The Meaning of Life 76
The first epochal moment was the advent of the single-
celled organism, the second was the emergence of multi-
celled life, the third was plants and animals, the fourth was
the move onto land, the fifth was the mammals, and the
sixth was the consciousness. The seventh epochal moment
will happen when we begin living on other planets. “A
million years from now, when most of what we see is
forgotten, the point at which humans were no longer
limited to one planet will be remembered,” Elon said. “It’s
important enough to be on the scale of life itself, and
therefore goes beyond the parochial concerns of humanity.
We’re all focused on our little things that are of concern to
humanity itself.”49,287
Isaac Asimov, who said, “I definitely believe that hu-
manity’s destiny will be found in expansion beyond our
planet’s surface,” shares these ideas. Asimov also talked
about what he called real changes, like nuclear power and
the jet plane, and compared it with changes that are more
trivial. “What difference did it make to the people of the
ancient world that Alexander the Great conquered the
Persian Empire?” he asked. “Obviously, that event made
some difference to a lot of individuals. But if you look at
humanity in general, you’ll see that life went on pretty
much as it had before the conquest.”^455
The big question is why we should begin living on
other planets when we still have problems here on Earth.
We tend to be negative to the world. It’s easy since the
Earth is in a mess with never ending civil wars, dictators
with nuclear weapons, and people who can’t find clean