In several generations, many people will be born in space, Jeff Bezos told the 2021 Ignatius Forum at Washington National Cathedral, the Daily Caller reported.
"Over centuries, most or many of the people will be born in space," Bezos said, emphasizing his Blue Origin space flight endeavor signaled the first step toward a future where humans will inhabit space colonies. "It will be their first home. They will be born on these colonies; they will live on these colonies. They may visit Earth the way you would visit Yellowstone National Park."
Bezos acknowledged his vision would require "generations" to realize, but stressed "this Earth can support, let's say, 10 billion people to a certain degree. We'd have to work really hard to figure out how to do that without degrading the planet."
Bezos said, however, "the solar system can support a trillion people."
He insisted "millions of people will move from Earth to space over time. And that's the vision of Blue Origin – millions of people working in space."
He also described floating cylindrical habitats in space that imitate the weather and gravitational pull of Earth, adding these space colonies would include "rivers and forests and wildlife" and be able to hold millions of people.
Bezos insisted colonies were a better strategy than trying to restart life on another planet, which appeared to be a jab at Elon Musk, the Independent reported.
The SpaceX boss has targeted Mars since he founded his private space company in 2002, and last year proposed landing humans on the planet by 2026.
"Even if you were to terreform Mars or do something very dramatic like that – which could be very, very challenging, by the way – even if you were to do that, that is, at most, a doubling of Earth," Bezos said. "Then you're going from 10 billion people to 20 billion people," which he has categorized as unsustainable.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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