1 00:00:16,115 --> 00:00:16,595 Speaker 1: Pushkin. 2 00:00:21,915 --> 00:00:25,075 Speaker 2: You are looking at a live view of the Falcon Heavy. 3 00:00:25,955 --> 00:00:30,395 Speaker 1: In twenty eighteen, Elon Musk's company SpaceX launched a rocket 4 00:00:30,395 --> 00:00:33,715 Speaker 1: from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida under blue skies 5 00:00:33,915 --> 00:00:37,955 Speaker 1: streaked with clouds. A giant white rocket attached to two 6 00:00:37,995 --> 00:00:41,395 Speaker 1: smaller white boosters stood perched on the launch pad. 7 00:00:41,715 --> 00:00:43,955 Speaker 3: All systems are Golfer launch. 8 00:00:44,395 --> 00:00:47,915 Speaker 1: A crowd assembled at mission control giddy and loud. This 9 00:00:48,075 --> 00:00:51,595 Speaker 1: was the company's splashiest launch yet of its biggest rocket 10 00:00:52,115 --> 00:00:54,155 Speaker 1: built for a Mars crossing orbit. 11 00:00:54,595 --> 00:00:58,275 Speaker 2: Stacked inside the firing is Elon's cherry red Tesla Roadster. 12 00:00:58,795 --> 00:01:01,795 Speaker 1: Then there was the payload described by SpaceX in its 13 00:01:01,835 --> 00:01:03,315 Speaker 1: live broadcast. 14 00:01:02,795 --> 00:01:05,595 Speaker 2: And inside of it a passenger. His name is Starman, 15 00:01:05,795 --> 00:01:07,075 Speaker 2: but don't worry, he's not human. 16 00:01:07,795 --> 00:01:10,595 Speaker 1: There was also an arc, a sort of Noah's Ark 17 00:01:10,635 --> 00:01:14,675 Speaker 1: of an archive on a space Proof Courts compact disc. 18 00:01:15,115 --> 00:01:17,355 Speaker 2: On the arc that's being launched today. The Foundation has 19 00:01:17,395 --> 00:01:21,155 Speaker 2: stored Isaac Asimov's classic sci fi series, the Foundation Trilogy. 20 00:01:21,755 --> 00:01:24,075 Speaker 1: One objective of this test flight was to put a 21 00:01:24,195 --> 00:01:28,075 Speaker 1: Tesla Roadster carrying the works of Isaac Asimov into orbit 22 00:01:28,435 --> 00:01:29,595 Speaker 1: for a billion. 23 00:01:29,315 --> 00:01:31,195 Speaker 4: Years three two. 24 00:01:48,195 --> 00:01:52,075 Speaker 1: Welcome to X Man The Elon Musk origin story. I'm 25 00:01:52,155 --> 00:01:55,195 Speaker 1: Jill Lapour. I'm a professor at Harvard. I'm a US 26 00:01:55,315 --> 00:01:58,235 Speaker 1: political historian, and for a long time I've been studying 27 00:01:58,235 --> 00:02:03,555 Speaker 1: the relationship between technological and political change. I'm fascinated by 28 00:02:03,635 --> 00:02:07,555 Speaker 1: visions of the future in political discourse, in literature and 29 00:02:07,675 --> 00:02:14,875 Speaker 1: science fiction, and even common bucks. The series, I'm exploring 30 00:02:14,915 --> 00:02:20,515 Speaker 1: a new kind of capitalism, call it Muskism, extravagant extreme capitalism, 31 00:02:20,915 --> 00:02:24,635 Speaker 1: extra terrestrial capitalism, where stock prices can be driven by 32 00:02:24,675 --> 00:02:32,595 Speaker 1: dreams and fantasies that come from science fiction. Last episode, 33 00:02:32,915 --> 00:02:35,995 Speaker 1: I looked at Musk's early life in South Africa, growing 34 00:02:36,075 --> 00:02:39,355 Speaker 1: up reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He ended 35 00:02:39,395 --> 00:02:42,355 Speaker 1: up in Silicon Valley in the nineteen nineties, founding a 36 00:02:42,395 --> 00:02:46,515 Speaker 1: company called x dot com that merged with PayPal. eBay 37 00:02:46,595 --> 00:02:50,515 Speaker 1: bought PayPal for one point five billion dollars. Musk use 38 00:02:50,555 --> 00:02:54,715 Speaker 1: that money to start SpaceX. He also started talking about 39 00:02:54,875 --> 00:02:58,315 Speaker 1: very big plans for the future of humanity. 40 00:02:58,755 --> 00:03:01,635 Speaker 5: When I was in the university, I thought about what 41 00:03:01,875 --> 00:03:04,915 Speaker 5: would most affect the future of the world, and the 42 00:03:04,955 --> 00:03:07,635 Speaker 5: three areas that I came up with the Internet, sustainable 43 00:03:07,715 --> 00:03:10,315 Speaker 5: energy and making life multiplanet. 44 00:03:09,915 --> 00:03:13,395 Speaker 1: Terry Musk began to argue that his plan was to 45 00:03:13,475 --> 00:03:17,955 Speaker 1: save the human race, including by going to Mars. But 46 00:03:18,115 --> 00:03:21,915 Speaker 1: why future of humanity questions used to belong to religion 47 00:03:22,075 --> 00:03:27,435 Speaker 1: and philosophy. Under Muskism, they belonged to engineering and entrepreneurship. 48 00:03:28,235 --> 00:03:33,395 Speaker 1: How did that happen? This episode of X Man is 49 00:03:33,395 --> 00:03:37,675 Speaker 1: called Planet b strap in to head to Mars, which 50 00:03:37,675 --> 00:03:40,275 Speaker 1: is where Elon Musk was headed before he took a 51 00:03:40,315 --> 00:03:43,875 Speaker 1: detour to the White House. In twenty sixteen, the year 52 00:03:43,955 --> 00:03:47,395 Speaker 1: Donald Trump was elected president for the first time, Musk 53 00:03:47,475 --> 00:03:50,395 Speaker 1: spoke to an audience at a SpaceX event about the 54 00:03:50,395 --> 00:03:51,915 Speaker 1: ship he'd like to take to Mars. 55 00:03:52,315 --> 00:03:54,555 Speaker 5: I think like maybe the name of the first ship 56 00:03:54,755 --> 00:03:55,755 Speaker 5: that goes to Mars. 57 00:03:56,155 --> 00:03:59,635 Speaker 6: My current favorite is Heart of Gold from The Hitchhiker's 58 00:03:59,635 --> 00:04:01,475 Speaker 6: Guide to the Galaxy, and. 59 00:04:01,395 --> 00:04:04,635 Speaker 5: I like the fact that it's driven by infinite improbability. 60 00:04:05,155 --> 00:04:07,915 Speaker 5: I think ourship is also extremely improbable. 61 00:04:08,515 --> 00:04:11,995 Speaker 1: One pretty useful way of understanding Musk's vision for SpaceX 62 00:04:12,075 --> 00:04:15,555 Speaker 1: is that it's Douglas Adams fan fiction. Or you could 63 00:04:15,555 --> 00:04:19,355 Speaker 1: make a fair argument that SpaceX's inspiration comes from the 64 00:04:19,395 --> 00:04:20,355 Speaker 1: Foundation series. 65 00:04:21,715 --> 00:04:30,955 Speaker 7: Titally Foundation author Isaac Asimos Encyclopedia Galactica one hundred and 66 00:04:30,995 --> 00:04:31,715 Speaker 7: sixteenth edition. 67 00:04:33,515 --> 00:04:38,035 Speaker 1: This Encyclopedia Galactica runs through all the Foundation Series, and 68 00:04:38,115 --> 00:04:41,795 Speaker 1: if that sounds familiar, that's because the Hitchhiker's Guide is 69 00:04:41,795 --> 00:04:42,755 Speaker 1: a lampoon of it. 70 00:04:43,235 --> 00:04:47,915 Speaker 8: The Hitchhiker's Guide has already supplanted the Great Encyclopedic Galactica 71 00:04:47,955 --> 00:04:51,875 Speaker 8: as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom because, 72 00:04:51,915 --> 00:04:55,555 Speaker 8: although it has many omissions contains much that is apocryphal 73 00:04:55,755 --> 00:04:59,315 Speaker 8: or at least wildly inaccurate, it scores over the older, 74 00:04:59,595 --> 00:05:04,075 Speaker 8: more pedestrian work in two important ways. First, it is 75 00:05:04,195 --> 00:05:08,675 Speaker 8: slightly cheaper, and second, it has the words don't Panic 76 00:05:08,795 --> 00:05:11,635 Speaker 8: inscribed in large, much friendly letters on the cover. 77 00:05:12,555 --> 00:05:15,155 Speaker 1: That Tesla roadster that must send up into space had 78 00:05:15,195 --> 00:05:18,795 Speaker 1: a copy of Asimov inside, and it also had don't 79 00:05:18,835 --> 00:05:23,995 Speaker 1: Panic on its dashboard. Asimov's Foundation Series revolves around a 80 00:05:24,035 --> 00:05:26,835 Speaker 1: scholar named Harry Selden. 81 00:05:26,795 --> 00:05:29,875 Speaker 9: W Nine hundred and eighty eight years of the Galactic 82 00:05:29,915 --> 00:05:32,755 Speaker 9: Event died twelve sixty nine. 83 00:05:33,315 --> 00:05:39,435 Speaker 1: Birthplace Heliconnor of Toardus sector. Harry Selden is responsible for 84 00:05:39,475 --> 00:05:43,795 Speaker 1: the future of humanity. His plan Engineers will save us 85 00:05:44,635 --> 00:05:47,955 Speaker 1: Selden knows that the Galactic Empire will soon collapse, after 86 00:05:47,995 --> 00:05:50,795 Speaker 1: which the galaxy will endure a dark age. He's got 87 00:05:50,795 --> 00:05:53,595 Speaker 1: a plan to hide away two sets of experts, one 88 00:05:53,675 --> 00:05:56,515 Speaker 1: at each end of the galaxy, the two Foundations, to 89 00:05:56,555 --> 00:06:00,675 Speaker 1: store the knowledge of civilization. Elon Musk read the story 90 00:06:00,715 --> 00:06:02,915 Speaker 1: as a kid, and later said that the lesson he 91 00:06:02,995 --> 00:06:05,475 Speaker 1: drew from it was that you should try to take 92 00:06:05,515 --> 00:06:08,475 Speaker 1: the set of actions that are likely to prolong civilization, 93 00:06:08,915 --> 00:06:11,995 Speaker 1: to minimize the probability of a dark age, and reduce 94 00:06:12,075 --> 00:06:18,555 Speaker 1: the length of a dark age. If there is one 95 00:06:21,755 --> 00:06:28,115 Speaker 1: anxiety about the imminent end of civilization. Existential catastrophism is 96 00:06:28,155 --> 00:06:32,875 Speaker 1: an essential feature of Muskism. Humanity, in this understanding of 97 00:06:32,875 --> 00:06:37,355 Speaker 1: the world is always at risk of extinction. Entrepreneurs and 98 00:06:37,475 --> 00:06:39,475 Speaker 1: engineers are trying to save us. 99 00:06:39,475 --> 00:06:39,675 Speaker 10: All. 100 00:06:40,355 --> 00:06:43,075 Speaker 1: I got to wondering where this idea came from. When 101 00:06:43,075 --> 00:06:46,235 Speaker 1: did people begin worrying about human extinction? 102 00:06:46,995 --> 00:06:49,595 Speaker 9: That's a good question, So it depends on what you 103 00:06:49,795 --> 00:06:51,115 Speaker 9: mean by worrying. 104 00:06:51,795 --> 00:06:55,475 Speaker 1: That's Thomas moynihan, author of the twenty twenty book X Risk, 105 00:06:55,715 --> 00:06:59,795 Speaker 1: How Humanity Discovered its own extinction. I called it moynihan 106 00:06:59,835 --> 00:07:01,915 Speaker 1: to ask him about the history of the panic. Don't 107 00:07:01,955 --> 00:07:05,715 Speaker 1: panic about human extinction, which is different from a religious 108 00:07:05,715 --> 00:07:07,515 Speaker 1: worry about the coming apocalypse. 109 00:07:07,715 --> 00:07:11,875 Speaker 9: The apocalypse scures a senseiment ending, where extinction anticipates the 110 00:07:11,955 --> 00:07:12,755 Speaker 9: ending of sense. 111 00:07:13,235 --> 00:07:17,115 Speaker 1: According to Moynan, people started worrying about human extinction sometime 112 00:07:17,155 --> 00:07:21,475 Speaker 1: in the eighteenth century during the Enlightenment, partly because scientists 113 00:07:21,715 --> 00:07:25,875 Speaker 1: studying fossils had begun to observe and to document the 114 00:07:25,995 --> 00:07:31,395 Speaker 1: extinction of other species, like dinosaurs. This fascinated romantic poets. 115 00:07:31,875 --> 00:07:36,755 Speaker 9: Byron himself refers to using steam engines to deflect incoming 116 00:07:36,795 --> 00:07:39,715 Speaker 9: asteroids and stop them from wiping out humanity. 117 00:07:40,355 --> 00:07:43,995 Speaker 1: Mary Shelley, a decade after she wrote Frankenstein, wrote The 118 00:07:44,115 --> 00:07:48,235 Speaker 1: Last Man, the first novel in English that imagines human 119 00:07:48,275 --> 00:07:52,435 Speaker 1: extinction by way of a global pandemic. By the end 120 00:07:52,475 --> 00:07:55,435 Speaker 1: of the nineteenth century, you get science fiction that imagines 121 00:07:55,435 --> 00:07:58,155 Speaker 1: a risk coming from other planets. 122 00:07:58,515 --> 00:08:00,675 Speaker 11: Nothing out of the shadow, like a gray snake. 123 00:08:01,355 --> 00:08:04,075 Speaker 1: Martians came to Earth in H. G. Wells's eighteen ninety 124 00:08:04,115 --> 00:08:07,355 Speaker 1: eight novel War of the World, But as morning Hand 125 00:08:07,355 --> 00:08:10,555 Speaker 1: points out, Wells also thought of other plants as a 126 00:08:10,555 --> 00:08:12,075 Speaker 1: way to avoid human extinction. 127 00:08:12,395 --> 00:08:14,675 Speaker 12: Thankies a gentleman, sind describers, I can highly force myself 128 00:08:14,715 --> 00:08:15,035 Speaker 12: to keep. 129 00:08:14,955 --> 00:08:17,075 Speaker 9: Working at it. At the end of War of the 130 00:08:17,075 --> 00:08:23,275 Speaker 9: World's he mentions that humanity might be able to migrate 131 00:08:23,315 --> 00:08:26,155 Speaker 9: to Venus in the long term, and that would somehow 132 00:08:26,635 --> 00:08:29,075 Speaker 9: prolong the lifespan of civilization. 133 00:08:29,795 --> 00:08:32,915 Speaker 1: But of course, early science fiction emerged during an era 134 00:08:33,155 --> 00:08:38,235 Speaker 1: of imperialism. After all, as Cecil Rhodes himself said, I 135 00:08:38,235 --> 00:08:39,995 Speaker 1: would annex the planets. 136 00:08:39,515 --> 00:08:40,075 Speaker 12: If I could. 137 00:08:45,155 --> 00:08:45,435 Speaker 13: HG. 138 00:08:45,475 --> 00:08:48,955 Speaker 1: Wells wasn't actually promoting a colony on Venus. He was 139 00:08:48,995 --> 00:08:52,395 Speaker 1: opposing British colonies on Earth. He began War of the 140 00:08:52,435 --> 00:08:56,875 Speaker 1: Worlds by talking about British colonial expansion into Tasmania, writing 141 00:08:56,915 --> 00:09:00,275 Speaker 1: that the Tasmanians, in spite of their human likeness, were 142 00:09:00,435 --> 00:09:03,395 Speaker 1: entirely swept out of existence in a war of extermination 143 00:09:03,835 --> 00:09:06,995 Speaker 1: waged by European immigrants in the space of fifty years. 144 00:09:07,355 --> 00:09:09,835 Speaker 1: Are we such apostles of mercy as to complain? And 145 00:09:09,915 --> 00:09:14,155 Speaker 1: if the Martians warred in the same spirit, the line 146 00:09:14,235 --> 00:09:17,635 Speaker 1: from Welles to Musk is a line of rupture to 147 00:09:17,715 --> 00:09:21,875 Speaker 1: recycle age of imperialism. Science fiction absent the criticism of 148 00:09:21,915 --> 00:09:28,955 Speaker 1: imperialism is to erase history. Moynan argues that in the 149 00:09:28,955 --> 00:09:32,475 Speaker 1: middle decades of the twentieth century, fears of human extinction 150 00:09:32,595 --> 00:09:36,235 Speaker 1: got ratcheted up after Harshima and during the Cold War, 151 00:09:36,675 --> 00:09:41,035 Speaker 1: with its concern about nuclear armageddon. The danger was an 152 00:09:41,075 --> 00:09:45,835 Speaker 1: alien invasion, the danger was us. By the nineteen eighties, 153 00:09:46,035 --> 00:09:49,155 Speaker 1: people concerned about what's come to be called existential risk, 154 00:09:49,755 --> 00:09:53,275 Speaker 1: especially people fighting for arms control, came up with some 155 00:09:53,395 --> 00:09:56,155 Speaker 1: fancy calculations to try to win the argument. 156 00:09:56,675 --> 00:09:59,755 Speaker 9: We shouldn't be thinking about human extinction as just the 157 00:09:59,755 --> 00:10:02,355 Speaker 9: death of the seven billion people that are currently alive. 158 00:10:02,835 --> 00:10:06,475 Speaker 9: We need to think about it more as the foreclosure 159 00:10:06,595 --> 00:10:09,715 Speaker 9: of all the future generations of people that could have been, 160 00:10:09,795 --> 00:10:11,235 Speaker 9: who could have had worthwhile lives. 161 00:10:11,835 --> 00:10:16,755 Speaker 1: This idea really took off. This to me strange calculation 162 00:10:17,395 --> 00:10:20,235 Speaker 1: by which our lives, the lives of everyone here on Earth, 163 00:10:20,755 --> 00:10:23,115 Speaker 1: just don't amount too much compared to the lives of 164 00:10:23,195 --> 00:10:26,155 Speaker 1: all the future beings who won't live if we don't 165 00:10:26,275 --> 00:10:30,515 Speaker 1: establish colonies on other planets. Then, in the nineteen nineties, 166 00:10:30,635 --> 00:10:33,675 Speaker 1: moynihan says, a lot of tech people involved in early 167 00:10:33,715 --> 00:10:37,915 Speaker 1: message boards came together to really panic about a long 168 00:10:38,075 --> 00:10:39,795 Speaker 1: list of existential risks. 169 00:10:40,195 --> 00:10:46,035 Speaker 9: Asteroid or comet impact, super volcanic eruptions, stellar explosions, nuclear war, 170 00:10:46,475 --> 00:10:49,315 Speaker 9: climate degradation, and then one that also gets a lot 171 00:10:49,315 --> 00:10:51,635 Speaker 9: of attention as well is artificial intelligence. 172 00:10:52,235 --> 00:10:54,795 Speaker 1: At the time this list was growing on tech message boards, 173 00:10:55,155 --> 00:10:57,875 Speaker 1: Elon Musk was in college and then in Silicon Valley 174 00:10:58,155 --> 00:11:04,915 Speaker 1: developing his sense of mission. A few years back, Bernie 175 00:11:04,955 --> 00:11:08,315 Speaker 1: Sanders tweeted, We're in a moment in history where two guys, 176 00:11:08,355 --> 00:11:11,315 Speaker 1: Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, own more wealth than the 177 00:11:11,315 --> 00:11:15,435 Speaker 1: bottom forty percent of people in this country. Musk tweeted back, 178 00:11:16,075 --> 00:11:19,395 Speaker 1: I am accumulating resources to help make life interplanetary and 179 00:11:19,475 --> 00:11:23,955 Speaker 1: extend the light of consciousness to the stars. Not everyone 180 00:11:23,995 --> 00:11:27,635 Speaker 1: thinks Musk and Bezos are heroically saving humanity from extinction. 181 00:11:28,315 --> 00:11:31,035 Speaker 1: My question is why do they think they're doing that. 182 00:11:32,915 --> 00:11:36,355 Speaker 1: Jeff Bezos was born in New Mexico in nineteen sixty four. 183 00:11:37,275 --> 00:11:40,875 Speaker 1: Both he and Elon Musk grew up on stories about 184 00:11:40,915 --> 00:11:44,715 Speaker 1: the Apollo eleven moon landing. The US ended its moon 185 00:11:44,755 --> 00:11:48,635 Speaker 1: program in nineteen seventy two, Bezos, a Star Trek fan, 186 00:11:49,035 --> 00:11:52,315 Speaker 1: always wanted to go back to the moon. Musk tells 187 00:11:52,315 --> 00:11:54,555 Speaker 1: a story about how, as a kid he went to 188 00:11:54,555 --> 00:11:57,355 Speaker 1: the NASA website to look up the schedule for going 189 00:11:57,395 --> 00:12:02,955 Speaker 1: to Mars, and was disappointed to find there wasn't one. 190 00:12:02,995 --> 00:12:06,755 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty four, NASA had launched the Mariner for Probe, 191 00:12:07,115 --> 00:12:09,715 Speaker 1: the first spacecraft to fly by Mars. 192 00:12:10,115 --> 00:12:13,675 Speaker 14: The great question is what will matter no reveal, of course, 193 00:12:13,715 --> 00:12:16,795 Speaker 14: the possibility of life on Mars has been debated for 194 00:12:16,835 --> 00:12:20,355 Speaker 14: many years. A faint lines seen on the surface have 195 00:12:20,995 --> 00:12:23,755 Speaker 14: led to the idea that these were canals dug by 196 00:12:23,755 --> 00:12:26,315 Speaker 14: the Martians. But I don't think anybody gives that far 197 00:12:26,435 --> 00:12:27,035 Speaker 14: these days. 198 00:12:27,235 --> 00:12:29,995 Speaker 1: The Probe sent back twenty one photographs unveiled at the 199 00:12:30,035 --> 00:12:34,275 Speaker 1: White House before Lyndon Johnson, but the photographs revealed a barren, 200 00:12:34,595 --> 00:12:38,795 Speaker 1: dusty wasteland, all but crushing any hope. As Johnson said 201 00:12:39,275 --> 00:12:42,715 Speaker 1: that there was life on Mars, it may be. 202 00:12:42,795 --> 00:12:47,715 Speaker 12: It may just be that life as we know it, 203 00:12:49,635 --> 00:12:56,875 Speaker 12: with its humanity, is more unique than many have thought. 204 00:12:58,195 --> 00:13:01,195 Speaker 1: That view of Mars started to change in the nineteen nineties, 205 00:13:01,755 --> 00:13:05,795 Speaker 1: which marked a convergence. Tech types had become consumed with 206 00:13:05,835 --> 00:13:09,995 Speaker 1: the possibility of human extinction. Jeff Bezos and e On 207 00:13:10,075 --> 00:13:13,195 Speaker 1: Musk were starting to make millions, even billions of dollars 208 00:13:13,835 --> 00:13:16,835 Speaker 1: and writers and scientists had begun to imagine ways Mars 209 00:13:17,115 --> 00:13:20,715 Speaker 1: could be made habitable. The science fiction writer Kim Stanley 210 00:13:20,795 --> 00:13:24,555 Speaker 1: Robinson published the Mars Trilogy, in which scientists from Earth 211 00:13:24,715 --> 00:13:29,035 Speaker 1: have terraformed Mars. In nineteen ninety eight, an aerospace engineer 212 00:13:29,155 --> 00:13:32,635 Speaker 1: named Robert Zubrin published a book called The Case for Mars. 213 00:13:33,155 --> 00:13:36,195 Speaker 9: There's three reasons why Mars. 214 00:13:35,955 --> 00:13:40,715 Speaker 2: Should be the goal of our space program, and in short, 215 00:13:40,835 --> 00:13:43,395 Speaker 2: it's because Mars is where the sciences, it's where the challenges, 216 00:13:43,435 --> 00:13:44,515 Speaker 2: and it's where the future is. 217 00:13:44,955 --> 00:13:48,315 Speaker 1: Bezos founded his space company Blue Origin in the year 218 00:13:48,395 --> 00:13:53,195 Speaker 1: two thousand. Musk started SpaceX two years later. In the 219 00:13:53,235 --> 00:13:57,715 Speaker 1: two and a half decades since, despite painful setbacks, SpaceX 220 00:13:57,755 --> 00:14:02,595 Speaker 1: has been an engineering wonder, a juggernaut revitalizing space exploration. 221 00:14:03,435 --> 00:14:05,755 Speaker 1: But even as the richest men on this planet were 222 00:14:05,755 --> 00:14:09,275 Speaker 1: thinking about traveling to other planets, more and more Earthlings 223 00:14:09,355 --> 00:14:11,835 Speaker 1: where we'reried about life here on Earth. 224 00:14:12,475 --> 00:14:15,395 Speaker 11: Five million students around the world took to the streets 225 00:14:15,395 --> 00:14:18,835 Speaker 11: and a climate strike Last Friday. Students flood of the 226 00:14:18,875 --> 00:14:22,595 Speaker 11: streets with a clear message, there is no planet B. 227 00:14:23,475 --> 00:14:26,555 Speaker 1: Well, Musk and Bezos were building rockets. There is no 228 00:14:26,715 --> 00:14:30,995 Speaker 1: planet B. Became the motto of the environmental movement, a 229 00:14:31,035 --> 00:14:35,115 Speaker 1: way for people to say that space exploration not only 230 00:14:35,195 --> 00:14:38,555 Speaker 1: fails to address the risk of human extinction, but is 231 00:14:38,635 --> 00:14:42,555 Speaker 1: instead part of the problem. Even Kim Stanley Robinson took 232 00:14:42,595 --> 00:14:43,235 Speaker 1: this line. 233 00:14:43,435 --> 00:14:46,155 Speaker 10: I still speak positively about us going to Mars and 234 00:14:46,235 --> 00:14:49,675 Speaker 10: even perhaps some day terraforming Mars, but it's a project 235 00:14:49,715 --> 00:14:53,715 Speaker 10: for like the year three thousand a d. What I 236 00:14:53,795 --> 00:14:56,555 Speaker 10: feel I have to say now is to remind people 237 00:14:56,835 --> 00:14:59,835 Speaker 10: there is no planet b. It's not simple, it's not fast, 238 00:14:59,915 --> 00:15:02,395 Speaker 10: it isn't going to happen anytime soon, and so we 239 00:15:02,435 --> 00:15:04,475 Speaker 10: can't be thinking that Earth is disposable. 240 00:15:04,915 --> 00:15:08,195 Speaker 1: About twenty years ago, Elon must began to change the 241 00:15:08,235 --> 00:15:10,555 Speaker 1: way he talked about going to Mars. 242 00:15:10,995 --> 00:15:13,355 Speaker 6: Have we screwed it up so badly here on this 243 00:15:13,435 --> 00:15:16,675 Speaker 6: planet that our only hope is to build a new 244 00:15:16,995 --> 00:15:19,915 Speaker 6: civilization out there? No, not at all. I Actually I'm 245 00:15:19,955 --> 00:15:22,315 Speaker 6: quite optimistic about the future of humanity on Earth. So 246 00:15:22,395 --> 00:15:26,035 Speaker 6: what is the benefit to humanity then to inhabit Mars. Well, 247 00:15:26,075 --> 00:15:28,035 Speaker 6: I think if you consider two paths, one where we're 248 00:15:28,075 --> 00:15:29,955 Speaker 6: forever confined to Earth, and the other where we are 249 00:15:29,995 --> 00:15:32,955 Speaker 6: space frank civilization out exploring the Stars. I think the 250 00:15:33,035 --> 00:15:34,315 Speaker 6: latter is far more exciting. 251 00:15:34,795 --> 00:15:37,955 Speaker 1: SpaceX is about taking science fiction stories and turning them 252 00:15:37,995 --> 00:15:41,235 Speaker 1: into fact. But what if SpaceX is actually fulfilling the 253 00:15:41,315 --> 00:15:44,675 Speaker 1: vision of dystopian science fiction by way of Muskism, not 254 00:15:44,715 --> 00:15:49,555 Speaker 1: only as extraterrestrial capitalism, but as a new political order. 255 00:15:56,275 --> 00:15:59,475 Speaker 1: Isaac Asimov's Foundation series first appeared as a book in 256 00:15:59,595 --> 00:16:03,355 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty one, but a more prophetic science fiction story 257 00:16:03,395 --> 00:16:06,955 Speaker 1: about money and politics and the future of humanity came 258 00:16:06,955 --> 00:16:08,155 Speaker 1: out in nineteen fifty two. 259 00:16:09,955 --> 00:16:14,475 Speaker 7: Merchants, Frederick Poles and C. M. Cornbliss's modern classic about 260 00:16:14,475 --> 00:16:18,795 Speaker 7: the future when the wizards of high pressure salesmanship take over. 261 00:16:21,035 --> 00:16:25,155 Speaker 1: The Space Merchants is dystopian science fiction, later made into 262 00:16:25,155 --> 00:16:28,835 Speaker 1: a radio drama. The story opens on a blighted, depleted, 263 00:16:28,995 --> 00:16:32,555 Speaker 1: overcrowded Earth had a board meeting of an advertising agency 264 00:16:32,795 --> 00:16:34,955 Speaker 1: called Fouler shockun. 265 00:16:34,675 --> 00:16:38,595 Speaker 7: Associates, gentlemen, Good morning, good morning. 266 00:16:38,675 --> 00:16:39,555 Speaker 12: That's the shotgun. 267 00:16:39,875 --> 00:16:42,315 Speaker 7: Now sit down, sit down. I'm going to stand for 268 00:16:42,355 --> 00:16:44,675 Speaker 7: a moment. I have just come back on the Moon rocket. 269 00:16:44,715 --> 00:16:46,275 Speaker 7: As you know, I want to streatch my legs. 270 00:16:46,875 --> 00:16:50,315 Speaker 12: How he alright, there's a shockun. 271 00:16:50,235 --> 00:16:53,835 Speaker 7: Gentlemen, I am proud, and I'm humble when I say 272 00:16:53,835 --> 00:16:56,715 Speaker 7: it's successful. The mining ventures are bringing the people here 273 00:16:56,755 --> 00:16:59,875 Speaker 7: on Earth many of the metals our forefathers exhausted long ago. 274 00:17:00,475 --> 00:17:03,995 Speaker 7: The colonist seemed quite untouched by the Kanci revolutionists, only 275 00:17:04,195 --> 00:17:06,595 Speaker 7: six instances of kanci' sabitage in the past week. 276 00:17:08,235 --> 00:17:11,915 Speaker 1: On this desperate, dying earth, Fowler Shakun is worried about 277 00:17:12,115 --> 00:17:17,035 Speaker 1: Conci's conservationists, or what we'd call environmentalists gentlemen. 278 00:17:17,115 --> 00:17:19,435 Speaker 7: On my trip back from the Moon, I begin to 279 00:17:19,595 --> 00:17:24,715 Speaker 7: wonder are we getting soft? But now I've decided, Fowler 280 00:17:24,795 --> 00:17:28,235 Speaker 7: Shotgun Associates is not soft, that it's ready to meet 281 00:17:28,275 --> 00:17:31,035 Speaker 7: a challenge greater than our development of the Moon, the 282 00:17:31,155 --> 00:17:34,235 Speaker 7: greatest challenge the world of advertising and promotion has ever met. 283 00:17:34,595 --> 00:17:38,515 Speaker 7: The colonizing of Beabus. 284 00:17:38,755 --> 00:17:42,035 Speaker 1: The Space Merchants wasn't the first version of this dystopian vision. 285 00:17:42,675 --> 00:17:45,195 Speaker 1: In his story from nineteen oh one with the excellent 286 00:17:45,275 --> 00:17:49,035 Speaker 1: title to Mars with Tesla, that is, with Nikola Tesla, 287 00:17:49,595 --> 00:17:52,315 Speaker 1: a guy advertising a rocket trip to Mars turns out 288 00:17:52,315 --> 00:17:55,395 Speaker 1: to be a con man. In twenty twenty two, in 289 00:17:55,475 --> 00:17:59,755 Speaker 1: Fowler Shokun Fashion, SpaceX was involved in the first fully 290 00:17:59,835 --> 00:18:03,955 Speaker 1: private entirely for profit mission to the International Space Station. 291 00:18:04,675 --> 00:18:08,755 Speaker 1: It carried three space tourists, paying fifty five million dollars 292 00:18:08,795 --> 00:18:12,435 Speaker 1: each for a seven seventeen day trip. The Washington Post 293 00:18:12,435 --> 00:18:15,195 Speaker 1: has reported that SpaceX might be involved in a project 294 00:18:15,195 --> 00:18:18,835 Speaker 1: to build the first hotel in space. Next up, the 295 00:18:18,955 --> 00:18:25,755 Speaker 1: Red Planet buzzed back to the past to the US 296 00:18:25,875 --> 00:18:30,195 Speaker 1: presidential election year of twenty twelve. During that year's contest 297 00:18:30,235 --> 00:18:34,395 Speaker 1: for the Republican nomination, moderates like Mitt Romney said a 298 00:18:34,435 --> 00:18:36,755 Speaker 1: plan to go to the Moon was crazy. 299 00:18:37,115 --> 00:18:38,875 Speaker 8: I spent twenty five years in business. 300 00:18:39,475 --> 00:18:41,515 Speaker 14: If I had a business executive. 301 00:18:40,995 --> 00:18:42,395 Speaker 3: Come to me and say they want to spend a 302 00:18:42,435 --> 00:18:44,915 Speaker 3: few hundred billion dollars to put a colony on. 303 00:18:44,875 --> 00:18:46,315 Speaker 14: The Moon, I'd say you're fired. 304 00:18:47,755 --> 00:18:50,155 Speaker 3: The idea that corporate America wants to go off to 305 00:18:50,195 --> 00:18:51,755 Speaker 3: the Moon and build a colony there. 306 00:18:52,035 --> 00:18:53,435 Speaker 14: It may be a big idea, but it's not a 307 00:18:53,475 --> 00:18:53,955 Speaker 14: good idea. 308 00:18:54,355 --> 00:18:58,395 Speaker 1: But far right Republicans like Newt Gingrich endorse this idea. 309 00:18:58,675 --> 00:19:00,755 Speaker 13: I'll tell you I do not want to be the 310 00:19:00,795 --> 00:19:03,915 Speaker 13: country that, having gotten to the moon first turned around 311 00:19:03,995 --> 00:19:05,435 Speaker 13: and said it doesn't really matter. 312 00:19:05,755 --> 00:19:07,515 Speaker 7: Let the Chinese dominate space. 313 00:19:07,595 --> 00:19:08,475 Speaker 13: What do we care? 314 00:19:08,955 --> 00:19:13,235 Speaker 1: During the US residential election year of twenty sixteen. Gingrich 315 00:19:13,475 --> 00:19:17,155 Speaker 1: was one of Trump's closest advisors. Then, in the weeks 316 00:19:17,155 --> 00:19:21,075 Speaker 1: between Trump's election and his inauguration, Elon Musk and Jeff 317 00:19:21,115 --> 00:19:24,235 Speaker 1: Bezos both went to see him in Trump Tower. In 318 00:19:24,315 --> 00:19:28,115 Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, after Trump took office, people started talking about 319 00:19:28,195 --> 00:19:31,675 Speaker 1: moon fever. As one commentator put it, Trump wanted to 320 00:19:31,715 --> 00:19:36,275 Speaker 1: make the Moon American again. Americans, though, weren't much behind 321 00:19:36,315 --> 00:19:39,395 Speaker 1: this project. A poll found that sixty three percent of 322 00:19:39,435 --> 00:19:43,955 Speaker 1: Americans wanted NASA to focus instead on climate research. Only 323 00:19:43,995 --> 00:19:47,355 Speaker 1: thirteen percent favored another trip to the moon. But this 324 00:19:47,435 --> 00:19:48,395 Speaker 1: didn't stop Trump. 325 00:19:48,795 --> 00:19:52,955 Speaker 13: Thank you very much, Vice President Pence for helping. Where's 326 00:19:52,955 --> 00:19:58,595 Speaker 13: our vice president? Great job? To restore American leadership in space. 327 00:19:58,955 --> 00:20:01,755 Speaker 1: Trump directed NASA to alter its schedule and make a 328 00:20:01,835 --> 00:20:04,035 Speaker 1: priority of sending Americans. 329 00:20:03,515 --> 00:20:03,995 Speaker 10: To the Moon. 330 00:20:04,395 --> 00:20:07,075 Speaker 13: Our journey into space will not only make us stronger 331 00:20:07,115 --> 00:20:10,875 Speaker 13: and more prosperous, but will unite it us behind grand 332 00:20:10,955 --> 00:20:14,475 Speaker 13: ambitions and bring us all closer together. 333 00:20:14,635 --> 00:20:15,875 Speaker 10: Wouldn't that be nice? 334 00:20:16,315 --> 00:20:18,595 Speaker 12: Can you believe that space is going to do that? 335 00:20:18,995 --> 00:20:21,195 Speaker 1: At the end of twenty seventeen, at the White House, 336 00:20:21,675 --> 00:20:24,515 Speaker 1: Trump made a formal announcement of a new destination. 337 00:20:24,915 --> 00:20:28,355 Speaker 13: This time, we will not only plant our flag and 338 00:20:28,435 --> 00:20:32,195 Speaker 13: leave our footprint, we will establish a foundation for an 339 00:20:32,235 --> 00:20:38,115 Speaker 13: eventual mission to Mars and perhaps someday to many worlds beyond. 340 00:20:38,555 --> 00:20:40,755 Speaker 1: It wasn't only about science, he said. 341 00:20:40,635 --> 00:20:44,035 Speaker 13: Space has so much to do with so many other applications, 342 00:20:44,075 --> 00:20:46,075 Speaker 13: including a military application. 343 00:20:46,635 --> 00:20:48,595 Speaker 1: What he meant by that became clear A year and 344 00:20:48,635 --> 00:20:49,355 Speaker 1: a half later. 345 00:20:49,795 --> 00:20:52,795 Speaker 13: We're gathered here in the Rose Garden to establish the 346 00:20:52,875 --> 00:20:58,675 Speaker 13: United States Space Command. It's a big deal. Spacecom will 347 00:20:58,715 --> 00:21:03,395 Speaker 13: soon be followed very importantly by the establishment of the 348 00:21:03,555 --> 00:21:09,515 Speaker 13: United States Space Force as the sixth branch of the 349 00:21:09,835 --> 00:21:11,395 Speaker 13: United States Armed Forces. 350 00:21:14,235 --> 00:21:18,555 Speaker 1: Space isn't so much the next frontier as the next battleground, 351 00:21:19,155 --> 00:21:22,595 Speaker 1: and Elon Musk and his dream of a multiplanetary civilization 352 00:21:23,435 --> 00:21:28,195 Speaker 1: that is being funded by American taxpayers. SpaceX and Space 353 00:21:28,235 --> 00:21:33,435 Speaker 1: Force are two sides of the same bitcoin. SpaceX's military 354 00:21:33,475 --> 00:21:37,795 Speaker 1: projects have included manufacturing missile tracking satellites and new rockets 355 00:21:37,795 --> 00:21:41,595 Speaker 1: for Space Force, and developing a rocket capable of delivering 356 00:21:41,635 --> 00:21:46,875 Speaker 1: weapons anywhere in the world. By twenty twenty four, SpaceX 357 00:21:46,915 --> 00:21:51,635 Speaker 1: had received nearly twenty billion dollars in government contracts Trump 358 00:21:51,755 --> 00:21:56,435 Speaker 1: vowed to increase that funding. We approached SpaceX for a response, 359 00:21:56,715 --> 00:21:59,315 Speaker 1: but at the time of recording we hadn't received a reply. 360 00:22:02,395 --> 00:22:06,915 Speaker 1: There is a politics of space. Lately, it looks less 361 00:22:06,955 --> 00:22:10,915 Speaker 1: like the politics of star Trek, a jfcase New Frontier 362 00:22:10,995 --> 00:22:14,755 Speaker 1: of exciting science and good government, then like the politics 363 00:22:14,755 --> 00:22:18,955 Speaker 1: of star wars, a swaggering generals and imperial death stars. 364 00:22:19,755 --> 00:22:23,675 Speaker 1: There's also something of a party politics of space, and 365 00:22:23,755 --> 00:22:27,795 Speaker 1: in the US it's been generally Republican and conservative. This 366 00:22:27,995 --> 00:22:30,675 Speaker 1: was true long before Musk became a Trump supporter and 367 00:22:30,755 --> 00:22:34,555 Speaker 1: the GOP's most generous donor in the Senate. The race 368 00:22:34,595 --> 00:22:37,315 Speaker 1: to space was, for a long time most fiercely endorsed 369 00:22:37,355 --> 00:22:42,235 Speaker 1: by the Texas Senator and one time presidential aspirant Ted Cruz. 370 00:22:42,915 --> 00:22:45,995 Speaker 4: No longer is space just an uninhabited void or a 371 00:22:46,035 --> 00:22:47,075 Speaker 4: scientific novelty. 372 00:22:47,475 --> 00:22:50,435 Speaker 1: That's Cruz in twenty nineteen, sharing a hearing on the 373 00:22:50,475 --> 00:22:54,835 Speaker 1: emerging space environment. Cruz grew up reading the science fiction 374 00:22:55,035 --> 00:22:58,795 Speaker 1: of Robert Heinlein, a noted libertarian and author of The 375 00:22:58,875 --> 00:23:02,835 Speaker 1: Man Who Sold the Moon. Heindline's estate awards the Heinland 376 00:23:02,875 --> 00:23:07,035 Speaker 1: Prize for Space commercialization. Both Musk and Bezos have won it. 377 00:23:07,595 --> 00:23:11,515 Speaker 4: By some estimates, the space sector will grow to nearly 378 00:23:11,715 --> 00:23:17,795 Speaker 4: three trillion dollars in value in the next three decades alone. 379 00:23:18,075 --> 00:23:21,395 Speaker 4: It is also my belief that the world's first trillionaire 380 00:23:22,355 --> 00:23:23,355 Speaker 4: will be made in space. 381 00:23:24,235 --> 00:23:27,875 Speaker 1: One purpose of Space Force is to protect the space merchants. 382 00:23:28,355 --> 00:23:31,035 Speaker 1: Bernie Sanders wasn't the only person on the left to 383 00:23:31,115 --> 00:23:35,995 Speaker 1: notice the ironies here this daggering inequalities. In twenty nineteen, 384 00:23:36,435 --> 00:23:39,195 Speaker 1: Trevor Noah, the mixed race South African who hosts the 385 00:23:39,275 --> 00:23:42,515 Speaker 1: Daily Show on Comedy Central in the US, pictured Elon 386 00:23:42,635 --> 00:23:44,755 Speaker 1: Musk bringing colonists to Mars. 387 00:23:45,115 --> 00:23:46,755 Speaker 7: You gotta admit it would have been kind of funny 388 00:23:46,795 --> 00:23:49,595 Speaker 7: if Elon Musk waited until they landed on Mars to 389 00:23:49,675 --> 00:23:51,835 Speaker 7: be like, oh, I forgot to mention you are my 390 00:23:51,995 --> 00:23:56,195 Speaker 7: space slaves. Now get to work building my base, because 391 00:23:56,235 --> 00:23:59,035 Speaker 7: then uralize all those rich white people would be slaving 392 00:23:59,155 --> 00:24:01,075 Speaker 7: away on the Martian fields. 393 00:24:01,195 --> 00:24:03,315 Speaker 14: They'll be singing their old Caucasians virtuals. 394 00:24:03,515 --> 00:24:07,595 Speaker 1: Trevor Noah tied race to space, but they got tied 395 00:24:07,635 --> 00:24:11,115 Speaker 1: together again. In twenty twenty, George Floyd was killed in 396 00:24:11,155 --> 00:24:15,715 Speaker 1: Minneapolis on May twenty fifth, a Monday. Protests began in 397 00:24:15,755 --> 00:24:19,675 Speaker 1: Minneapolis that night. By Wednesday, they'd begun to spread across 398 00:24:19,675 --> 00:24:23,235 Speaker 1: the country. On Thursday, the governor of Minnesota called in 399 00:24:23,235 --> 00:24:28,835 Speaker 1: the National Guard. On Friday, Trump delivered an ultimatum, tweeting 400 00:24:29,235 --> 00:24:33,075 Speaker 1: when the looting starts, the shooting starts. That night, as 401 00:24:33,115 --> 00:24:36,595 Speaker 1: protesters gathered near the White House, the Secret Service rushed 402 00:24:36,635 --> 00:24:41,075 Speaker 1: the President to an underground bunker. The next day, May thirtieth, 403 00:24:41,155 --> 00:24:44,875 Speaker 1: twenty twenty, Trump boarded Air Force one. But where to? 404 00:24:45,795 --> 00:24:49,155 Speaker 3: And now it's my high honor and distinct privilege to 405 00:24:49,235 --> 00:24:54,275 Speaker 3: introduce to you the man whose vision and relentless leadership 406 00:24:54,355 --> 00:24:58,955 Speaker 3: brought us to this historic day, the forty fifth President 407 00:24:59,235 --> 00:25:02,795 Speaker 3: of the United States of America, President Donald Trump. 408 00:25:03,435 --> 00:25:06,755 Speaker 1: Trump hadn't flown to Minneapolis to talk to protesters. He'd 409 00:25:06,755 --> 00:25:09,795 Speaker 1: flown to Florida to the Kennedy Space Center to watch 410 00:25:09,915 --> 00:25:13,355 Speaker 1: the long scheduled launch of SpaceX's first manned mission, the 411 00:25:13,395 --> 00:25:17,635 Speaker 1: first time a commercial space corporation carried people into. 412 00:25:17,355 --> 00:25:21,475 Speaker 13: Space, Ignition LPDOT at the balcon nine. 413 00:25:21,275 --> 00:25:24,995 Speaker 6: And got. 414 00:25:26,315 --> 00:25:26,435 Speaker 3: It. 415 00:25:26,515 --> 00:25:29,715 Speaker 1: Was a weird freak of timing this history making moment. 416 00:25:30,075 --> 00:25:34,115 Speaker 1: Nearly four years ago, the George Floyd protests and SpaceX's 417 00:25:34,475 --> 00:25:35,555 Speaker 1: triumphant launch. 418 00:25:35,675 --> 00:25:37,995 Speaker 13: Big day is a big day. 419 00:25:38,275 --> 00:25:41,595 Speaker 1: It wasn't unfortunate freak of timing. Trump took to the 420 00:25:41,635 --> 00:25:44,435 Speaker 1: stage to his trademark walk on music at the Space 421 00:25:44,435 --> 00:25:47,515 Speaker 1: Center and started out talking about the protests. 422 00:25:48,075 --> 00:25:53,355 Speaker 13: My administration will always stand against violence, mayhem, and disorder. 423 00:25:53,915 --> 00:25:55,915 Speaker 1: And it was a hard turn to get to the rocket, 424 00:25:56,355 --> 00:26:00,315 Speaker 1: but Trump tied the two together. He said, raceso's division. 425 00:26:00,915 --> 00:26:02,155 Speaker 1: Space brings unity. 426 00:26:02,635 --> 00:26:06,595 Speaker 13: Moments ago, as we witnessed the launch of two great 427 00:26:06,675 --> 00:26:11,275 Speaker 13: American astronauts into space, we were filled with the sense 428 00:26:11,315 --> 00:26:16,675 Speaker 13: of pride and unity that brings us together as Americans. 429 00:26:17,595 --> 00:26:22,355 Speaker 1: For Trump, SpaceX meant America first. Then he introduced an 430 00:26:22,395 --> 00:26:23,515 Speaker 1: American entrepreneur. 431 00:26:23,835 --> 00:26:25,755 Speaker 13: He's a little different than a lot of other people. 432 00:26:26,715 --> 00:26:27,675 Speaker 10: He liked rockets. 433 00:26:28,915 --> 00:26:32,835 Speaker 13: Elon Musk, congratulations. Congratulations. 434 00:26:33,235 --> 00:26:39,275 Speaker 1: That's Trump basking in Musk's space glow. Since then, SpaceX 435 00:26:39,275 --> 00:26:43,195 Speaker 1: has created the largest and most powerful spacecraft ever built. 436 00:26:43,515 --> 00:26:48,155 Speaker 1: It's become the world leader in space exploration, and Trump, 437 00:26:48,635 --> 00:26:51,715 Speaker 1: after his defeat in twenty twenty and his failed attempt 438 00:26:51,835 --> 00:26:54,835 Speaker 1: to overturn the election, has come back to power to 439 00:26:55,475 --> 00:27:00,195 Speaker 1: winning re election decisively, this time with Musk at his side, 440 00:27:00,635 --> 00:27:07,875 Speaker 1: his own rocketman SpaceX's engineering accomplishments are incredible, But what 441 00:27:07,995 --> 00:27:12,715 Speaker 1: about the costs? What about the risks? Not the existential ones, 442 00:27:13,075 --> 00:27:19,115 Speaker 1: but the ordinary ones. Watching the SpaceX launch that day 443 00:27:19,595 --> 00:27:22,675 Speaker 1: almost five years ago, now, all I could think about 444 00:27:22,955 --> 00:27:26,355 Speaker 1: was a poem by Gil scott Heron from nineteen seventy 445 00:27:27,035 --> 00:27:30,715 Speaker 1: about the Apollo mission. It's called Whitey on the Moon. 446 00:27:31,875 --> 00:27:34,675 Speaker 7: One such poem concerned the fact that millions and millions of. 447 00:27:34,595 --> 00:27:37,515 Speaker 12: Dollars are continually sent into out of space while we 448 00:27:37,635 --> 00:27:40,835 Speaker 12: continue to face the same problems here on the ground. 449 00:27:41,715 --> 00:27:44,995 Speaker 1: Scott Heron was writing about everyone left behind, the poor, 450 00:27:45,155 --> 00:27:49,155 Speaker 1: the needy, and their suffering. His sister bit by a 451 00:27:49,275 --> 00:27:52,235 Speaker 1: rat getting sicker and sicker, and him with no money 452 00:27:52,235 --> 00:27:55,115 Speaker 1: to pay the doctor's bill while Whitey's on the Moon. 453 00:27:56,555 --> 00:27:59,275 Speaker 1: I listened to that poem that day, while Trump and 454 00:27:59,355 --> 00:28:02,915 Speaker 1: Musk watched that launch. It's still ringing in my ears 455 00:28:02,915 --> 00:28:07,155 Speaker 1: all these years later, as Trump and Musk dismantle USAID, 456 00:28:08,115 --> 00:28:12,075 Speaker 1: ending American aid programs around the world while ratcheting up 457 00:28:12,315 --> 00:28:16,075 Speaker 1: the MARS program. People have been trying to escape to 458 00:28:16,115 --> 00:28:20,035 Speaker 1: Planet B for a long time. That doesn't make it 459 00:28:20,035 --> 00:28:27,955 Speaker 1: the right thing for Planet A. Next time, on X, 460 00:28:27,995 --> 00:28:31,595 Speaker 1: man Muscism here on Earth, and the story of how 461 00:28:31,635 --> 00:28:34,635 Speaker 1: the man who sold the Moon became Iron Man.