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Is Space exploration a historic event—an evolutionary turning point—or is it no big deal at all?

Our breakout from this planet is an evolutionary event. A major per­turbation. Make no mistake about it.

We are Earth-spawned organisms—products of specific conditions on this specific biosphere. We have suddenly decoupled from our natural habitat. The consequences are beyond our current frameworks of ref­erence.

Elsewhere in the solar system environmental conditions are radically different from Earth-normal. Different periodicities of light and darkness—different atmospheres or no atmospheres—different tem­peratures and climate variables—different gravities and distances from the sun—different geological and topographic configurations.

In time these new worlds away from our natural habitat will transform us in fundamental ways. We cannot indefinitely live and travel across the solar system and beyond with these Earth-specific bodies—brains —senses—speech communicaton—bipedal locomotion.

To find an event that approximates the magnitude of this twentieth-century breakaway from our planet we would have to switch back— not hundreds of years or thousands or even a few million years. We would have to go back several hundred million years when the earliest life forms migrated from the oceans to land.

We are still at the very beginning of our emergence into a new environment and therefore cannot appreciate its long-term significance.

What about permanent extraterrestrial colonies?

We have already launched small Space colonies: Salyut—Skylab— Mir. People have lived in these modest Earth-orbiting platforms for months at a time.

In the coming years more ambitious Space colonies will proliferate. The more such habitats we launch the quicker the pace of progress here on Earth.

I am not sympathetic to the scenarios of some Space scientists who would have us replicate "Earth-like conditions" elsewhere in the solar system. Eight-to-five jobs in offices and farms—"housewives" in two-story houses—children studying in schools—banks—retail stores— slaughterhouses—small towns—national enclaves—etc.

Such low-resolution scenarios sound like nostalgic playbacks of some Space scientist's childhood days in Kansas or Idaho—in the 1940s.

Do we want to undertake the gigantic expense and effort of traveling long distances simply to re-create what we have here? Do we want to start off in new worlds perpetuating "Earth-like conditions" that for eons have brought human suffering—greed—misery—conflicts?

Extraterrestrial communities offer unique opportunities for fresh starts in all areas of life.

(For details please see Monitor 20: Ideology. Also please see the books Up-Wingers and Telespheres.)


Date: 2015-02-28; view: 765


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