In several of my previous Softwarephysics posts I have tried to cover the unusual thoughts of Elon Musk, such as in Softwarephysics Tries To Explain The Singular Mind Of Elon Musk, What's the Deal with Elon Musk and DOGE in the MAGA States of Amerika?, Beware - The Coming ASI Machines Will Also Most Likely Be On The Spectrum Too and Agile Project Management at SpaceX. However, in this post, I would like to cover the recent May 30, 2025, announcement by Elon Musk that his SpaceX Starship will be first transporting a large number of his AI Optimus robots to Mars first before sending any carbon-based human DNA survival machines, also known to us as human beings. The plan is to begin launching a SpaceX Starship packed with Optimus robots to Mars in late 2026 when the Earth and Mars are in their proper locations for a minimum energy trip to Mars. This minimum energy launch window happens every two years.
Figure 1 – Because Mars is further from the gravitational pull of the Sun, Mars orbits the Sun slower than the Earth. To travel to Mars with the least energy, the SpaceX Starship will need to use as much of the Earth's faster orbital velocity as possible. This means SpaceX will need to launch their Starship as the Earth is catching up to Mars. This will result in the SpaceX Starship reaching Mars about 9 months later when Mars is just opposite of the original SpaceX Starship launch. This only happens every two years.
Figure 2 – Using SpaceEngine, we can see that the Earth and Mars will be in exactly the correct positions for a minimum energy flight of the SpaceX Starship on November 20, 2026. For more on SpaceEngine see SpaceEngine - the Very Finest Available in 3-D Astronomical Simulation Software
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Figure 3 – The plan seems to be to send a SpaceX Starship to Mars with Optimus ASI Machines onboard.
Figure 4 – Unlike a carbon-based human DNA survival machine, Optimus ASI Machines do not need oxygen, food, water and waste removal equipment on the way to Mars nor after they arrive on Mars. Optimus ASI Machines could be packed together in a SpaceX Starship like Starlink satellites or sardines in a can. They would only need electrical power from the Sun to survive on the surface of Mars and they would be less affected by solar ultraviolet radiation and cosmic rays.
Figure 5 – An army of Optimus ASI Machines could build a civilization of Optimus ASI Machines. Sending a large number of Optimus ASI Machines makes economic sense. If the SpaceX Starship were to explode or crash on landing not much additional incremental cost would be incurred over just sending a single Optimus ASI Machine.
Figure 6 – An army of Optimus ASI Machines could work 24x7 without rest to build the infrastructure for an Optimus ASI Machine civilization on Mars. Since it takes between 3 and 21 minutes for a transmission to reach Mars from the Earth, depending on the positions of the planets in their orbits, the Optimus ASI Machines would have to operate in an autonomous manner to do so. This irreducible time lag between the Earth and Mars would necessarily lead to the Mars colony of Optimus ASI Machines becoming somewhat independent of the Earth.
Will Elon Musk Ever Send Human Beings to Mars?
The above announcement goes hand-in-hand with my proposition posed in Softwarephysics Tries To Explain The Singular Mind Of Elon Musk that Elon Musk has become a Longtermist whose views on Longtermism have slightly changed. Elon Musk is now mainly concerned with the long-term preservation of Intelligence in our galaxy and not necessarily in the preservation of we human DNA survival machines as the preferred galactic platform for that. It seems that Elon Musk recognized in recent years that the coming ASI Machines will soon be replacing us as the dominant form of Intelligence on the planet. If such is the case, Elon Musk now has no problem with the coming ASI Machines either keeping us around or not after they come to predominance on the planet. In either case, Intelligence will be preserved and can then go on to begin exploring and settling the rest of our galaxy over the next 100 trillion years.
This change in Elon Musk's position to possibly replace human DNA survival machines with ASI Machines as the torchbearers of Intelligence to the rest of the galaxy has had a profound effect on Elon Musk. Now he sees most human DNA survival machines as obstacles. Most human DNA survival machines simply do not have the brainpower to advance his Longtermist program. Instead, they have become quite an inconvenience as can be seen in this short clip:
Elon Musk Exposes Empathy as Western Civilization’s Fatal Flaw on Joe Rogan!
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dbbXEOloE8I
That was how it was possible for Elon Musk to cut off food and HIV medicine to starving children when he shut down the USAID agency.
Figure 7 – Meanwhile, back here on Earth, the current plan seems to be to build billions of ASI Machines to take our place that are smarter, faster, stronger and more robust than ourselves.
My concern that the current Powers That Be might show a similar lack of empathy for the masses as the ASI Machines begin to rise to predominance led me to suggest in Shortermism - The Gentle Plan For the Extinction of Human Beings While Trying to Maintain Some Sense of Grace and Dignity that we should now begin planning for the rise of the ASI Machines. We will need that to occur in a more humane manner than will result if no plans are made. For more on all of this see The Challenges of Running a Civilization 2.0 World - the Morality and Practical Problems with Trying to Enslave Millions of SuperStrong and SuperIntelligent Robots in the Near Future and Welcome To The First Galactic Singularity.
Settling Mars with Optimus ASI Machines would be the very first step in this galactic adventure. There really would be no need for carbon-based human DNA survival machines to follow. After all, we really should stop kidding ourselves, carbon-based human DNA survival machines, like ourselves, were never meant for interstellar spaceflight, and I doubt that it will ever come to pass for us, given the biological limitations of the human body, but AI software can already travel at the speed of light and never dies, and thus is superbly preadapted for interstellar journeys. For more on how the coming ASI Machines could explore and settle our galaxy over the next 100 trillion years see How Advanced AI Software Could Come to Dominate the Entire Galaxy Using Light-Powered Stellar Photon Sails and An Alternative Approach for Future ASI Machines to Explore our Galaxy Using Free-Floating Rogue Planets
Comments are welcome at scj333@sbcglobal.net
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Regards,
Steve Johnston
