In a recent interview, Elon Musk shared his thoughts on SpaceX’s historic Starship rocket landing and the company’s ambitious mission to make humanity a multi-planet species. When asked about the remarkable achievement, Musk expressed his excitement.
“I was incredibly excited that we achieved those milestones,” said Musk. “I thought perhaps we had maybe 20 or 25% chance of achieving both milestones where the booster and the ship both did a soft propulsive landing in the ocean.”
Musk underscored the underlying purpose behind SpaceX’s efforts, revealing: “The thing that we can do to increase the probable lifespan of civilization is to be a multi-planet species, to extend consciousness to other planets, ultimately to other star systems.” He articulated a sense of urgency, adding that “there’s somewhat of a race between making a self-sustaining city on Mars and global thermonuclear war or some calamity.”
The interview touched upon various topics, including electric vehicles, Neuralink, AI, and Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, now rebranded as “X.” However, Musk’s focus remained on the existential questions surrounding humanity’s future.
“If there are no humans, there is no humanity,” he said. “You have to make them somehow, and I think we should be very concerned about the accelerating [decline] of the birth rate.”
Musk stressed the importance of an “expansionist philosophy” for civilization and consciousness, contrasting it with the “extinctionist” philosophies he believes are prevalent in certain environmental movements.
“We must seek to go beyond what we’ve done in the past, to increase the number of humans. This is incredibly fundamental,” he asserted.
While acknowledging the challenges posed by regulations and bureaucracy, Musk advocated for a “regulation removal department” and encouraged governments to actively question and delete unnecessary rules, drawing parallels to the reform efforts of Argentine President Milei.
As the interview concluded, Musk left a resounding message: “Go forth and multiply in a free civilization.” His vision, then — can be summed up these words: an indefatigable drive for advancing the reach of humanity, based on the belief that survival and progression of our species are inalienably attached to exploration, innovation and an indefatigable optimism for the future.
Featured image: Credit: Business Insider
James Dargan
James Dargan is a writer and researcher at The Quantum Insider. His focus is on the QC startup ecosystem and he writes articles on the space that have a tone accessible to the average reader. [email protected]
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