Why are the world’s two wealthiest people, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, investing billions of dollars into space?
These two individuals are worth more than $350 billion combined. Moreover, they head arguably the two most valuable companies ever created: Tesla and Amazon.
Space is lucrative. It’s the next frontier and the wild west of our time — literally.
Why is space similar to the wild west?
In 1803, the young United States purchased a substantial portion of land from France for $15 million. The goal in this investment was to expand, colonize and control that land. Once that land was occupied and controlled, the United States would get a return on its investment in agricultural production, among various other forms of profit.
Musk and Bezos are two wildly influential and powerful businessmen. If they invest in space now, then once it is colonized and controlled, the profit return will be colossal.
Additionally, as echoed by capitalism’s father Adam Smith, those who own land own power. Through his rocket and space company called SpaceX, Musk is “highly confident” he will land humans on Mars only five years from now, in 2026.
Bezos also aims to own real estate in the new frontier as soon as possible. However, he deviates from Musk as to the location in space.
Bezos’ plans are grandiose, for lack of a better word. Bezos revealed in 2019 that he wants to build colonies of spinning cylinders that float in space with different pre-programmed environments.
These plans — with the research required and material production involved — are exorbitantly expensive. Musk’s SpaceX has already raised nearly $3 billion for the Mars project.
Musk’s and Bezos’ ambitions for space are impressive. But with that amount of brainpower, business capability and recourse, their aspirations would be better put elsewhere.
It’s dazzling to look up to the stars and know the sky’s not the limit. Yet, we must confront our immense problems here on Earth before continuing to invest so much in what is beyond.
We only have a few more years left at our current emission rates before humanity burns through the world’s carbon budget, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2018. The carbon budget is the amount of carbon dioxide humanity can release into the atmosphere before the world’s average temperature is raised 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial conditions.
Once this 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold is reached, the consequences of climate change will be catastrophic and irreversible. The IPCC reports that climate change directly correlates to negative impacts on human health, livelihood, food security, water supply and economic growth.
Vulnerable communities will be and are currently being disproportionately affected by climate change. If we are able to limit global warming, by 2050 we could reduce the number of people facing climate-related poverty by several hundred million.
Suppose Bezos and Musk are genuinely committed to the betterment and advancement of humankind. In that case, they should be investing in anti-climate-change and sustainability technology rather than the new frontier — something Bill Gates is doing.
Unfortunately, there is one big problem for the business-minded Musk and Bezos. You guessed it: Anti-climate-change technology is far less profitable than the space race.
In fact, Gates has publicly acknowledged massive profit losses — in the billions — as a result of his climate change investments. But he also knows this technology is vital to humankind and recognized that, as a billionaire, his wealth is “not in short supply.”
Musk and Bezos should learn from Gates’ example. At the end of the day, profit is a capitalist construct society created to make trading easier.
Climate change and its consequences, however, are real and threaten humanity and the world more every single day. Musk and Bezos, with their wealth and influence, have the power to be major players in humanity’s fight against climate change.
With that great power comes great responsibility. Musk and Bezos should take on that responsibility and use their resources to save humanity rather than look for their next money maker.
Fighting climate change is a political problem, not a money problem. The IMF reported that in 2018 the world’s governments gave 5.2 Trillion dollars to the fossil fuel industry. That’s where the money is.
As for going to Mars, that’s called Plan B. It gives a contrast to Plan A, which isn’t working too well, and it will not, until we recognize that it’s our political problem and not about how the billionaires spend their money.
This is an interesting article, I like how you contrasted Musk and Bezos with what Gates is doing.
That being said, I don’t think we should neglect investing in life beyond earth entirely. If enough people are willing to go to Mars which will reduce the population on earth, that will benefit the environment as well.
All in all, a good article on a topic that isn’t talked about enough!
Great Read! I have really liked the past articles you have written!