President Obama has given some guidance to the vision we need to have with regard to the exploration of space.His ideas seem to indicate a deeper look into the plan and purpose of space travel than did the views of Bush II.
To be sure, there is controversy around the notion and debate as to whether we should go to the moon, or whether instead we should look deeper into space and go to Mars or some of the moons of Saturn and Jupiter that may have life on them.
What should not be lost in any of the bickering or debate, is the fundamental reason for space exploration and travel.
It is a life and death matter.
Science has shown that the current configuration or nature of our solar system is temporary, especially where it concerns life on this planet.
This planet is scheduled for destruction by the Sun, which will expand out to near the current orbit of Mars, destroying Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars as it does so.
As a logical consequence we, the human species, have to move or morph in order to avoid demise and extinction.
The tired doctrines, dogma, and education of the past, especially as it relates to the cosmos, must give way to a vision of the future.
That vision must see human existence as a species as a fundamental human right, as well as a fundamental purpose of government.
The Bush II regime wanted to go to the moon, like the absent minded professor on Sesame Street, who was always inventing things that had already been invented.
Rockets were invented three thousand years ago by the Chinese, but our whole defense and space program is based on that ancient practice.
Our rocket science is lame in the cosmic scheme of things, so it is time we moved on to the future technology, and loose the grip of fear the warmonger induced technology of the past plagues us with.
I am with the approach of President Obama on this matter of great importance to not only nations, but to the entire human race.
It may be a moot point if we cannot avoid destroying this planet.
ReplyDeleteThe cosmos will reject our species if we do not advance to another, better level of existence.
Namely we must stop destroying every natural thing that moves!
Count me as in hearty disagreement on this one. We've got less than 100 years of cheap fossil fuel energy left, after which all the advanced technology needed for such an endeavor will be entirely moot. And we're already $12T (just in the debt that we officially "count") in the hole financially, so every time the government says "we're gonna do this!" I respond with a yawn and say, "oh yeah? With WHAT money?"
ReplyDeleteSpace exploration is an expensive fantasy for a species, never mind a nation, with the maturity of a two year old. Thankfully, it's all diversionary fantasy talk to keep the masses appeased, and none of this will ever come close to happening. The next ten years will expose all of the current global corporate capitalist lies for the cons they always were.
disaffected,
ReplyDelete"Count me as in hearty disagreement on this one"
Counted (I can't tell why you disagree however).
You have ignored my premise set forth in the post, which is there is no choice not to migrate into space if we wish to survive as a species because this planet will be destroyed by the Sun ...
Your argument seems to be it is too expensive to avoid extinction ("Space exploration is an expensive fantasy ... diversionary fantasy talk to keep the masses appeased") ...
Commenting on the rest of your comment would be dictum in light of your avoidance of my premise.
As a beginning rebuttal question I would ask "Do you deny current scientific consensus that the Sun will destroy the Earth" (and humanity along with it if we do not find another habitable planet)?
Dredd,
ReplyDeleteI have no doubt that your premise about long term survival of the human species is true. And given a few million more years and a quantum leap in technology and understanding of the cosmos we might just make that jump. Currently however, we're in no shape, manner, or form even close to being ready for such a leap, and thank god for that, as we'd weaponize any planet we were able to colonize. The current iteration of humanity needs a WHOLE LOT of work before we're ready for any such adventures, and just between you and me, humanity's eventual extinction, if that's what it comes to, won't be any big deal anyway. Just another dead end evolutionary pathway, that's all.
disaffected,
ReplyDeleteThe premise I assert is not my discovery, it was the consensus of scientists before I was born, as I am sure you know.
It behoves humanity to know the nature and requirements of the universe, cosmos, and solar system we live in.
Otherwise we are not sentient beings.
Instead we are unaware of how to survive, which would make us unfit and hopeless.
The tiny seed is always the tiny beginning, but it grows into a mighty tree if planted and cultivated.
The seed of space travel is tiny at this time, but it must be planted and cultivated so it can grow into reality.
If the premise of our Sun's nature is correct we must develop competent space travel, we must become nomads, ever looking for the next habitation.
How long we have until the Sun does its thing is becoming less clear with recent discoveries.
Time is not a reliable factor when contemplating the right thing to do.
Death-bed repentance, awareness, or enlightenment is risky and not well intentioned IMO.
That is why now is always the best time to set our course (all nations included) in the proper direction.
"humanity's eventual extinction, if that's what it comes to, won't be any big deal anyway"
I think it would be a cosmic tragedy, especially if it is avoidable.
Dredd,
ReplyDeleteWe could argue about whether or not our extinction is a tragedy or not, but it's really there nor there. Our extinction (or not) will be the result of the choices we make (or don't) either way.
Cosmic maturity, signaling the readiness to move on beyond our earthly confines would include such things as putting the nuclear genie back in the bottle, coming to grips with overpopulation, deforestation, global warming, resource depletion, environmental pollution, our warlike nature, our basic inhumanity toward each other and all of the earth's creatures, and our basic inability to even address the aforementioned issues rationally, never mind actually do something constructive about them. Till we can do any of that, space travel is a total non-starter and just another way of whistling past the graveyard.
My personal opinion is that we could VERY WELL BE extinct in less than 200 years. Granted, I'm no expert (as if the so-called "experts" know any better!), but I'll even go so far as to say it's LIKELY that we'll be either extinct or SERIOUSLY on the ropes by 2210. It simply won't take much at all once our modern technological base has crumbled due to the lack of the fossil fuels that have enabled it. We'll be back to an ill-equipped hunter/gatherer society in no time at all, but one that still has to deal with the ravages of the petro-chemical society that preceded it. It's not gonna be a pretty picture.
disaffected,
ReplyDeleteYeah, we could argue, but I am glad we choose healthy debate of the enlightening kind instead.
"Cosmic maturity, signaling the readiness to move on beyond our earthly confines would include such things as putting the nuclear genie back in the bottle, coming to grips with overpopulation, deforestation, global warming, resource depletion, environmental pollution, our warlike nature, our basic inhumanity toward each other and all of the earth's creatures, and our basic inability to even address the aforementioned issues rationally, never mind actually do something constructive about them. Till we can do any of that, space travel is a total non-starter and just another way of whistling past the graveyard"
True.
I do not want our current species to infect space, nor am I worried that will happen.
The fit species (assuming there are any) who survive are not like us in the sense that they have done as you say to become fit.
"My personal opinion is that we could VERY WELL BE extinct in less than 200 years"
It could happen ... will happen before that IMO if we do not become at least fit enough to live until the Sun cleanses this area of space.
Becoming a cosmic species in terms of knowing how to take care of planets does not guarantee we will then axiomatically develop competent space travel of the cosmic kind.
This place we live in ain't no disco, ain't no foolin' around dude.
Well, as the Buddhist's say, enlightenment (cosmic consciousness) could come to any or all of us in an instant if we only realized it was so. But of course in this real world we live in, that "instant" is ever elusive for almost all of us.
ReplyDeleteThis century will be the turning point either way, and if it goes badly, as it now seems almost certain that it will, the years 2000-2010 will be viewed as the period where we crossed the rubicon and locked in our choices to pursue greed and self-aggrandizement to the detriment of our long term survival as a species. As the children being born today will soon come to realize however, "long term" ain't necessarily gonna be all that long term anymore. They will very likely be the first to experience the full effects of life in a post-industrial "modern" society after an almost certainly calamitous collapse.
disaffected,
ReplyDeleteInteresting how "cosmic consciousness" takes on one meaning in the Buddhist context, yet it takes on another meaning in the astronomer - cosmologist context.
I have had a run-in with the mystical types who have a notion of "mother nature" that is all good to the kids all the time.
For some reason that enlightenment is also reverential toward mother nature, just like MOMCOM's kids are reverential to MOMCOM.
For some reason the kids of neither family realize that the cosmos is a demanding place, fraught with the danger of extinction for species who do not know the way things work.
They seem unaware that it is not enough to be reverential to a local context, obedience to cosmic reality is required whether one is reverential or not.
I mean, aware scientists and naturalists who have "cosmic consciousness" know that the Sun will destroy the earth, so there is a requirement that species become nomadic or else become extinct; a requirement that they not destroy their home world before they evolve memetic harmony focused on survival as a species by the development of competent space travel.
You know, the "real world" as the conservatives say when they smugly put down non-warmongers.
Anyway, this century you speak of has been described as "The Criminally Insane Epoch".
Criminal insanity will prevail as the results of the "real world" MOMCOM has made begin to implode on the kids.
"Interesting how "cosmic consciousness" takes on one meaning in the Buddhist context, yet it takes on another meaning in the astronomer - cosmologist context.
ReplyDeleteI have had a run-in with the mystical types who have a notion of "mother nature" that is all good to the kids all the time."
Yeah, but you'll never have the second without the first. As in, no species that hasn't progressed "spiritually" (for lack of a better word) will ever be advanced enough to think in its own long term interests as you suggest.
Personal enlightenment also has nothing to do with being "mystical" or "reverential", although all enlightened people are naturally reverential in all their dealings, but not in a self-conscious sort of way. As the book title says, "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him!" No enlightened person would ever proclaim themselves as such, and no one who proclaims themselves enlightened actually is.
Without some sort of consciousness raising the human species will never develop and exercise the urge to forego short term personal luxuries in favor of the long term collective good, and we will all collectively die. We're living that reality as we speak and the end game is approaching much faster than any of us think.
Our window was 1990-2010 after the fall of the USSR and the US's historic opportunity to change the whole nature of the game from petty nationalism to seeking supranationalist solutions to global problems. We chose petty nationalism based on US crony capitalism enforced at the end of a gun. The results are in: we failed!
disaffected,
ReplyDelete"Yeah, but you'll never have the second without the first"
Reminds me of the time I was forced to live on food and water for three days, during which time I posted "Where Have All The Visionaries Gone".
It is a difficult subject matter composed of a mix of "calculational intelligence" (Penrose) mixed with "mystery intelligence" (Dredd).