“The most fundamental measure is energy usage per capita,” said Bezos, adding, “You do want to continue to use more and more energy, it is going to make your life better in so many ways, but that’s not compatible, ultimately, with living on a finite planet, and so we have to go out in the solar system.”
Citing that the natural beauty of the planet was “pristine” until the Industrial Age, Bezos argues that, by outsourcing the energy needs of a growing modern mega-civilization to asteroids, the Moon, and other nearby objects in the solar system, we can help keep Earth in the state we originally found it. “We have traded some of that pristine beauty for all these other gifts that we have as an advanced society,” Bezos told Fridman. “And we can have both, but to do that we have to go to space.”
While Bezos seemed resolute in his belief that harnessing rare metals, fuels, and other materials from intrasolar and interstellar bodies was a necessary task, he did concede that the timeline for doing so is malleable. However, he reiterated that mining energy resources offplanet was the only way to conserve the natural beauty of Earth as energy demands continue to grow and help better the overall quality of life for everyone living on the planet. Referring to how humans need to go to space if they want to confront energy demands while also protecting the planet, Bezos stated: “Really you can argue about when you have to do that, but you can’t credibly argue about whether you have to do that.”
