"I have too much work on my plate that is for sure," Musk said by videolink to a business conference on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali.
“Be careful what you wish for," Musk told a business forum in Bali on Monday when asked what an up-and-coming “Elon Musk of the East" should focus on.
“I’m not sure how many people would actually like to be me. They would like to be what they imagine being me, which is not the same," he continued. “I mean, the amount that I torture myself, is the next level, frankly."
“My workload has recently increased quite a lot," he said with a chuckle in an apparent reference to the Twitter deal. “I mean, oh, man. I have too much work on my plate, that is for sure."
Musk was speaking at the B-20 business forum ahead of a summit of the Group of 20 leading economies taking place on the Indonesian resort island. He joined the conference by video link weeks after completing his heavily scrutinized takeover of Twitter.
Twitter aside, the conversation turned instead to tunnels dug deep underground to battle congestion, rocket travel across the world in less than an hour and discovering extra-terrestrial life in space.
"Maybe we will find alien civilisations or discover civilisations that existed millions of years ago," he said.
"I think that would be incredibly interesting, to go out there and explore the galaxy."
The chief of electric carmaker Tesla then waxed lyrical about the benefits of tunnels over flying cars to battle gridlocked traffic, saying cars "will fall on your head" and would be bad for privacy.
"Electric vehicles and tunnels are absolutely an answer to the worst possible congestion of any city, because you can go as many layers deep as you like until the congestion is addressed," he said.
Aside from his "bullish" view on Indonesia's future as a developing nation, the conversation largely stayed on his quirky and bold outlook for the future of Earth.
Musk, who is chief executive of both companies, appeared lit by candles, wearing a batik shirt sent by the organisers and said he was speaking from a place that had just lost power.
