Space Travel

In The Magic of Elon Musk (David Perell’s 2016 essay), space travel is the organizing mission behind everything Elon Musk does: he judges his own success by asking whether his work helps humanity become a multi-planetary species, and that single question gives his deep commitment and Focus their direction. In the piece’s causal chain — “Goals breed commitment. Commitment breeds focus. Focus breeds achievement” — the multi-planetary goal is the goal at the top.

Where this appears

• The Magic of Elon Musk — the multi-planetary mission framed as the question that organizes all of Musk’s work.