Summary

Désirée Driesenaar pens an open letter to Elon Musk, advocating for a shift from Mars colonization and moon landings to regenerative and sustainable technological advancements that address Earth's pressing environmental and social issues.

Abstract

In an open letter to Elon Musk, Désirée Driesenaar critiques the current trajectory of technological progress, particularly Musk's focus on Mars colonization and commercial moon landings. She argues that the true lessons from the moon landing—an awakened global consciousness and the development of self-sufficient, sustainable technology—have been overlooked. Driesenaar emphasizes the need for qualitative exponential growth, circular economy principles, and the application of NASA technologies for Earth's benefit, such as in sanitation and wastewater treatment. She proposes major "hacks" for electric car technology, including the transition from mined to farmed lithium for batteries and the exploration of renewable energy sources like the fourth phase of water and magnetic energy. The letter calls for a collaborative effort to embrace systemic thinking, complexity theory, and chaos theory to heal the planet and humanity, advocating for a regenerative future that prioritizes local and global solutions over individual achievements like reaching Mars.

Opinions

The author believes that Elon Musk's current focus on space exploration, such as Mars colonization, is misguided and that resources would be better spent on Earth's sustainability and regeneration.
Driesenaar suggests that the most valuable outcomes of the moon landing were the fostering of a global consciousness and the inspiration for sustainable, self-sufficient technology, rather than the technological feat itself.
She criticizes the environmental impact of current technologies, particularly lithium mining for electric car batteries, and proposes nanotechnology and industrial hemp as sustainable alternatives.
The author accuses the "money-greedy elite" of hindering the progress of truly sustainable energy solutions due to vested interests in traditional energy sectors.
Driesenaar calls for a new moonshot: the development of renewable energy sources that are less demanding on the planet's resources, such as the fourth phase of water and magnetic energy.
She emphasizes the importance of systemic change, emergence, and flow in designing flexible, resilient business models that can adapt to and prevent future technological lock-ins.
The letter concludes with a vision for a regenerative future by 2030, where humanity has learned to heal itself and the planet through systemic thinking and localized solutions, moving away from the dogmas of the past.

REGENERATIVE FUTURE

Genius Moonshots, Moon Landings, and Mars. An open letter to Elon Musk

The 2 surprise insights from the moon landing need exploring now

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured a unique view of Earth from the spacecraft’s vantage point in orbit around the moon in 2015. Picture NASA

Hey Elon,

It’s time to discuss something with you. A different perspective on your favorite subjects. Moonshots, Moon landings, and Mars. You gave us lots of ambition, Elon. But your course is flawed now. You look in the wrong direction. We can do so much better…

Okay, let’s first take a look at what’s gone right. The moonshot speech by John F. Kennedy in 1962 was a marvelous move. He made us long for the future. Long for exploration of unknown territories. He said we would be landing on the moon in ten years’ time without having a clue how we would be doing that. Just genius!

All of our best scientists, engineers, and geniuses fell over each other to make it happen. Motivation all around. We would be achieving something so special! And we did. In 1969 we landed on the moon. Applause and admiration all around. Progress for humanity. We did it!

But two unexpected things happened during this trip and the ones that followed. These two surprise insights have become the most important gains from the moon landing. You overlook them, Elon. You aren’t aware of the huge impact of these two. What are they?

1. We Experienced an Awakening

The picture of the earth taken from space, the Blue Marble, has stirred an awakening in people. It’s an existential longing to protect this home of ours.

NASA-astronaut Edgar Mitchell explained it clearly.

“You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, “Look at that, you son of a bitch.” — Edgar Mitchell

“We went to the moon as technicians, we returned as humanitarians.” — Edgar Mitchell

The Blue Marble picture triggered the Limits to Growth report by the Club of Rome. It calculates what exponential growth does to our planet. And it shows that we have to combine real wisdom with knowledge to make qualitative exponential growth and living with so many diverse people on our planet possible.

The second finding from the Moon landing has launched us into the age of technical progress. But not the way you think, Elon. We have to use much more wisdom and humanitarian Mitchell-consciousness to really make these technological findings valuable.

What’s the second surprise lesson?

2. We Built a Spaceship

We made the spaceship work like a self-sufficient, basic needs, high-tech capsule in which we managed to eliminate waste and pollution.

It was the inspiration for the circular thinking of Ellen MacArthur, who had the same experience on her sailing yacht. She is now changing the world of science and business with her circular economy frameworks.

And these two findings make everything different. We live on a self-regulating planet, Elon. Gaia Hypothesis proves it. And as long as we keep on the course of destruction, we’ll be fighting and losing. Viruses, bushfires, floods and sinking lands are our doom. And going to Mars won’t help us here…

Electric Car Technology

So, Elon, what do you think? Is it really worth your energy to focus on going to Mars and organize moon landings for wealthy people? Don’t we have a much more important job at hand here?

Can we find the business models for all the NASA-technologies to change our world for the better? One of my mates, Peter Scheer, is already taking huge steps with Semilla Sanitation Hubs. NASA-technology for sanitation and decentral wastewater treatment. But there’s more. So much more to do for ambitious, courageous entrepreneurs…

You have changed the world with your car, Elon. But sorry, your Tesla will never result in a better world if you won’t apply a few major hacks here.

Hack 1: the battery of your Tesla Model S has around 12 kg lithium in it. And you know as well as I do that lithium mining is killing our planet. So, why not change the battery from mining to farming?

Nanotechnology and industrial hemp is going to be the gamechanger. Science tells us industrial hemp has even more potential to be a supercapacitor than graphene.

Hack 2: if we look at the use of electric cars and all other electricity slurping activities systemically, we need better renewables. We need a new moonshot here, Elon. We need to allow the already developed science of the fourth phase of water or even magnetic energy out of thin air to become viable with business models.

At this moment, the money-greedy elite is boycotting it because they fear for their vested oil, mining, coal, and windmill interests. But the time has come, Elon. We need renewables that take up little space on our planet. And to me, that seems an excellent new moonshot for you.

Big Dick Proof

Dear Elon, there’s a lot at stake here. We have entered the existential phase of the Great Transition with viruses, climate change, and the 8th continent of plastics in the ocean.

Do you want to keep playing around with your wealthy mates? Competing to prove who has the biggest dick? Who has acquired the biggest bank account to afford to go to Mars?

It’s time for a change of plan, Elon. Help us change the business world. Help us find and initially finance the business models for free energy and farmed lean battery technology. Help us get out of old-school technological lock-ins. Help us design flexible models to prevent future lock-ins and make business resilient and technological change easy to implement fast.

I’ll be around to support you. And so will my mates. The many influential scientists, entrepreneurs, and thinktanks behind some of the most impactful discoveries of our time. It’s time to step away from limited Cartesian technology, dance with systems like Donnella Meadows told us, include symbiosis in our solutions.

Embrace emergence and flow.

The time for standing still and gazing at Mars is over, Elon. My new moonshot is simple. Wanna join?

In 2030 we stand on healthy, living soil. We’ve landed firmly in our regenerative future. A future in which we still get scars from living adventurously. But we know how to allow our bodies, our planet, and our materials to heal themselves and bounce back better.

It’s possible you know. Let’s shift our focus from genes (stores of historic information) to regenerative cells (the bouncing-back-better-ones).

Let’s allow complexity theory, chaos theory, and systemic thinking to do their work. Let’s heal our broken past. Let’s heal our broken humanity with its fake hierarchies and dogmas. Let’s dance with diversity, implement local solutions in the physical realms, and healthy global connections in the immaterial realm.

It’s time to unleash a better future for all humans and all species, Elon. Life can be so beautiful when we look in the right direction…

Warm regards, Desiree

Want to connect? You can find me somewhere on our beautiful planet, with my hands in the soil and my eyes gazing at moonshots and quantum leaps. Or find me via Linktree.

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Thank you, Mike, for adding your wise energy to my words.