Elon Musk is once again predicting a future that sounds more like Isaac Asimov‘s idea of 2035. Speaking at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum this week, Musk claimed that rapid advances in artificial intelligence and humanoid robots will make human labor “optional” within 10–20 years and that “money will stop being relevant at some point in the future.”

Musk argued that AI-powered robots, including Tesla’s Optimus prototype, will eventually handle “all the work that needs to be done,” leaving humans to focus only on hobbies or creative pursuits. He compared this hypothetical world to Iain M. Banks’ sci-fi “Culture” novels, where abundance is so extreme that traditional economies disappear.

But Musk’s comments raised more questions than answers. If money becomes irrelevant, what replaces it?

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