Elon Musk
He may be a jackass, but it may take a jackass to save humanity
For those who dislike Elon Musk — and I count myself among them — this may be hard to hear. Elon Musk may save humanity. Over the past 20 years, Elon has been on perhaps the only credible path for saving humanity from its own self destructive forces.
Musk floated a theory a while ago that posited how it could be possible, despite the overwhelmingly high probability that life occurs on other planets, that we’ve never encountered alien life forms. His theory — every civilization ends up destroying its planet before it has advanced far enough to connect with other planets.
That kind of makes sense. As a species, we’ve made massive technological strides, but each has come with an additive pressure and destructive force on our planet. Our agricultural soils are expected to be exhausted by 2040; the climate is warming and threatening global stability; droughts and wildfires are driving economic chaos and mass relocations.
So, with that theory in mind, let’s look at Elon’s major business plays, following the huge payout he got from founding PayPal.
First, Space X. This one is kind of obvious. We need a planet B once the Earth declines. NASA will never, quickly and affordably, advance space travel. Musk quite rightly saw that only the private sector could move quickly…
