Is Elon Musk's Fantastic Martian City Pushing the World Toward Fascism?
THIS PROJECT PREDICTS FOR AND PLANS THE FUTURE OF 10,000 SUPER ECOFRIENDLY CITIES ACROSS THE GLOBE. THIS WEEK, WE FOCUS ON ELON MUSK'S FANTASTIC MARS CITY AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR EARTHLY POLITICS.
When Elon Musk threw is financial weight behind the Trump campaign during the 2024 US presidential election, many media folk and tech fans were puzzled. Why was this popular Rocket man with eco-credentials suddenly drifting from liberal Silicon Valley ideals right off into the chaotic right wing autocracy of the Trump world?
On January 20th, we got an answer. On that day, Musk thanked a large crowd of cheering Trump voters with a 'Roman / Nazi Salute'. Immediately after this salute, he then went on to thank the audience for 'assuring the future of civilization'.
What did he mean by this last statement? And is the salute connected to it? The answer, very probably. Let me explain.
As well as donating some US$250,000,000 to Trump for his re-election, Musk has also been in talks with far right parties across the world about providing similar support to them. The reason why Musk is turning against liberal democracy and on into fascism is not (entirely) about making money. In his mind – it is far grander than that. Musk wants to set up a human city on Mars. Only by doing this, he thinks, will humanity be saved from some future apocalypse -- like nuclear war or an extraterrestrial asteroid impact like what wiped out the dinosaurs.
To colonize Mars though, humanity will have to divert a significant size of its GDP to Martian colonization efforts. Some 10000 or more of his heavy-lifting Space X rockets will have to ferry settlers and supplies to the Red Planet over the next few decades. This will cost, in his words, upwards to 10 trillion dollars; roughly equal to about 10 percent of the entire world’s annual GDP.
This will either be diverted from other worthy projects like global health and social welfare -- or just plain plummet the world into economic disaster. Yet, Musk will have is Red City on Mars.
Selling his space dreams as best he can, Musk has realized that the Western World, if filled with democratic governments, will not give him permission, or funding, for this plan. Democracy is too slow and messy and there’s all sorts of democratic ways his naysayers can halt his megalomaniac Martian dreams. However, Musk believes far right parties, including neo-Nazis and neo-fascists, can act quicker to follow gigantic social fantasies like his conquest of Mars. This is especially the case if such far right parties are beholden to Musk because he helped them get elected.
In truth, Musk doesn't know much about either history or society. All he learned on these subjects comes from science fiction where 'technocratic utopias' abound. Reading science fiction has convinced him that only autocratic states have the muscle and ruthlessness to plow forward and over social projects, health and safety ideals, workers' rights, environmental regulations and the general democratic decision-making with crazy megaprojects ideas like his Martian city.
For Musk, the "Conquest of Mars" is not a sideshow but a main driver of his global political stance. Musk’s imperial space fantasies are also rubbing off on Donald Trump – who is applying them to Greenland and some other places. Probably, Musk has an interest in fascism for many reasons. My argument, though, is his Mars plans are the biggest part of them. And all the SpaceX employees I have ever spoken with or heard from indicate that every single Musk business decision is based on whether it will result in a quicker colonization of Mars. Indeed, there are reports that Elon Musk's DOGE is being set up not just to cut spending but to siphon off money into SpaceX's Mars projects.
So the question we must ask ourselves is this: should we allow the world to lurch to the far right to satiate Musk's weird and impossible Mars fantasies?
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