With SpaceX's recent Mars-to-Moon pivot, @ashleevance says it's a "massive philosophical change" as Elon goes "all in" on AI: "The Mars thing was always part of Elon's genius because it sounded completely insane to most people, and yet it was part of building this religion that made you want to go to SpaceX and filled you with all this passion." "I feel like he's come back to Earth a little bit with this. I mean, you're still building a colony on the fricking moon, but it's slightly less aspirational. It's much more practical." "Clearly, the US government wants to beat China to the moon, although I don't think we will, but that's where the US government's attention and money is. With all the space data center stuff and this interplay between building these layers of infrastructure, I think he's chasing money and what makes sense in this near-term." "As someone who is his biographer, it's a massive philosophical change. I think Elon's really practical. I think he's all in on AI. He needs money to fund that. SpaceX is this sexy thing that people get excited about, and you can use it to raise money for other things." "I think it's the pressure and the immediacy of this AI race that might be making him make statements and decisions that normally he could put off."