An Open Letter to Elon Musk

It's Never Too Late

Dear Elon,

I write to you not as an adversary but as a fellow human being concerned about our shared future on this planet. Your achievements are undeniable–you've revolutionized electric vehicles, advanced space exploration, and created technologies that have genuinely changed our world. Your vision and determination have accomplished what many thought impossible.

It is precisely because of your proven ability to see beyond conventional thinking that I appeal to you now.

The world stands at a precarious inflection point. The economic instability triggered by sudden, sweeping tariffs is already creating ripples through global markets. The geopolitical tensions between major powers are rising to levels unseen in generations. Democratic institutions that have maintained relative peace and prosperity for decades are being systematically weakened.

These aren't partisan observations but observable realities with historical precedents that should alarm anyone who has studied the patterns that precede catastrophic conflict.

You're in a unique position–not just of influence, but of genuine consequence. The technologies you control, the platforms you own, the relationships you've cultivated across political and economic spheres give you leverage that few individuals in history have possessed.

But I fear you've found yourself caught in currents stronger than you anticipated. The forces of nationalism, authoritarianism, and zero-sum thinking that are accelerating global instability are not forces that can be easily controlled or channeled, even by someone of your extraordinary capabilities.

There's a profound difference between disrupting an industry and disrupting the foundations of global order. The former creates space for innovation and progress; the latter removes the very conditions that make innovation and progress possible.

It's never too late to recalibrate. History remembers most fondly not those who doubled down on dangerous paths but those who had the courage to change course when confronted with new information or shifting circumstances. The true test of vision isn't persistence in error but the wisdom to adapt when the stakes become existential.

You've often spoken about ensuring humanity becomes a multi-planetary species as insurance against extinction events. Yet the most pressing extinction risks we face aren't asteroids or natural disasters but human-made catastrophes born of miscalculation, hubris, and the erosion of systems designed to prevent conflict escalation.

What use is Mars if Earth burns?

I believe you still care deeply about humanity's future. I believe the achievements you're proudest of are those that advance human potential rather than constrain it. I believe that beneath the public persona and the accumulated pressures of your position, there remains a person who wants to be remembered for making humanity's future brighter, not darker.

It's never too late to step back from the brink. It's never too late to use your influence to defuse rather than intensify dangerous dynamics. It's never too late to recognize when disruption crosses the line from creative to destructive.

The technologies you've built have the potential to help humanity navigate its greatest challenges or to accelerate its most dangerous tendencies. That choice–your choice–matters more than perhaps even you realize.

I don't presume to know all the pressures you face or the complexities of your position. But I know that few people in history have had both the opportunity and the capacity to make such a consequential difference at such a pivotal moment.

The question isn't whether you'll be remembered by history–you certainly will be. The question is whether you'll be remembered as someone who, when faced with the true gravity of the moment, chose humanity's future over short-term advantage or ideological alignment.

It's not too late to make that choice.

With genuine concern and hope,

Mike Brock