1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

Let me get this straight. Elon Musk believes that humans must colonize Mars in order to become a multiplanetary species as insurance against the end of life on Earth. He explained to Jesse Watters of the Fox News Channel that eventually the Earth will be incinerated by an expanding sun, so humans must move to other planets to survive. True. But not for another 5 BILLION years. But dominating the universe’s communications is an immediate, and way profitable, desire. Musk’s Starlink ties into his plans for Mars. In November 2024, SpaceX pitched NASA on creating Marslink, a version of Starlink that would link to Mars, and, get this, Starlink’s current terms of service specify that disputes over service on or around the planet Earth or the Moon will be governed by the laws of Texas but that “[f]or Services provided on Mars, or in transit to Mars via Starship or other spacecraft, the parties recognize Mars as a free planet and that no Earth-based government has authority or sovereignty over Martian activities. Accordingly, Disputes will be settled through self-governing principles, established in good faith, at the time of Martian settlement.” Apologies to Ray Bradbury et al but this is the awesome genius y’all think should reinvent government and take charge of all its functioning parts? It seems, in everything thing I see in reporting, that the entirety of his output is based on experimentation that generally results in some disaster. He has a big complaint with the slowness of process and regulation designed to prevent such disasters, so instead he blows things up until he hits a solution. Theoretically. I don’t know about y’all but I don’t want to live in a world where air traffic control consists of AI trying to figure out how to fly a plane. And as far as Mars colonization, we have the most fabulous, life-supporting planet in the universe. We have water. Air to breathe. The wonder of a nature that suppports our lives. But that, judging by the Trump administration’s actions thus far, doesn’t seem important enough to try and save. Instead we have a guy, supported by our president, who traffics in impulse and intergalactic space travel as a way to save humanity. And y’all seem to think that’s all just fine. We’re all getting tired of saying this but WTF? Stop giving power to people who don’t deserve to have it, just because they have lots and lots and lots of money. And someone has decided they’re a ‘genius.’ Back on planet Earth, we just want peace and quiet and cheap eggs.