--- title: "Jeff Bezos Reportedly Has Secretive “Personal Reasons” for Wanting to Escape to Mars" description: "Jeff Bezos once gave a cryptic missive to a power broker about wanting to go to Mars — and that power broker wouldn't share his reasoning." date: "2024-10-28" modified: "2024-10-28" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/jeff-bezos-personal-reasons-mars" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Future Society" - "Jeff Bezos" - "Mars" - "Space" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "jeff bezos" - "mars" - "the digest" - "the washington post" --- # Jeff Bezos Reportedly Has Secretive “Personal Reasons” for Wanting to Escape to Mars ![Jeff Bezos once gave a cryptic missive to a power broker about wanting to go to Mars — and that power broker wouldn't share his reasoning.]() *\Image: Jeff Bottari / Zuffa LLC via Getty\* ## Deep Lore At some point, [*Washington Post* owner Jeff Bezos]() reportedly made a cryptic admission to a power broker — and that strange comment is taking on new significance in light of another recent message he's sending to the public. Following [*WaPo*'s surprise decision]() not to endorse either candidate for president — reportedly because its billionaire owner [vetoed staff's decision]() to name Kamala Harris as its pick — *New Yorker* journalist Sarah Larson recounted her own Bezos lore. "Once again I’m reflecting on the time I interviewed a powerful guy who knows Jeff Bezos," [she wrote on X](), "and who offhandedly told me, 'Jeff has personal reasons for wanting to get to Mars... I’m not comfortable sharing what they are.'" Larson jokingly followed up her own tweet with a seeming reference to the newspaper's tagline, "Democracy dies in darkness," which was taken up in the aftermath of Donald Trump's first presidential win in 2016. "There’s no democracy in space," the *New Yorker* writer quipped. Larson's has an [impressive portfolio]() at the magazine, but the fact that she's not naming her source makes it impossible to know *which* powerful Bezos acquaintance she's referring to — or what Bezos' secretive personal reasons may be, for that matter. ## On the Record Bezos has seemed to distance himself from Martian colonizing ambitions as his rival apparent, Elon Musk, [goes all-in on the vision](). Years after [stepping down as CEO of Amazon]() to spend more time on his space launch company, Blue Origin, the billionaire [told podcaster Lex Fridman]() that he thinks that humans will likely live inside massive cylindrical space stations. "I would love to see a trillion humans living in the solar system," Bezos told Fridman last December. "If we had a trillion humans, we would have, at any given time, 1,000 Mozarts and 1,000 Einsteins." "The only way to get to that vision is with giant space stations," he continued. "The planetary surfaces are just way too small." While the *how* of becoming an off-world species seems to be "throwing all your wealth at it till it sticks," the *why* of the *WaPo* owner's quest for space [is anyone's guess](). **More on Mars weirdness:** [*Elon Musk Makes Embarrassingly Stupid Claim: If Trump Loses, Humanity Will Never Make It to Mars*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()