A blunt response about starting over with $1,000 drew attention after a billionaire said the most realistic move would be to ask people to give him money. Financial collapse would only be possible if civilization itself had already broken down, Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk said.

Speaking on a recent episode of the “Katie Miller Podcast,” he explained why the question does not work under normal conditions.

Why Musk Says Only ‘Armageddon’ Fits The Scenario

Musk said it would take “Armageddon,” or what he described as “Ragnarok next level,” for him to be reduced to such limited resources. He told host Katie Miller that someone with his level of experience and accumulated knowledge would not realistically end up there otherwise.

“At this point, I have a lot of knowledge,” Musk said. “It’s impossible for me, for someone to have that amount of knowledge, and then be dropped down to a low resource amount.”

He said such a situation would only make sense if “something truly catastrophic has happened, like civilization has melted,” or if all assets had been lost under extreme circumstances. In that scenario, he added, money itself would lose much of its value.

“If civilization has melted,” Musk said, “$1,000 is not going to solve your problems.”

‘Give Me Money’ If Society Still Exists

Musk told Miller that an alternative assumes civilization is still functioning. Under those conditions, he said, the answer would be straightforward. “I will be able to ask people to just give me money,” Musk said, adding that he could do so “with the promise that I will have a high return.”

He illustrated the point with a simple example. “If you give me a dollar, you will get back much more than a dollar,” he said.

Musk described the situation as an “impossible dichotomy.” Either society has collapsed, he said, or financial systems are still operating. If those systems exist, he argued, reputation, access to capital and trust matter far more than the size of a starting sum.

He also pointed to his own early life, saying he arrived in North America at age 17 with “about 2,500 bucks Canadian” [$1,800], along with “one bag of books and one bag of clothes.”

The Broader Tech Context

The comments came during a broader discussion that also covered artificial intelligence, robotics, and the future of work. Musk said artificial intelligence and robots will eventually be able to provide “all the goods and services that anyone could possibly want.”

At the same time, he said the pace of that progress worries him. “I’ve had a lot of AI nightmares,” Musk said, while also acknowledging that slowing development may not be realistic.