Of Course Elon Musk Used a Farting Unicorn to Show Off a New Tesla Feature The billionaire has an affinity for what some might classify as childish things, and guess what? That's great.
By Stephen J. Bronner Edited by Dan Bova
Elon Musk is considered by many to be a genius. His latest venture aims to connect our brains to computers, while his other projects involve electric cars, solar panels, space rockets, artificial intelligence and tunnels.
But the 45-year-old billionaire also has an affinity for what many people consider to be childish things: He plays video games and often displays a crude sense of humor. Case in point: To show off Tesla's new sketch pad feature, he tweeted an illustration of a farting unicorn. The drawing originally appeared on a mug designed by Tom Edwards that Musk says is "Maybe my favorite mug ever."
Made today on Tesla sketch pad pic.twitter.com/Z8dFP2NN41
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 30, 2017
My co-workers didn't really know what to make of this. Some shook their heads. I find it hilarious.
Related: 19 Weird Things We've Learned About Elon Musk
Can I prove that enjoying potty humor is good for creativity? I can't, but I don't really need to. Studies show that people who are amused can more easily solve problems. From The New York Times:
In a just completed study, researchers at Northwestern University found that people were more likely to solve word puzzles with sudden insight when they were amused, having just seen a short comedy routine.
"What we think is happening," said Mark Beeman, a neuroscientist who conducted the study with Karuna Subramaniam, a graduate student, "is that the humor, this positive mood, is lowering the brain's threshold for detecting weaker or more remote connections" to solve puzzles.
Surely, all of the high-stakes, world-changing issues mentioned above (OK, maybe not the tunnels) that Musk works on are challenging. If he amuses himself (and others) with silly, juvenile things such as farting unicorns and naming Tesla vehicles Models S, 3 and X, we're all the better for it.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Musk had drawn the unicorn.
