**A quick note – this is another one of those snarled rants that I published in a different place several years ago. Attentive readers will notice that it shares themes in common with another rant published here, “The Problem of Prediction”. This is not mere happenstance – futurism, science and especially spaceflight, are always at the forefront of my thoughts. So saying, you can expect other rants concerning these subjects to show up from time to time. I am a science-fiction author, after all. To proceed…**
I have a marked tendency to growl and mutter darkly about humans and their future – how about a little sunshine instead? Before the ‘bunnies and kitties’ coalition get their little pink sparkle hearts in a dither (you know who you are – ‘fess up!), I’m not going to talk about cute animals, babies or even clean air and water – except by accident. This is about space.
You know…space? That black, airless void out there beyond the sky? Where the sun, the moon and stars call home? Ringing any bells? It needs to, because space, or as I prefer to call it, the cosmos, is the real future of mankind. Without it, we don’t have a future. Let me explain…no, there is too much, let me sum up.
The Earth is just one tiny, damp rock in the great sea of the cosmos. There are a huge number of other places we can go, both in this solar system, and in other star systems. Most will be uninhabited (we think), all will contain raw materials we can use. And we need to go. As the last century or two has proven, mankind is outgrowing the planet. The Earth is an amazing womb, but a child who refuses to leave the womb threatens the life of both himself and his mother. So let’s not hear any more of this ‘oh, there’s nothing out there’, or even ‘Earth is the only true home of mankind’ crap. It just ain’t so. End of sermon.
Several things need to happen in the next fifty years or so, and I believe they will.
- Mass access to space is required – we must move beyond the concept of an elite astronaut corps doing all the work, and not just scientists, either.
- Access to orbit must be as cheap, ubiquitous and pollution-free as we can make it – this should be an obvious criterion – once in orbit, all bets are off.
- Space-based mining and manufacturing must replace earth-bound heavy industry – the reason is simple: it just costs less in the long run – think gravity.
- Space-based farming must become a viable industry – not just to supply food to the people who live up there, but also to send some back to the home planet.
- People must learn how to live and work off-planet – and not for a month or a year, but multiple years or even lifetimes.
- There must be a profit motive involved in space – few people and ZERO companies will do this for free – fortunes should be, indeed must be, made off-planet.
- By contrast, there should no longer be any large government involvement in spaceflight, except in a regulatory capacity – Earth-bound governments should have no imperialist rights to any property off-planet.
- Every effort must be made to take the lessons learned in space – terraforming, total recycling, energy systems, etc – and apply them to life on Earth; and finally-
- There must be a long-range plan, that all participants agree to implicitly – the idea is to eventually make humanity a star-faring race, and that won’t happen overnight.
To you Trekkies out there (and I know you’re listening), I’m sorry, but Gene’s wide-eyed socialist world is not actually workable, any more than Communism was. My ideas for how the economy should work will have to wait for another blog but suffice to say that it will look both different and similar to our own.
My submission for the title of Long-Range Plan for Space is as follows – it comes in the form of a Manifesto:
WHEREAS: the human race is not only capable, but willing to venture into the interplanetary space-lanes, and from thence, the cosmos at large; and
WHEREAS: the elected and commercial interests of the human race are focused almost exclusively only on those technologies and those frontiers which will further their political power (limited to the surface of Earth) or those products and services which are most easily gotten and delivered to their primary customer base (resident on the surface of Earth); and
WHEREAS: it has been historically shown that great progress in the arts, sciences and the advancement of the freedom of individuals tends to slow or even stall in the absence of a viable frontier or suitable challenge to society as a whole; and
WHEREAS: the overcrowding of Earth with humans is shown to be deleterious to societies, cultures, other animal species and the environment in general; and
WHEREAS: because of their aforementioned reluctance to expand out into the cosmos when there is no obvious and immediate gain to be had, the nations and planet-bound corporate entities of Earth are not well suited to lead the migration into the cosmos; and
WHEREAS: it is no longer out of the realm of financial possibility for motivated corporations or even well financed public groups or individuals to achieve Earth orbit, and from thence to proceed out to the planets, and even someday the stars;
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that it behooves those corporations, groups and individuals so motivated, to strike out by any means possible to gain a foothold in the cosmos, the next frontier, and become the pilgrims and pioneers of this frontier; and
ALSO BE IT RESOLVED that those groups, corporations and national entities opposed to or disinterested in this frontier would do well not to hinder or oppose those groups or individuals whose only offense to them is their participation in this exodus, lest they suffer the judgment of history.
So…clear enough?
**P.S. – I will probably include this manifesto in one of my science-fiction novels, final dispensation not yet determined.**
pax et ama
TGC