The billionaire owners of Space X and Blue Origin have competing visions of a space-based future. Elon Musk wants a self-sustaining settlement on Mars as a backup for humanity in case the Earth gets destroyed. Jeff Bezos wants us to move heavy industry and all polluting industries to space to save Earth’s climate, and envisions a trillion humans living in space.

Meanwhile, the United States and China are locked in a race of their own for dominance of space, with Chinese advancements far outpacing America’s. The nuclear-wielding superpowers could wind up competing over territory on the moon and Mars.

Mars, for all its flaws — and there are many, including radiation, dust storms, and unbreathable air — is the only planet in our solar system that’s a candidate for settlement. Its day and night cycle closely resembles Earth’s, its dramatic temperature swings are moderate compared to other planets, and it contains the basic building blocks of life.

But the science journalist, author, and astrophysicist Adam Becker says it’s just not worth it.

His recent book, More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley’s Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity, challenges the fashionable ideologies guiding tech leaders today, including long-termism, effective altruism, transhumanism, and space colonization.

As Becker puts it, it’s about “the horrible ideas that tech billionaires have about the future that they’re trying to shove down our throats, and why they don’t work.”

Becker told Today, Explained co-host Sean Ramewaram why he thinks Mars is worth exploring for scientific inquiry, but not as a Plan B for Earth.

Below is an excerpt of their conversation, edited for length and clarity. There’s much more in the full podcast, so listen to Today, Explained wherever you get podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and Spotify.

So, you think Mars is a horrible idea?

Mars is a horrible idea. Mars is a terrible place; it’s awful. There’s nothing to breathe. You’ll die of cancer if you hang out there for too long because it’s........

© Vox