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Elon Musk, CEO of electric car maker Tesla and SpaceX, a U.S. space exploration technology company, tweeted on Monday that the sun's expansion could lead to the extinction of all species on Earth, including humans. This fate can only be avoided by multi-planetariizing life.
Musk's tweet was to Bio Review magazine titled "The Sixth Mass Extinction: Fact, Fiction or Speculation?" Active response to the paper. Robert Cowie, one of the paper's authors, said there have been five mass extinction events on Earth so far, and the sixth has already begun.
Cowy also said that while the first five mass extinctions were caused by extreme natural phenomena, the ongoing mass extinction events were purely human. Estimates from the paper suggest that 260,000 species may have been lost on Earth since 1500, including invertebrates such as snails and slugs.
Cowie and his colleagues suggest that despite the limited scope of conservation efforts, continued efforts need to be made and that biodiversity must be documented. Musk jumped in when one Twitter user shared the paper with a wide audience, declaring that the sun's expansion was also a huge threat.
Musk tweeted: "Due to the expansion of the sun, there is a possibility of extinction of all species unless life is allowed to survive on multiple planets." Cornell University in the United States said on the website that when the sun runs out of combustible hydrogen, it does continue to expand and gradually devour the earth.
Musk believes that multi-planeting life could help save humanity, and SpaceX is among them. SpaceX is developing a starship that it hopes will be able to use to send humans to Mars in the future. Recently, Musk announced that it could reach this goal in 5 to 10 years.
However, as Musk emphasized in his tweets, while "all" species on Earth are at risk of solar expansion, so far SpaceX hasn't talked about how it can save their plans.
Cowy and colleagues say that while some deny that the mass extinction event has begun, others see it as a natural trajectory for humans to function. Cauy argues that sitting back and watching extinction without reacting is a violation of human responsibility.
Critics argue that while what Musk is saying is playing out, it's unlikely to become a reality in 5 billion years. This is a much longer time span than the current rapid extinction of thousands of species. As such, his tweets are nothing more than a marketing effort to subtly throw his product into conversations about related issues.
Musk's escape plan is crucial, but only as a backup "Plan B," and we need "Plan A" to deal with what's happening right now.