The Earth is going downhill and humans' best chance for survival is to evacuate, as far as Elon Musk is concerned.
In a Wednesday interview at AllThingsD's 2013 conference, the Tesla Motors CEO explained why he's so into colonizing Mars.
"Either we spread Earth to other planets, or we risk going extinct," he said. "An extinction event is inevitable and we’re increasingly doing ourselves in."
Yes, we've been treating the Earth badly, but is the solution really to move to Mars?
The red planet's atmosphere isn't exactly like Earth's, and it isn't perfect for humans, Musk explained. But if we just bring all the things that have ruined Earth's atmosphere (like greenhouse gases) to Mars, the temperature there will rise and make the planet much more inhabitable. (And after we ruin Mars's atmosphere, which planet's next?)
Moving people to Mars is "difficult but achievable, and I think we should try our hardest to make it happen," Musk said.
And he's not just talking about it. Musk is willing to go to Mars himself, and he doesn't mind the risk. "All things considered, if one's going to die anywhere, it would be kind of cool to die on Mars," he said.
Musk has been advocating a move for a while now, first announcing last year that he wanted to build an 80,000-person colony on Mars.
Unfortunately for him, one of the biggest space celebrities will not be joining this hypothetical colony. Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin said Wednesday night that while he supports Mars exploration, he is not personally interested in moving there. Somebody ask Chris Hadfield!
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