Elon Musk, the dream of colonizing Mars and the role of global trade
The ambition of the wildly famous billionaire
Elon Musk is at the center of the world’s attention when trying to pull out of the deal to buy Twitter. Most likely Musk will not have to pay billions of dollars in damages. However, the ambition to make Musk globally famous is probably still putting people to live on the neighboring planet of the earth.
Musk said that he plans to put 1 million people on Mars to make it a human colony. Talking about this idea for many years, Musk hopes to be able to realize it by 2050. However, even the number of 1 million people is controversial.
When hearing about sending 1 million people to Mars, perhaps many people think it is unreasonably high. Logistically, with current technology, sending 1 million people to Mars is clearly an impossible task. However, in economic terms, this number of 1 million people is nothing compared to building a modern economy.
From a commercial or industrial standpoint, 1 million would be unreasonably low.
However, Elon Musk’s aspirations may well be the epitome of economic discourse, especially with regard to globalization. Charlie Stross, author of science fiction novels, once posed a similar question: “The minimum number of people you need to maintain (let alone expand) the current level of technological civilization. how much is it now?”
Stross’s answer is a lot of people. In 2010, when Musk’s Tesla was still a struggling company, surviving the Great Recession on the back of Obama Administration aid, Stross also said that Musk’s ambitions were too small to turn a star. Mars Colonization: “The colonization of Mars is a plan that has the potential to become reality with hundreds of millions of people on it.”
The paramount role of globalization
To understand this statement, we need to return to the reality of why nations must engage in global trade. Each country has different resources and climate. It is very difficult to grow pineapples in Norway. Also, another reason is that the modern world operates on a massive scale. Accordingly, a few countries can produce goods that are consumed by the whole world. Global trade makes this possible.
For example, during the recent chip shortage, the world’s attention has been on the role of photolithography machines, which use light to etch microscopic circuits on silicon wafers. However, this market turned out to be dominated by a single company in the Netherlands called ASML. This company has a complete monopoly on the latest generation of chip engraving machines, which use ultraviolet light to create microchips…. So how many factories does ASML have that assemble these state-of-the-art devices? The answer is only one.
However, with what is happening today, it is clear that no country can be completely self-sufficient in all kinds of goods enough to run a modern economy with high technology. International trade is essential, especially with smaller economies. That is why Canada is more dependent on imports than the US or Belgium is more dependent on Germany….
Due to the wide access to the world, even small countries can access the full benefits of modern technology. Life in Luxembourg, a small country in Europe, is no less comfortable than living in its vast neighbours.
Going back to Elon Musk’s story, unless man invents some groundbreaking tool, the current rocket transport means huge costs for the journey to colonize Mars. In order for this ambition to become possible, self-sufficiency, self-sufficiency is largely the most important thing. The people on Mars will inevitably be cut off from the rest of the “solar economy,” and it’s hard for Musk to send enough people to Mars to build a modern life on the red planet.
However, Musk’s ambition to conquer Mars is also a reminder to humanity of the positive aspects of global trade. There is no denying that globalization has its downsides, especially rapid changes that can disrupt an entire community. However, we wouldn’t really want to live in a world without international trade.
And perhaps, we do not want to live on another planet, which is isolated from the benefits that globalization brings.
at Blogtuan.info – Source: cafebiz.vn – Read the original article here
