The richest man in the world, Elon Musk, the father of 10 children, urged people on Monday to have "more babies" and also to exploit more oil and natural gas.
"Believe me, the baby crisis is a big deal," declared the 51-year-old tycoon to the press in Stavanger, in southwestern Norway, where he took part in a talk on energy.
Asked about the world’s great challenges, the founder of the American electric car manufacturer Tesla cited the energy transition, but then immediately spoke of the birth rate, "one of [his] main concerns, perhaps less known."
In Western societies, as in highly populated countries like China, the birth rate is going down, largely due to the aging of the population.
"It is important that people have enough babies to perpetuate civilization," he said.
"They say that civilization could disappear in a bang or a whimper. If we don’t have enough kids, we will die with a groan (wearing) adult diapers. It will be depressing," he added.
"Yeah, make more babies," he concluded.
Divorced three times, Musk is the father of 10 children, one of whom died at 10 weeks. Another, a transgender girl, recently filed an official request to change her last name as well as her gender and cut all ties with her father.
The US press recently revealed that he had twins in November with a Neuralink executive, a few weeks before the birth of Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, whom he had with singer Grimes.
The tycoon, who arrived in Stavanger on a private jet, estimated that the planet still needs fossil energy sources.
"Realistically, I think we have to use oil and gas in the short term, otherwise civilization would go under," he claimed, "especially these days with the sanctions against Russia."
"At this time it would be justified to explore further hydrocarbons in Norway," he estimated.