The Andromeda galaxy and everything else in the known universe, including us, could be part of an advanced simulation. Indeed, this is the most probable scenario, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on comedian Joe Rogan's podcast on Sept. 7, 2018.

Elon Musk thinks we're all probably trapped in a "Matrix"-like pseudo existence.

The universe is 13.8 billion years old, so any civilizations that may have arisen throughout the cosmos have had loads and loads of time to hone their technological know-how, the SpaceX founder and CEO explained early this morning (Sept. 7) during a long, wide-ranging and very entertaining appearance on comedian Joe Rogan's popular podcast, "The Joe Rogan Experience."

"If you assume any rate of improvement at all, then games will be indistinguishable from reality, or civilization will end. One of those two things will occur," Musk said. "Therefore, we are most likely in a simulation, because we exist." [13 Ways to Hunt Intelligent Aliens]

"I think most likely — this is just about probability — there are many, many simulations," he added. "You might as well call them reality, or you could call them multiverse."

The "substrate" on which these simulations are running, whatever it may be, is probably quite boring, at least compared to the simulations themselves, Musk further told Rogan.

"Why would you make a simulation that's boring? You'd make a simulation that's way more interesting than base reality," Musk said, citing the video games and movies that humanity makes, which are "distillation[s] of what's interesting about life."

The billionaire entrepreneur is far from alone in this interpretation; a number of physicists, cosmologists and philosophers find the simulation hypothesis compelling. If even one advanced alien civilization with a predilection for creating simulations has ever arisen out there, the reasoning goes, then it could theoretically pop off thousands — or perhaps even millions or billions — of "fake" universes. And it would be hard for the inhabitants of these digital realms to figure out the truth, because all the evidence they could gather would likely be planted by the creators.

Indeed, the simulation idea is one of many possible explanations for the famous Fermi paradox, which basically asks, "Where is everybody?" ("Everybody" being aliens, of course.)

This was far from the only ground that Musk and Rogan covered during their 2.5-hour conversation. For example, Musk reiterated his concerns about unregulated and uncontrolled artificial intelligence; stressed that a bright and appealing future for humanity involves exploring and settling other worlds, both in our solar system and beyond; and discussed the traffic-reducing potential of extensive tunnel systems, which his Boring Company aims to build in big cities around the world.

Musk also talked at length about Tesla, the electric-car company he runs, and the need for our species to wean itself off fossil fuels. Musk described humanity's mass displacement of carbon from the ground to the atmosphere (and from there into the oceans) as an incredibly dangerous experiment whose ultimate outcome is unknown.

"We should not do this," he told Rogan. "We know that sustainable energy is the end point. So why are we doing this experiment? It's an insane experiment. It's the dumbest experiment in human history." [Images of Melt: Earth's Vanishing Ice]

Musk also casually mentioned that he has an idea for an electric supersonic plane that takes off and lands vertically. But he said he doesn't view the development of this concept as a priority at the moment, given the other pressing problems humanity needs to solve.

Musk and Rogan sipped whiskey throughout their conversation. And at one point, the comedian lit up a joint, and Musk took a puff.

This was apparently a rare event; the SpaceX CEO said he almost never smokes marijuana (which is legal in California, where The Joe Rogan Experience is taped) and doesn't enjoy it, because it saps his famous productivity.

"It's like a cup of coffee in reverse," Musk said. "I like to get things done. I like to be useful."

He told Rogan that ideas are bouncing around inside his head all the time — "it's like a never-ending explosion" — and that he realized he was different from other people when he was just 5 or 6 years old.

"I thought I was insane," Musk said. As a kid, he added, he worried that authority figures might notice his "strangeness" and put him away somewhere.

You can watch the entire thing on The Joe Rogan Experience's YouTube page.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.</s>Another executive departure, another controversy over the CEO’s behaviour, another stock drop.

Another typical day at Tesla.

Although the details change, the pattern stays the same. This time, the executive departure is David Morton, chief accounting officer at Tesla Inc., who called it quits after just a month on the job. The controversy is over Elon Musk taking a hit off an apparent marijuana-tobacco joint during a podcast interview that made its rounds on YouTube. And the stock dropped more than six per cent Friday to close at $263.24 a share — its lowest point since April.

READ MORE: Elon Musk smokes marijuana on Joe Rogan’s podcast

All of it comes as the electric automaker continues to struggle to convert itself from a money-losing boutique to a mass-production profit machine. It’s doing so while under investigation by the government and facing shareholder lawsuits after Musk revealed a plan to take the company private on Twitter, boosting the share price. The estimated $24 billion plan eventually was scrapped and the stock fell.

Tesla only has a few weeks left to deliver on Musk’s promise to post sustained profits starting in the third quarter after losing more than $700 million in the second quarter. Moody’s Investor Service downgraded the company’s debt into junk territory back in March, warning that Tesla won’t have cash to cover $3.7 billion for normal operations, capital expenses and debt that comes due early next year. Tesla has said cash from producing more Model 3 mass-market electric cars will pay the bills and drive profits.

Amid the mounting pressure, Musk must now dig himself out of a fresh controversy of his own making. About two hours into the YouTube video of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” the CEO accepts a sip of whiskey and a drag off a joint offered to him by Rogan, a comedian and podcast host who makes it a point to note that pot is legal in California.

WATCH: Is it time for Elon Musk to step away from Tesla?

Shortly after smoking, Musk — dressed in a black T-shirt that says “Occupy Mars” — looks at his phone and laughs, telling Rogan he is getting texts from friends asking why he’s smoking weed during the interview. Later, Musk says he doesn’t notice any effect from the joint.

“I’m not a regular smoker of weed,” he says. When Rogan asks how often he smokes it, Musk replies: “Almost never.” He knows a lot of people like weed, but “I don’t find that it is very good for productivity,” he tells Rogan.

Meanwhile, the company announced in a regulatory filing the departure of Morton, who is quoted by Tesla as stepping down due to the level of public scrutiny and the pace at the company but not over any disagreements with Tesla’s leadership or its financial reporting. This followed a report by Bloomberg on Friday that Gabrielle Toledano, head of human resources, would not return to Tesla after a leave of absence. And communications chief Sarah O’Brien confirmed to The Associated Press that her last day on the job was Wednesday. She wouldn’t give a reason for her departure, which she said has been in the works for two months.

READ MORE: Elon Musk facing libel lawsuit from British rescue diver who he called a ‘pedo’

Late Friday, replacements were named for Toledano and O’Brien, and Musk also promoted Vice President Jerome Guillen to president for automotive, overseeing all auto operations including the parts supply chain. He’ll report directly to Musk, the CEO said in a note to employees.

Paul Argenti, a Dartmouth College professor of corporate communication, said the latest controversy is not surprising.

“The behaviour on YouTube is obviously in line with what we’ve seen in the past,” he said. But, he added, “You can’t go on like that forever. It catches up with you.”

WATCH: Elon Musk says past year has been ‘excruciating’ as he mulls taking Tesla private

Musk’s conduct has been questionable since the first-quarter earnings conference call when he criticized Wall Street analysts for asking “bonehead” questions about the company’s finances. Then he labeled a British diver who aided in the cave rescue of Thai soccer players a pedophile, and after apologizing, doubled-down on his accusation again this week in emails to Buzzfeed News.

But the most questionable action came when Musk tweeted Aug. 7 that he had secured funding to take the company private at $420 per share to get away from the short-term pressure of Wall Street. The tweets pushed the electric vehicle and solar panel maker’s stock price up 11 percent that day. But it subsequently fell when Musk revealed that funding wasn’t locked down.

On Aug. 24 Musk put out a statement saying the go-private deal was off, drawing scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Some analysts and investors have called on the board to replace Musk as CEO but keep him as chief product officer, or hiring a chief operating officer to handle daily operations. Messages were left Friday with board members, including lead director Antonio Gracias.</s>Elon Musk embraced the chill vibes set forth by Joe Rogan and smoked a blunt on the comedian’s podcast on Thursday night.

“Is that a joint? Or is it a cigar?” asked the Tesla CEO before “The Joe Rogan Experience” host indicated it was marijuana inside tobacco.

Upon Rogan asking if he’s ever had it, Musk says that he thinks he “tried one once” before Rogan teases: “Come on, man. You probably can’t because of stockholders, right?”

Musk then bends and says, “I mean it’s legal, right?” before taking a drag. (The show is recorded in California.) You can watch the whole exchange below:

The moment has already sent the internet into a tailspin, with Rogan himself steering the masses towards memes:

Here’s what others are saying:

anyway i, like all of you, am truly shocked that elon musk doesn't vape — Anne T. Donahue (@annetdonahue) September 7, 2018

Hey if you’re wondering what it would look like if Principal Skinner got Stockholm syndrome after being taken hostage by a UFC fighter, check out Elon Musk on Joe Rogan — Dan O'Sullivan (@Bro_Pair) September 7, 2018

Dear East Coast Twitter;



I know it is the middle of the night, but when you wake up, you will wake up to Elon Musk hitting a blunt, and this is the best gift I think you can get. — Emily G (@EmilyGorcenski) September 7, 2018

Why do all white men over 30 make this face when they smoke weed pic.twitter.com/vOirswfkMe — Myles Tanzer (@mylestanzer) September 7, 2018

You: Good CEOs aren't worth millions of dollars.

Also you, probably: Hey, Elon Musk smoking weed is going to wipe BILLIONS off Tesla's market cap! — Sam Bowman (@s8mb) September 7, 2018

Outside of the reefer madness, the duo chatted about everything from China to humanity to artificial intelligence in the two-and-a-half-hour podcast.

There’s even a moment with a Samurai sword that leads this reporter to believe that the simulation we just might be living in is officially on the fritz:</s>CLICK HERE if you are having a problem viewing the photos on a mobile device

In a wild and wide-ranging podcast Thursday night, Elon Musk talked candidly about how close Tesla came to folding during the 2008 automotive industry crisis, wryly remarked about the pitfalls of engaging with others on social media and even shared a marijuana-infused cigarette with host Joe Rogan. Oh, and he copped to being an alien.

Musk’s appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience in Los Angeles came on the heels of an audacious August in which he tweeted about taking Tesla private, publicly apologized to analysts for bad conference-call behavior and gave an emotional tell-all to the New York Times.

During the roughly 2½-hour podcast based in Los Angeles, Rogan zeroed in on Musk’s seemingly limitless energy for projects, including digging a tunnel under Los Angeles to ease congestion on freeways.

“When I watch you doing all these things, I’m like how does this m———– have all this time and all this energy and all these ideas, and then people just let him do these things?” Rogan asked.

Musk, however, revealed his human side when asked by Rogan what keeps him up at night.

“Well, it’s quite hard to run companies, especially car companies. SpaceX is no walk in the park, but it’s very difficult to keep a car company alive,” Musk said, referring to the private aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company he founded in 2002.”

Tesla “barely survived” the 2008 automotive industry crisis, said Musk, adding that the electric carmaker and Ford are the only automobile companies in American history that have escaped bankruptcy.

Musk pinned the then-fledgling Tesla’s troubles on the “super dumb strategy” of using a Lotus Elise as a basis for the Roadster. Adding a battery pack and electric drive train negated the sports car’s crashworthiness, necessitating a wholesale redesign.

“Less than 7 percent of the parts were common with any other device including cars,” Musk said.

The pair also discussed Musk’s more recent ventures, including Neuralink, an artificial-intelligence startup focused on integrating the human brain with computers.

“I think we’ll have something interesting to announce in a few months that’s at least an order of magnitude better than anything else,” he said. “Probably better than anyone thinks is possible.”

The podcast was punctuated by a pair of odd moments, the first of which involved Rogan producing a vintage samurai sword and handing it to Musk to examine. Musk, at the urging of Rogan, also took a drag from a cigarette Rogan said was infused with marijuana.

“You probably can’t because stockholders,” Rogan said.

Twitter also surfaced as a topic. Rogan asked Musk what percentage of his engagement with other users was a “good idea.” The question elicited a wry laugh from Musk.

“On balance, it’s more good than bad,” Musk replied, “but there’s definitely some bad.”

He added that he ignores the “vast majority” of negative comments, but admitted to getting “drawn in” every now and then.

“It’s not good,” he said.

Asked at the close of the podcast whether he had a final message, Musk urged people to give each other more credit.

“I think people should be nicer to each other and give more credit to others and don’t assume that they’re mean until you know they’re actually mean,” Musk said. “It’s easy to demonize people. You’re usually wrong about it. People are nicer than you think.”</s>The Millennial equivalent of the moon landing? Social media reacts to Elon Musk on 'Joe Rogan'

Though Tesla shareholders didn't seem to love Elon Musk's interview with Joe Rogan Thursday night (judging by a 10-percent plunge in Tesla shares on Friday), the internet couldn't get enough of it.

Musk spent a whopping 2.5 hours on "The Joe Rogan Experience," discussing everything from flamethrowers to the end of the universe. You can watch the interview here.

READ ALSO: Tesla stock take a hit after Elon Musk appears to smoke weed

Despite the high-minded back-and-forth, most viewers seemed to hone in on one particular moment: Musk taking a puff from what Rogan claimed to be a marijuana joint. Note: It is legal to consume marijuana recreationally in California, where the interview was conducted.

One Twitter user called the moment the Millennial equivalent of the moon landing. Another said the blunt-smoking was such a powerful image, it "broke the simulation."

Others were more cynical. "No one has ever made smoking anything look less cool than Elon Musk," tweeted Linette Lopez.

Recode Editor-At-Large Kara Swisher characterized the stunt as a misstep. "They've got to get a CEO, who's obviously visionary, to focus and stop doing all these antics like writing emails or smoking pot on a podcast," she told CNBC. "It's great for us in the media, but it's not really good for the shareholders."

READ ALSO: Tesla erupts in chaos after senior execs leave

Tesla shares fell as much as 10 percent to $252.25 as of Friday morning, in the same week that two senior Tesla executives announced their departure from the company.

Musk, in the interview, noted, ""It's quite hard to run companies. Especially car companies. It's very difficult to keep a car company alive."

Read more reactions in the above gallery. Have thoughts on the interview? Share them in the comments section.

Read Michelle Robertson's latest stories and send her news tips at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com.

Start receiving breaking news emails on wildfires, civil emergencies, riots, national breaking news, Amber Alerts, weather emergencies, and other critical events with the SFGATE breaking news email. Click here to make sure you get the news.</s>Tesla stock falls as the CEO visits the popular podcast, which was filmed and on YouTube.

Shares of electric car maker Tesla Inc. fell more than 6 percent early Friday after CEO Elon Musk appeared to smoke marijuana during an interview, and the company's accounting chief left after a month on the job.

Musk appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience overnight. About two hours into the podcast, which can be seen on YouTube, Musk inhales from what the host says is a combined marijuana-tobacco joint, which Rogan notes is legal. Rogan passes the joint to Musk, who also takes a sip of whiskey.

Shortly after smoking, Musk looks at his phone and laughs, telling Rogan he was getting texts from friends asking why he was smoking weed during the interview. Later Musk says he doesn't notice any effect from the joint, which he claims he rarely smokes.

As the video gained traction, more news hit: Early Friday, the Palo Alto, California, company announced that Chief Accounting Officer Dave Morton resigned after a month on the job, citing public attention and the fast pace of the post.

The company disclosed the departure in a regulatory filing.

"Since I joined Tesla on August 6th, the level of public attention placed on the company, as well as the pace within the company, have exceeded my expectations," the company quoted Morton as saying in the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. "As a result, this caused me to reconsider my future. I want to be clear that I believe strongly in Tesla, its mission, and its future prospects, and I have no disagreements with Tesla's leadership or its financial reporting," Morton was quoted as saying.

Tesla is under extreme pressure to turn a sustained net profit starting this quarter, as promised by Musk. But in the second quarter it burned through $739.5 million in cash and lost a quarterly record $717.5 million.

Musk has said the company is producing more than 5,000 Model 3 electric cars per week, and cash generated from the sales will bring sustained quarterly profits. The Model 3 starts at $35,000, although the cheapest one that can be purchased at present costs $49,000.

Moody's Investor Service downgraded Tesla's debt into junk territory back in March, warning that Tesla won't have cash to cover $3.7 billion for normal operations, capital expenses and debt that comes due early next year. Tesla said cash from Model 3 sales will pay the bills and drive profits.

The company said its accounting functions will be overseen by the chief financial officer and corporate controller. Morton's resignation is effective immediately.

Watch Musk's visit on The Joe Rogan Experience below.</s>Real-life Tony Stark figure Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, followed his free spirit last night by getting a little high on comedian Joe Rogan's podcast.

Rogan pulled out a joint in the middle of the interview, leading Musk to wonder if it was a tobacco cigar or cannabis. Rogan confirmed it was the latter. At one point, Musk inhaled, exhaled, and shrugged the experience off before picking up a glass of whiskey and observing that alcohol is a drug that's "been grandfathered in."

Following Musk's interview with Rogan, as well as the recent resignation of a chief accounting officer, Tesla stock dropped 9 percent.

The moment was rather interesting considering some comments Musk made about marijuana and productivity just a few weeks prior. As noted, Musk once tweeted that he was considering selling shares of his company for $420. As you probably know, the number 420 is popularly associated with smoking pot.

When The New York Times asked Musk if he was smoking when he made the tweet, Musk replied, "Weed is not helpful for productivity. There's a reason for the word 'stoned.' You just sit there like a stone on weed." As for the figure, Musk said that $420 "seemed like better karma" than $419.

Those with over two and a half hours to spare can watch the full interview below. The hotbox begins at 2:09:05.</s>Elon Musk smoked marijuana during a podcast recording which was livestreamed on YouTube.

The entrepreneur went on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast and accepted a joint from the host.

The pair had discussed everything from kindness to Tesla while also enjoying a few sips of whisky in the studio.

Towards the end of the podcast, Rogan lit a joint, which is legal in the state of California, and offered it to Musk.

'You probably can't do this because of stockholders, right?,' Rogan asks Musk.

The Tesla CEO clarifies that the drug is legal, and takes a puff on the joint before handing it back.

Earlier on in the podcast, Musk, who recently who recently accused a British diver who helped rescue the 12 Thai boys stuck in a cave of being a paedophile, spoke about kindness.

'Be nicer to each other. Don't assume someone is mean.. It''s easy to demonize people.'

As recently as last week, Mr Musk suggested in emails to a BuzzFeed journalist that diver Vernon Unsworth was a 'child rapist'.

Musk also claimed, without providing any evidence, that Mr Unsworth had moved to northern Thailand to take 'a child bride who was about 12 years old at the time.'

Mr Unsworth, whose advice and experience were considered crucial to the rescue operation, had previously criticized a well-publicized effort by Musk to lend a custom-built mini-submarine to the cave rescue effort.

Mr Musk responded on Twitter with comments strongly implying that the Briton was a pedophile.

Experienced diver Mr Unsworth from St Albans in Hertfordshire described Mr Musk's allegations that he had a child bride and had moved to an area notorious for child sex trafficking as '100 per cent' untrue.

'I've been told to be very careful because this guy may do anything to make my life difficult,' he said.

Mr Unsworth has, through his lawyer, made it clear that he will be suing Elon Musk.

'Elon Musk´s ongoing campaign of publishing vile and false accusations against Mr. Unsworth is outrageous,' Unsworth's lawyer, L. Lin Wood, said in an email to Reuters.

'Musk has publicly and clearly stated that he `hopes´ to be sued. Let me be equally clear in response - Musk will be sued - not because of his hopes, but because he deserves to be sued,' Wood said.

Musk's renewed attack on Mr Unsworth saw Tesla's stock and bond prices dropped, with the dip also linked to Mercedes unveiling a challenge to the electric car maker.

The stock dropped 2.8 percent to $280.74, the lowest level since late May, following a 4.2 percent decline on Tuesday after Mercedes introduced its first fully electric car in Stockholm.

The $1.8 billion high-yield bond Tesla issued a year ago hit a record low price on Wednesday. It also became more expensive to insure Tesla's bonds against default.

Tesla's stock has lost a quarter of its value since Aug. 7, when Musk tweeted that he had secured funding for a previously undisclosed plan to take Tesla private.

Musk on Aug. 24 abandoned that plan, but he faces lawsuits and a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into the factual accuracy of his tweet that funding for the deal was 'secured.'

The incident is weighing on investor confidence and has hurt the credibility of Musk, long viewed by Tesla supporters as its most valuable asset.</s>Elon Musk is no stranger to making headlines with his comments. But he might have just recorded one of his most quotable interviews ever.

In a 2.5-hour candid interview with comedian Joe Rogan for "The Joe Rogan Experience", Musk talks about why we're likely living in a simulation, how flamethrowers are "a terrible idea", smokes a joint, calls The Boring Company a "hobby", and issues a stark warning against our use of coal and artificial intelligence.

And that's just scratching the surface of the unwieldy but incredibly entertaining interview, which you can watch in full below.

Musk's Matrix-style simulation hypothesis comes from the fact that the Universe has been around 13.8 billion years, and in that vast period of time he says it's statistically likely a civilisation has figured out how to make a fully believable simulation. Once that happens, it would only be a matter of time before they set up their own fake multiverses.

"The argument for the simulation is quite strong, because ... if you assume any rate of improvement at all then games will be indistinguishable from reality, or civilization will end," says Musk around the 43-minute mark.

"One of those two things will occur. Therefore, we are most likely in a simulation, because we exist."

If this is the case, the so-called "base reality" that's simulation our reality would probably be pretty boring, he says.

This isn't the first time he's shared this idea - back in 2016 at Recode's annual Code Conference he said:

"Given that we're clearly on a trajectory to have games that are indistinguishable from reality, and those games could be played on any set-top box or on a PC or whatever, and there would probably be billions of such computers or set-top boxes, it would seem to follow that the odds that we're in base reality is one in billions."

Although it's pretty out there to imagine us all living in a giant, advanced computer game, physicists are also intrigued with the idea and it's been shown that, theoretically at least, it's a possibility.

Musk also reiterated his grave concerns about artificial intelligence in the interview - which is something he has talked publicly about many times. But he still feels the risks aren't being taken seriously.

One are we don't pay nearly enough attention to, he says, is the merging of humans and technology, which is already happening at an alarming rate.

"That phone is an extension of yourself. It's just that the data rate, the communication between you and the cybernetic extension of yourself that is your phone or computer is slow."

His most serious warning he reserved for our unrelenting burning of fossil fuels.

"We should not do this," he said, referring to removing fossil fuels from the ground and transferring it into the atmosphere.

"We know that sustainable energy is the end point. So why are we doing this experiment? It's an insane experiment. It's the dumbest experiment in human history."

But he admits he's still hoping for the best for humanity.

"I'd rather be optimistic and wrong than pessimistic and right," he explains.

After sipping whiskey during the interview, Musk takes a puff of a joint at one point, which he says he doesn't so often as he doesn't like to have his productivity hindered.

"It's like a cup of coffee in reverse," says Musk. "I like to get things done. I like to be useful."

Watch the whole interview above or on Joe Rogan's YouTube channel to get some fascinating insight into Musk's mind, and the future of Tesla and SpaceX.

Whether you love him or hate him, you can't deny Musk has an interesting point of view.</s>Tesla shares fell more than 6 percent on Friday, after top executives resigned and CEO Elon Musk appeared to smoke pot in a video.

It wouldn't be the first time that investors were rattled by Musk's unconventional ways, sending stocks haywire.

Musk, 47, appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience on Thursday night. Over 2 1/2 hours, Musk discussed technology, unsheathed a sword and accepted what Rogan, a stand-up comedian, described as marijuana inside of tobacco.

"You probably can't because of stockholders, right?" Rogan said.

"I mean it's legal, right?" Musk said before smoking the joint. They were sitting inside a studio in California, where medical and recreational marijuana use is indeed legal.

News of the resignation of Tesla Chief Accounting Officer Dave Morton came Friday, according to a securities filing. Morton stated that "the level of public attention placed on the company" and "the pace within the company" caused him to reconsider his future. He added that he still believed in Tesla, saying, "I have no disagreements with Tesla's leadership or its financial reporting."

Morton had been on the job for about a month, starting one day before Musk announced on Twitter that he was considering taking the electric car company private. The tweet made stocks soar.

At $420 a share, some people wondered whether the number was meant to reference marijuana culture. ("I was not on weed, to be clear," he told The New York Times. "Weed is not helpful for productivity. There's a reason for the word 'stoned.' You just sit there like a stone on weed.")

Gaby Toledano, Tesla's head of human resources, also said she was leaving the company on Friday. She had been on leave for a few months to be with her family, Tesla wrote in a blog post.

The departure of top executives has prompted scrutiny. Since the start of the year, 41 executives have left, according to CNBC.

Tesla did not immediately respond to NPR's request for comment.

The spring and summer were full of drama for Musk, as he tussled in person and online with analysts, short-sellers and a British diver who helped rescue a team of boys trapped in a cave in Thailand.

Musk offered a frank and vulnerable look into his life for The New York Times in August, describing his long hours, isolation and how he took Ambien for sleep. According to the report, board members were concerned that the drug doesn't work for him sometimes and "instead contributes to late-night Twitter sessions." As for recreational drugs, he has used them "on occasion," sources said.

Other entrepreneurs have used marijuana, including the late Steve Jobs and George Zimmer, founder of Men's Wearhouse. Virgin Group founder Richard Branson reportedly encouraged parents to smoke joints with their children.

Several media outlets incorrectly reported that the U.S. Air Force was reviewing Musk's security clearance after the video of him smoking was published online, because his company SpaceX provides services to the government, Reuters reported.

"Do people want privacy?" Musk asked Rogan in the video. "Because they seem to put everything on the Internet, practically."
Tesla stock drops 9% the day after CEO Elon Musk was seen drinking whiskey and smoking cannabis in California while discussing space colonization, life after the technological singularity and whether reality is a simulation on The Joe Rogan Experience, and two executives resign.