(ORDO NEWS) — SpaceX CEO Elon Musk really wants humanity to leave this planet.
And this is more important than ever, given that humankind is facing climate change, comet impacts and declining birth rates, not to mention, in his words, “good old nuclear Armageddon.”
Speaking at a joint meeting of the Space Research Council and the National Academies’ Council for Physics and Astronomy, Musk elaborated on his ambitious plans to establish a permanent base on Mars.
Musk is worried about reducing “the civilizational risks that we can potentially mitigate,” and, according to the CEO, the main way to make humanity multi-planetary is to transform it into a planet.
“If you wait long enough, the Earth will become uninhabitable,” Musk muses. “So in the long run, we are obviously all going to die,” he added with a grin.
The first few voyages to Mars may be bumpy, Musk admitted, citing the first Atlantic crossings “were terrible.”
Musk also said at last year’s Humans to Mars summit that building a base on Mars would be “very difficult and dangerous.”
“Not for the faint of heart,” he added then. “Chances are good that you will die. And it will be a difficult, difficult path, but if it works out, it will be very cool.”
When flying to Mars, the view in our rearview mirrors may not be very beautiful. In fact, it looks like Musk is already foreseeing the worst for our current planet.
“There is always the risk of a comet destroying a continent,” Musk said during a joint meeting this week, arguing that the fossil state had “many continental-level extinction events” that are little talked about.
But “big rockets” could allow us to fend off oncoming comets or space rockets and “one day save billions of people,” he said.
Of course, it’s convenient that Musk says that the biggest dangers to humanity are those that his specific business interests can protect against.
Nevertheless, the threats to our existence on planet Earth are real. Musk also noted the carbon footprint and melting tundra, adding that he is “probably less alarmist than most” when it comes to the environment.
Musk also reiterated his concern about declining global fertility, an “underestimated risk” as many population indicators are falling “endlessly.”
Aside from comets, climate change and declining birth rates that could lead our species to extinction, “there’s always good old nuclear Armageddon,” Musk added. “It’s not out of the question.”
“I don’t know what the risk is, but it’s not zero,” he said.
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