The universe is a huge place, with uncountable numbers of galaxies and stars and probably habitable planets. Seems unlikely we are the only semi-intelligent life to have arisen in the universe. But maybe we should act like we are and be more cooperative and less belligerent. Try to build things together instead of acting out our pre-civilized tribal distrust and resource fighting. The most important thing Elon Musk is doing is trying to get humanity off one planet, hopefully even out of one solar system; so that we have multiple chances to survive.
The biggest threat to our doing that and staying around on this planet is the tendency over the last 2000 years or so, maybe longer, to be easy prey for belief systems that are not good for us as a species or as individuals and for leaders who seek nothing but power to advance those belief systems or their own delusional fantasies. I am struck by the repeated instances in history of the creation of destructive belief systems and the emergence of authoritarian leaders who attempt to impose those beliefs on as many people as they can. If you look around the world today, all the areas where there are serious conflicts are the result of this dynamic.
For centuries, religions have been created and then used by certain persons, often in hereditary ways, to justify power. The whole system of nobility and kings and queens, with the vast underclass who worked solely to enrich those nobles, was underpinned by supposed religious selection. Or just the religious leaders themselves saying whichever god had designated them to rule; a system which was prevalent around the world, on every continent. Then we had more philosophical/economic belief systems-various isms that were also used to justify autocratic rule and the enrichment of the few in power.
Russia is a prime example–religion used to underpin the supposed right of the Tsars to rule, then communism used to put another, equally or even worse group of autocrats in place. And now we have Putin, driven by his delusional fantasies and a raw belief that having power justifies doing anything to anyone. Iran’s mullahs, driven by absurd beliefs about the end of the world and hidden imams; also feeling free to resort to most brutal actions–murder, torture–of the very people they govern. What we see being done in Africa in the name of Islam. What has happened in Venezuela and Cuba and other countries in the name of socialism or communism, as was done in Eastern Europe.
None of these belief systems has done anything to really advance humanity or individuals. Any progress under these systems happened despite not because of them. The belief systems become the excuse for power and because they are essentially irrational and counter to the welfare of most individuals living under them, any dissent from the belief system or those using it to justify their autocratic powers must be quickly and brutally destroyed. The surest sign that even those in power know the belief system is wrong and harmful is that crackdown on opposition.
The counter philosophies or belief systems that have advanced humanity are twofold. One is political–the notion that everyone should have as much say as possible in the policies under which they live; the notion of direct or representative democracy with leaders having as little power as possible and being in positions of power for a limited time. The other is economic–the idea that a person is entitled to the benefits of their own labor and output, including their intellectual output and that individuals should drive economic decisions–what they make, what work they do, what they buy. Free market democracies have been the belief systems that drive nations which provide the greatest advances for humanity.
These free market democracies have to be governed by institutions and rules that preserve their innate benefits; there are always individuals driven by other belief systems or just the desire for power who will seek to undermine societies and nations which are free market democracies. We see that today in the United States where ideologues have undermined every institution we depend on and turned them into cesspools of rotten belief systems–socialism, identity politics, all the woke nonsense. And those other nations who wish us ill are more than happy to pile on, providing funding and taking actions to help destroy the United States. We all need to fight back against these groups and nations with every power at our command.
