There is an old saying in Argentina: “La lengua de un falso amigo es mas filuda que un cuchillo.” This translates as: “The tongue that belongs to a fake friend, is sharper than a knife.”
Argentina’s President Javier Milei needs money and Elon Musk needs more Lithium. Already, the two have already warmed up to each other and plan to meet. Argentina is $45 billion in debt with a poverty rate of 40%, but the nation also has 21% of the world’s lithium reserves. Musk needs massive amounts of the material to produce his Neuralink (N1) brain chip implant and Tesla car batteries. But this relationship of convenience could usher in the mass transformation of human society into a transhumanist nightmare.
Milei needs to resuscitate the Argentinian economy, and he is desperate. Sometimes, desperation causes us to do desperate things. He’s carved out a reputation as being an outspoken conservative politician, promising to radically transform Argentina into a thriving, free-libertarian state. But he faces an uphill battle. As the third largest economy of South America, inflation is at 140%.
People have wondered why the two have expressed interest in each other. The reason is simple, a massive business transaction. As it stands , Musk sources Lithium from Corpus Christi & Nevada in the state of Texas. He must be salivating at the prospect of extracting a motherload of lithium from Argentina. Musk congratulated the President elect on X, Milei replied, “We need to talk , Elon.” But why do they need to meet? It appears the Argentine sees an opportunity to sell lithium to Musk to reduce Argentina’s debt. On face value, it seems like common sense; a billionaire is willing to pay for a resource that he so desperately desires; your country is in debt; the answer is simple, right?
But no, it’s not that simple. Javier Milei may be the only thing left preventing Musk’s transhumanist utopia from spreading like wildfire. And the Argentine seems comfortable with this prospect.
But if he is as pro-freedom as he claims, then he must think twice before he commits to this. The reason is simple: Elon Musk is not God, yet he suffers from a God complex.
To Musk’s satisfaction, Milei has began to ring the drumbeat of transhumanist impulses too. In a speech , the Argentine recently stated : “In the future we will have brains all interconnected with chips.. people will be a million times more intelligent.”
Whether or not Milei is saying this to garner the attention of Musk or he genuinely is a transhumanist is hard to say. One thing we can conclude is that he is clearly espousing transhumanist rhetoric and is dangerously on the verge of facilitating business with the South African.
Some have called Musk out for his lofty ambitions too. Dr. Ana Wexler, an ethicist and Medical Doctor wrote of Musk’s ambitions.
“In this new world of private neurotech development, company demos are live-streamed on YouTube and have the flavour of techno-optimism that involves proclamations about a future we have yet to see—but one that we are assured will come to pass. Data is sparse; rhetoric about making the world a better place is heavy.”
Musk responded:
“First @Neuralink product will enable someone with paralysis to use a smartphone with their mind faster than someone using thumbs
“Later versions will be able to shunt signals from Neuralinks in brain to Neuralinks in body motor/sensory neuron clusters, thus enabling, for example, paraplegics to walk again
The device is implanted flush with skull & charges wirelessly, so you look & feel totally normal”
It sounds so promising—healing the sick, allowing the cripple to walk again, etc. Musk is brilliant at portraying himself as the ‘tech Jesus’ but he’s not.
He’s a billionaire military contractor who has lied about the success of the Neuralink monkey trials. Several of the monkeys tested in the Neuralink trials died. Although Musk denied this, he has been given the green light to proceed with human trials. He is on the verge of realising his sociopathic dream to merge man and machine.
The only thing standing in the way may be President Javier Milei of Argentina. Will he sell out? The situation is almost reminiscent of the Elizabethan tragedy, Dr Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe. Considering whether to do a deal with the devil, Mephistopheles describes the reality of Hell to Dr.Faustus in detail, but Faustus believed that the wager is worth his soul and eternity in hell, and all the powers that will come with an extended life on earth.
“What, are great Mephistopheles so passionate For being deprived of the joys of heaven? Learn thou of Faustus manly fortitude, and scorn those joys thou never shalt possess. Go bear these tidings to great Lucifer: Seeing Faustus hath incurred eternal death By desperate thoughts against Jove’s deity, Say he surrenders up to him his soul So he will spare him four and twenty years, Letting him live in all voluptuousness, Having thee ever to attend on me …And always be obedient to my will.”
It appears that Milei is on the Faustian path. If he is, he doesn’t realise how damaging that would be. The Argentinian President would not only be selling his soul to the ‘devil’ but ensuring that Musk has enough resources to guarantee the mass production of lithium based Neuralink brain chips. Currently, Argentina is the worlds fastest growing lithium producer. If a deal were to be made between Argentina and Musk, the nation may recover from much of its debt but the soul of mankind would be placed in the hands of a mad man. Neuralink would then hold enough lithium to fuel its transhumanist dream for decades to come. And for what? so that Musk can recreate the world in his own image and have brain chips in every man, woman, and child? No, this is not what is in the best interests of humanity.
But sadly, the West sometimes confuses intellect with wisdom.
There is no doubting the unprecedented genius of Elon Musk but that does not make him wise. He is in no moral or ethical position to be reorganising the core of human identity.
