Joshua Nair
Elon Musk has claimed that it's more or less inevitable that Earth will be hit by an asteroid and that seeking a 'second planet' should be a priority.
With all the news from NASA about asteroid 2024 YR4 and its likelihood of hitting our planet, talks of a potential world-ending celestial object has increased.
Luckily though, the 130-300 feet asteroid dropped from a 3.1 percent chance of entering our atmosphere to just 0.0027 percent, or one in 37,037 according to NASA.
However, when the CEO of SpaceX casually mentions that it's just a 'matter of time' before an asteroid hits us, you naturally start worrying again.
Musk was the latest guest on Joe Rogan's podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, where the two talked about a range of subjects, from the US government to his alleged 'Nazi salute'.
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In one segment, where Rogan begins to look at some structures taken from above on Mars, pointing out that they 'look like ancient ruins', as the pair begin speaking about alien civilisations.
"If you had ruins of something made of stone and it got hit by an asteroid millions and millions and millions of years ago who knows what it would look like right now," Rogan pointed out, as Musk, who aims to send astronauts to Mars with the assistance of President Trump, suggested they 'go there and check it out'.
The Tesla CEO went on, saying that we should have a 'second planet' to 'preserve civilisation', using Mars as an example.
"Let's say hypothetically, maybe those are the ruins of a long dead civilisation - that will probably happen to Earth at some point, it's a matter of time before we get hit by an asteroid," he explained.
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Musk went on to suggest: "Or maybe we do we annihilate ourselves with nuclear war or super volcanoes."
Not exactly what you'd want to hear from someone part of the Department of Government Efficiency.
Rogan pointed out: "There's a lot of things that could happen to us it's not a bad idea to hedge your bets," before Musk chipped in and suggested a 'genetically engineered super virus' could spell the end of the human race.
At the end of the day, who knows?
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Musk also defended himself when it came to criticism over his alleged 'Nazi salute' following President Trump's inauguration.
Highlighting that it was 'meant in the most positive spirit possible', Rogan pointed out: "You did it with a little enthusiasm that probably wouldn’t be recommended with hindsight."
But Musk hit back at his critics, saying: "It's deliberate propaganda. They know it was obviously not meant in a negative way. I'd literally said my heart goes out to you and the entire speech was very positive.
"I was being very enthusiastic about the future in space. It was a great crowd."
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He also called the allegations that the gesture was a 'Nazi salute' 'coordinated propaganda' from 'the legacy media', saying: "Hundreds of people saying it simultaneously, they just got their instructions."