Science & Tech
Sinead Butler
Nov 14, 2021
Humans in the future could be born in space, with Earth being used as a holiday home, according to billionaire Jeff Bezos.
The Amazon and Blue Origin founder who himself recently flew on a Blue Origin rocket to the edge of space believes we will live in space colonies while taking the odd holiday getaway back down to Earth in “the way you visit Yellowstone National Park”.
Speaking at the Ignatius Forum in Washington DC, Bezos said: “Over centuries, many people will be born in space, it will be their first home.
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“They will be born on these colonies, live on these colonies, then they’ll visit Earth the way you would visit, you know, Yellowstone National Park.”
So where would we live in space?
Well, according to Bezos we would live giant floating cylinders that can hold millions of people and would be able to recreate Earth’s natural environments such as “rivers and forests and wildlife”.
It’s not the first time the 57-year-old has mentioned the possibility of space colonies in the future.
In 2019, Bezos said space colonies could have weather which is like “Maui on its best day, all year long,” and also told The Guardian that there would be “no rain or earthquakes.”
Meanwhile, at the Ignatius Forum, Bezos appeared to have a dig at fellow billionaire and space-race rival Elon Musk.
He shot down Musk’s plans with his space company Space X to colonise the planet Mars by 2026 and said space colonies are the best way to go, believing different planets may not be able to support human life.
“Even if you were to terraform 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,” explained Bezos.
“Then you’re going from 10 billion people to 20 billion people.”
Guess we will just have to wait and see which one is the better plan.
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