Musk backs Page's prediction: Von Neumann probes could explore the galaxy by 2100
heyshrutimishra · x · 2026-11-01
Elon Musk endorsed Larry Page's prediction that humanity could be exploring the galaxy with self-replicating Von Neumann probes by 2100, saying our civilization would be "winning wondrously."
The backstory comes from Microsoft AI chief and DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman's recent interview: in 2015 he attended the first meeting of DeepMind's Ethics and Safety Board at SpaceX. When Google acquired DeepMind in 2014, the founders made an independent ethics board a condition of the deal — Google's side was Larry Page, Sergey Brin and David Drummond; DeepMind's side was Suleyman, Demis Hassabis and Shane Legg — and Elon Musk was one of the independents they jointly picked. At lunch, Page told Suleyman he expected to be exploring the galaxies by the end of the century.
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