Elon Musk fears a 'third World War' could ruin his dreams to colonize Mars

In a recent interview with GQ, Tesla Motors and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk clarified some of the potential hurdles to one of his ultimate ambitions: making a living community on the red planet Mars. First, Musk says there’s a chance humans will not always have access to the technologies to get us to Red Planet. He said “There’s a window that could be opened for a long time or a short time where we have an opportunity to establish a self-sustaining base on Mars before something happens to drive the technology level on Earth below where it’s possible,”

Elon Musk worries about the window of opportunity may close before Earth and its transport system to and from Mars might become self-sustaining. More particular he also is afraid of how a “third World War” could influence technological progress. Musk said “I don’t think we can discount the possibility of a third World War. You know, in 1912 they were proclaiming a new age of peace and prosperity, saying that it was a golden age, war was over. And then you had World War I followed by World War II followed by the Cold War. So I think we need to acknowledge that there's certainly a possibility of a third World War, and if that does occur it could be far worse than anything that's happened before. Let's say nuclear weapons are used. I mean, there could be a very powerful social movement that's anti-technology. There's also growth in religious extremism. Like, I mean, does ISIS grow…?"

You can also read more about Musk’s views on Mars, along with his thoughts on self-driving cars, a next-generation spacesuit and much more, over at GQ.