We should “back up humanity,” Page reasons.
Larry Page is the CEO of Google, the world’s third-largest company. Speaking to Charlie Rose on Wednesday, the colossally successful entrepreneur said he would leave his tens of billions of dollars to Elon Musk in his will. Musk, a South African-born entrepreneur, is the founder of SpaceX, PayPal, and Tesla Motors.
Page’s reasoning seems to be that funding an outfit like SpaceX would do far more in the long run to benefit humanity than donating to a conventional charity. Musk’s efforts to colonize Mars, for instance, would “back up humanity,” safeguarding the species should some catastrophe befall Earth. “That’s a company, and that’s philanthropical,” said Page.
Musk made his fortune by selling his first company, Zip2, for $300 million just four years after he started it. He used that money to found PayPal. When Musk sold PayPal to eBay for $1.5 billion in 2002, the new billionaire immediately began to explore the possibility of a private mission to Mars.
Musk soon discovered, however, that tragically little work had been done on rocket development since he first dreamed about space travel as a student. Musk decided to start SpaceX with the goal of developing more efficient technology for an eventual Mars flight.
After three failed launches, SpaceX completed the first successful launch of its Falcon 1 rocket in 2008.
