He may or may not be buying MSNBC, but Elon Musk isn’t taking any put-downs from Neil de Grasse Tyson on his Mars ambitions.
The entrepreneur responded today to deGrasse Tyson’s barbed comments on Friday’s Bill Maher “Overtime” about the possibility of going to Mars.
The two fought for a long time over the question of Mars. Musk sees Mars colonization as necessary for human survival, while Tyson sees it as secondary to solving Earth’s current problems. It has been a heated debate among scientists and cultural observers since the beginning of space exploration in the last century.
In the latest debate about Mars, Maher asked deGrasse Tyson how long it would take for Musk to “send people to Mars”. Maher played for the longtime position of DeGrasse Tyson, who insisted that we focus on improving the floor.
“How can we do anything worse to a rat f**k before the Earth is worse than a place at 200 below zero with no air and no water that has six months to get to?!” Maher asked. Tyson shouted, “Spread it! spread it”
“I have strong opinions on that,” deGrasse Tyson said. “My reading of the history of space exploration made us do big, expensive things only when it is politically expedient, like when we feel threatened by the enemy. And so he just said, let’s go to Mars because that’s the next thing to do. What does the venture capitalist meeting look like? ‘So Elon, what do you want to do?’ ‘I want to go to Mars?’ ‘How much will it cost?’ ‘$1 trillion.’ ‘Is it safe?’ ‘No. Maybe people will die.’ ‘Who owns the investment?’ ‘No one.’ That’s a five-minute meeting. And it doesn’t happen.”
“At some point someone has to pay for it and just liking something is not the same as paying for it.”
Musk responded Saturday at X, smacking his forehead in disbelief.
“Oh, they don’t understand it. Mars is important for the long-term survival of consciousness. Also, I will not ask any venture capitalists for money. I know it doesn’t make sense as an investment. That’s why I’m collecting supplies.”
Musk then went into the dark, questioning deGrasse Tyson’s motives for his comments.
“The real problem is that Neil decided to veer too far to the left when he was hit with #MeToo. You can avoid cancellation if you apologize and push their pointless thoughts. The truth hurts.”
The billionaire went on to tell his story of making a Mars venture.
“Even if we fail to create a Mars colony that can grow without continuous support from Earth, the absurdity of such a goal will result in the creation of advanced technologies that are better than competitors that only aim for Earth orbit.”
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