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Futurist on TV: Elon Musk and the Future of Transportation, Discovery Channel
Elon Musk is an amazing entrepreneur and thanks to the Discovery Channel I got to talk about his latest adventure.
Key takeaways
- While most CEO’s are content running on the treadmill that is the status quo Musk is tearing up the books and pushing the boundaries of, well, pretty much everything.
- Frankly, anyone who winges about not having enough time in the day should take a leaf out of his book.
Cite or link to this article
Griffin, M. (2017) 'Futurist on TV: Elon Musk and the Future of Transportation, Discovery Channel', 311 Institute, 29 April. Available at: https://www.311institute.com/featured-futurist-discovery-channel-elon-musk-and-the-future-of-transportation/ (Accessed: 1 October 2026).
Elon Musk is a crazy dude, in my opinion, in a good way. While most CEO’s are content running on the treadmill that is the status quo Musk is tearing up the books and pushing the boundaries of, well, pretty much everything.
On the one hand he’s busy building out the world’s foremost electric vehicle company, Tesla, while juggling his responsibilities at one of the world’s hottest renewable energy start ups SolarCity with popping in to check on the progress of his Artificial Intelligence (AI) start up OpenAI, conquering space and colonising Mars with SpaceX, and hooking people's brains directly into AI with NeuraLink.
Frankly, anyone who winges about not having enough time in the day should take a leaf out of his book. However, as if all that wasn’t enough he’s now gotten himself into boring machines, under the umbrella of his new, new venture The Boring Company, and he’s now using them to dig tunnels under Los Angeles in an effort to re-invent tunnelling and urban transportation.
It’s probably fair to say that as a futurist I’m a great Musk fan so it was a nice surprise to be phoned up by none other than the Discovery Channel to do an on air interview about his latest venture – the Boring Company. You can see my debut below and it aired to over 25 million people – sorry about that folks.
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Why does this matter?
Elon Musk is an amazing entrepreneur and thanks to the Discovery Channel I got to talk about his latest adventure.

About the author
Matthew Griffin Founder, 311 Institute
Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath."
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Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath." 15-time best selling author of the "Codex of the Future" series, Matthew is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working with royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77 governments, NGOs, and multi-national mid and mega cap firms to help them explore, shape, and lead the next 50 years of business and society.
An award-winning YouTube creator with over a million followers, with an unrivalled global reach and impact, Matthew is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker, lecturer, and mentor who collaborates with global leaders through the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to shape pivotal initiatives such as the UN’s AI for Humanity program, the United Nations Conference of the Parties (UN COP), and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
As the former Global Head of Cloud, National Security, and Enterprise Sales for companies including Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, Matthew has a proven track record of building multi-billion dollar business units and turning failing divisions into market leaders. His ability to identify, analyse, and communicate the implications of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends is unparalleled, and his insights are trusted by many of the world’s most respected organisations, including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi, Coca-Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Dow Jones, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, Siemens AG and Siemens Energy, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, Walmart, Workday, Worldpay and many others.
Regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, Matthews mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.
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Source: first published by the 311 Institute on 29 April 2017. Cite as: Griffin, M. (2017). Futurist on TV: Elon Musk and the Future of Transportation, Discovery Channel. 311 Institute. https://www.311institute.com/featured-futurist-discovery-channel-elon-musk-and-the-future-of-transportation/
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