Originally published on CleanTechnica.
One of the wealthiest people in the world, Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, recently conducted an interview with the author of the popular sci-fi novel “Seveneves”… inside a “Deep Blue” Tesla Model X in Seattle.
The interview with Neal Stephenson — which was conducted for Bill Gates’ GatesNotes blog — probably serves as a good example of just how deeply Tesla has managed to work itself into the public consciousness over just a few years. It seems that nearly anyone who has a noted interest in tech/science/space travel/sci-fi now holds Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk (also CEO of SpaceX) up as something of a secular saint.
On that note, the Model X interview seems to have focused mostly on related subjects….
Teslarati provides more:
The interview was recorded in virtual-reality for his GatesNotes blog, and sees Gates having a casual conversation with the book’s author about destruction on Earth and human survival in space. At one point in the video we see Gates pulling into a local burger joint, while a white Model S passes by, and ordering a “combo 2 with medium diet Coke”.
Here you have one of the world’s most renowned entrepreneurs/philanthropists with a net worth of near 80 billion dollars, three times the market cap of Tesla, ordering fast food while talking science fiction with a buddy. There’s something really refreshing about that.
Well, that’s up for debate. But the Tesla Model X shown is itself certainly looking sharp…. It really is interesting the way that Tesla has become such a status symbol (or cultural identifier?) so rapidly. The Model 3 launch will be really interesting to observe in that regard.