When Jane Goodall Destroyed Elon Musk

Goodall with a far more interesting primate than Elon Musk. (Photo by SUMY SADURNI/AFP via Getty Images)

When the world’s most admired woman was attacked by the world’s least interesting man, it was no contest.

Like the millions of other people whose lives she touched, I miss Jane Goodall.

I had the honor of chatting with Dr. Goodall in the last year of her remarkable life. She told me a story I’d never heard before: about the time Elon Musk tried to pick a fight with her online, and failed miserably.

“He's the only person who's criticized me on social media,” she said. “Attacked me, almost. He accused me of wanting genocide. Simply because I said, you know, we can't have unlimited economic development if we carry on as we are, and the human population continues to grow.”

So Jane had a few words with Musk’s No. 2: “I said, ‘Why is your boss attacking me?” And he said, ‘Well, Elon's going to find this planet or make a planet habitable for humans. And he's afraid if the human population on planet Earth drops, then there won't be enough people for him to populate his new planet.’”

“Out there, political leaders, not only in America, other countries, too,” Jane said, “they are setting out, not deliberately to destroy the environment, but because they're carrying on as usual, they are taking more from nature than she can replenish. And I'm not going to give in to them. I mean, I won't. So the more damage they do, the harder I'll fight. And I've got literally hundreds of thousands of young people now, all feeling the same.”

Watch my interview with Jane Goodall here.