It was the most telling line of Davos 2026.
In WEF’s closing interview, host Larry Fink asked Elon Musk whether his planned deployment of thousands of humanoid robots and autonomous driving vehicles might deprive millions of people of meaningful enterprise, value and purpose.
Musk’s flat response? “Well, nothing’s perfect.”
There’s nothing else you need know about Musk - or, perhaps, Davos. Indifference for human dignity is affronting. It demeans us all. It was badly off key for reasons both mundane and profound. Obviously, many things are perfect, and anything that deprives humans of value and purpose is perfidious, perfection’s opposite. That he and consummate host Fink could continue their exchange pretending Musk said nothing wrong - was so, so wrong.
Indiana’s football team just concluded a 16-0 season. Even non-card-carrying members of Hoosier nation know - that’s perfect. Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong singing “Summertime” and Michelangelo’s David in the Galleria dell'Accademia may have a small flaw in them somewhere - but none’s been found yet. Mark Spitz winning seven straight gold medals in Munich in 1972 and Nadia Comaneci getting the first 10.0 in the uneven bars in Montreal in 1976 were nothing if not perfect.
And these are merely physical and/or artistic perfections. There’s also transcendental perfection.
Billions of Muslims and Christians have trained their highest aspirations on eternal life, believing they will one day reside in the infinite love and eternal care of their Heavenly, divine creator. I don’t know about you, but I think that contrasts rather nicely with Elon’s last gasp, unsustainable outpost on Mars. Devout Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs, as well as pious followers of Yahweh- God-Allah (who are all one in the same, by tradition) recurrently achieve higher planes of consciousness devoid of pain and defined by infinite love. What, pray tell us Elon, could be more perfect than spiritual enlightenment?
Every worthwhile endeavor necessarily begins with a clear supposition about why man is on earth and what we, as God’s chosen, are supposed to gain from the experience. In Elon’s world, higher per capita wealth is always better - hence his relentless pursuit of more self-driving cars, robots taking care of aging parents, and solar-powered AI mega-stations in space that beam down better-than-human insight to hospitals and institutes of higher learning below. These are, of course, good enough as far as they go. But where might ever increasing economic growth driven by human-cancelling-technologies compromise beauty and truth, alienate man from his/ her highest purpose, or undermine the cardinal virtues of dignity, subsidiarity and solidarity? Such questions apparently confound Musk, bright as he might be. Unless and until he can place commercial enterprise within a broader conception of what is right and good and just - in other words, position growth within a complete curriculum of the ultimate purpose for all human striving - well, of course, nothing will ever be perfect. Perfect is unintelligible without a moral framework
And the same seems true of Davos.
Let’s give credit where credit is due. Following Klaus Schwab’s departure, Larry Fink gets an A+ for WEF 2026 attendance - virtually every global elite showed up, 3,000 strong - as well as his decision to foster “a spirit of dialogue” - by which was apparently meant the airing of a wider number of viewpoints than usual. But just like Musk, Davos 2026 failed to identify what it actually believes and what higher purpose it is trying to serve. Is stakeholder capitalism/ ESG investing still WEF’s philosophy and operating system? Not clear. Does WEF support or deride bullying tactics, like those Mark Carney cited, where “the strong do take they can, and the weak endure what they must?” No one knows. Is WEF’s war on global energy producers finally over? Not from what I can tell. Davos 2026 helped defuse rising tensions over Greenland and launched Donald Trump’s new Board of Peace. These are both notable achievements. But is helping NATO grow up and fostering inconclusive dialogue now WEF’s raison d’etre?
The Talmud says we don’t see things as they are: we see things as we are. Musk’s presumption that rising standards of living should be pursued at indefinite cost alienates anyone who believes humans are called to serve a higher purpose. His views align hauntingly with Peter Thiel’s recent musings on the Antichrist and pending apocalypse. Thiel believes anything that stands in the way of economic progress and technological breakthroughs thwarts God’s larger plan and must be struck down. For Thiel, Bernie Sanders, Greta Thunberg and AOC are the “Antichrist’s Legionnaires.”
Because of who I am, I see things differently. I think sunsets can be perfect, as can SAT scores. A Sancerre can be perfect, as can grandchildren. A lasting peace can be perfect, as can communal prayer. While Musk’s conception of what is and is not perfect lacks moral grounding and extinguishes hope, I see a world of infinite possibility and endless perfection ennobled by faith, hope and love.
Nothing will be perfect for Elon or any of us until we transcend ego and commit ourselves to living responsibly and at the service of both our divine creator and the least-fortuned. Remarkably, once you do, nearly everything becomes perfect.
Terrence R Keeley is the CEO of the Impact Evaluation Lab and Author of Sustainable: Moving Beyond ESG to Impact Investing.
