Dear Elon,

“That’s the perfect spot for a golf course — and a posh clubhouse, what do you think?”

I am glad about your unbroken pioneer and entrepreneurial spirit. You question and simply cross the limits that we have created — most of them in our minds. Regarding the Space X program, I have a request.

Before we create a backup of mankind and spread it within the galaxy, we must ensure that we do not take all the “viruses” and “problems” of our time with us and copy them — so the same trouble starts again on Mars or somewhere else.

Enclosed a small wish list, what shouldn’t be part of the travel luggage for “Backup Tours to Mars”:

• the current education- and value-system 
• racism and xenophobia 
• the prevailing definition of work, as the inevitable evil and the sociopolitical leverage to produce existential fears
• attempts to solve problems and differences through violence and weapons 
• Money or the perception of money as the highest good 
• Negligence 
• Fears of all kinds, because they simply inhibit the human potential 
Without fear, we would have been a long time ago on Mars, though life you be quite fine here on our mother earth as well. Yet, we won’t abolish fears, but we will deal more consciously with them. 
• Intolerance

And now Elon, let’s play “I am packing my suitcase for Mars with”:
• Mindfulness and awareness 
• Serenity 
• Joy 
• Love and self-love 
• Truth 
• Acceptance 
• Holism 
• Responsibility and self-responsibility.

Hmmm. Ok. That’s it for now. Of course, this list is not complete yet, but it is a beginning. 

And we should start working on it now. Because it is important that our backup is almost free from the mistakes that brought the earth and us into this predicament. Therefore, it is also important dear Elon, that the travel tickets for “going up” are not reserved for any privileged people who can afford it (remember, the starting point of your vision was to reduce the costs per kg in space travel, which have remained almost unchanged since the 60ties). 

An example of how things should not be done: Let us take a typical tycoon who has made his money with a ruthless approach to resources and people. Wouldn’t be good to choose someone like him for your galactic tours (maybe one day, after some coaching and lessons of personal reflection.) Because he would then perhaps open the first low gravity-golf club on Mars and drag hectoliters of champagne and oyster-boxes instead of human potentials onto the red planet. With his own freight company “CosEx — on Mars, on time” (with integrated duty free shops for the continuous value chain). In the golf club his other buddies meet and make business again. Of course, they create jobs for waiters, cooks and caddy mechanics — who are then afraid of losing their jobs, because life on Mars becomes more and more expensive. Let’s say overcharged like New York and Munich. Then, gentrification will start between expensive, hip and shabby districts, depending on which crater rim you reside and which crater landscape or lake you look at. And so on. You and we all know the story.

Therefore, dear Elon, please keep an eye on the passenger list. 
But we humans we will manage one day, there is no doubt about it. 
We have the skills and the full potential to do so. 
We just need to have faith in ourselves. Therefore, the bullet point “education” is so important. To discover our potentials and learn to live out. 
Then it could work on the red planet. But not only there. Down here, on our wonderful blue planet, too; everything would be all right.

I am looking forward to hearing from you and to exchange. 
Hannes

Ps.: It’s not about or against playing golf. Just to be clear: playing is crucial. Homo ludens, you know. But that’s another story — and maybe another letter.

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