Elon Musk believes that it’s important for humanity to not be entirely dependent on Earth for its survival. Whether that’s because we destroy the planet, or an

Elon Musk believes that it’s important for humanity to not be entirely dependent on Earth for its survival. Whether that’s because we destroy the planet, or an asteroid hits, or there’s a terrible virus and we can’t get people to wear masks, doesn’t really matter. The point is that having a second permanent home would make this far less likely to end the human race. It’s a very unlikely thing to happen, but it’s entirely catastrophic if it does, so an expected value calculation could be argued to show that it’s worth it. As for not destroying the planet, that’s what his other big company is working on. I’m not fully on board with his reasoning here, and don’t agree with many of his beliefs, but he is quite explicit and consistent about these reasonings and I don’t think it’s the worst outcome.