in God's image. While such vision can be inspiring, it can also create oppressive power structures, as depicted in dystopian science fiction like 1984 or Brave New World.
Power of sci-fi is that it envisions exciting possibilities for the future. Elon taps into this exciting possibility that sci-fi to provide grand visions for saving humanity. This is why he says that Issac Asimov books are the foundational for his thinking around SpaceX and we all love him for it.