Elon Musk: Humanity Can Escape Inevitable Extinction by 'Making Life Multiplanetary'

A number of netizens pointed out that the event Musk named as the cause of the inevitable extinction of life on Earth is expected to occur in the very, very distant future, to put it mildly.

Having previously made calls for humanity to settle Mars, SpaceX founder and tech billionaire extraordinaire Elon Musk, in responding to a tweet about a possible “mass extinction crisis” on Earth, warned that all life on our planet is going to be snuffed out in the future, and explained how humans can escape that fate.

“There is a 100 chance of *all* species' extinction due to expansion of the sun, unless humanity makes life multiplanetary,” he wrote.

There is a 💯 chance of *all* species extinction due to expansion of the sun, unless humanity makes life multiplanetary

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 16, 2022

Some social media users, however, were quick to point out that the astronomical phenomenon Musk was referring to is expected to occur about a billion years or so from now.

True but over 1 billion years from now

— Eric Slate (@ERICSLATE) January 16, 2022

The sun will burn the “earth to a crisp (in about 1-3 billion years), before exploding and spreading atoms—including yours—across the Milky Way.”

— KB (@99brownKaryl) January 16, 2022

Elon, you’re like billions of years ahead of schedule. Great work!

— Sunbeams (@Dom_Sunbeams) January 16, 2022

"After about a billion years the sun will become hot enough to boil our oceans."

— Mike (@everchos3n) January 16, 2022

Previously, Musk made calls to "enable humanity to become a spacefaring civilisation", and even suggested using nuclear weapons to terraform Mars.