It’s dangerous to think humans have a destiny outside Earth
The President has otherworldly priorities for a potential second term, but colonizing space is a fantasy used to maintain the status quo.
The big idea
This past week has seen two major developments in America’s long-held fantasy of colonizing space.
On Monday, NASA’s SOFIA program announced that they had discovered water on the sunlit surface of the Earth’s moon. Just three days earlier, the Republican Party announced some of President Donald Trump’s priorities for a potential second term. The first two priorities listed were to “Establish Permanent Manned Presence on The Moon” and to “Send the 1st Manned Mission to Mars,” coming in ahead of “Develop a Vaccine by The End Of 2020” and “Cover All Pre-Existing Conditions” in health care.
Announcing these priorities on Twitter didn’t help the GOP from getting torn apart in the comments — with everyone from Seth Rogan to Mike Bloomberg denouncing the government’s decision to prioritize issues outside of the United States and Earth at a time when Americans and Earthlings are struggling — but the reality is that the GOP wouldn’t make these things a priority if they didn’t think a lot of Americans actually cared about colonizing space, which they do.
Seventy-two percent of Americans say it is essential for the U.S. to continue to be a world leader in space exploration, and 80 percent say the space station has been a good investment for the country, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2018. Around one-third of U.S. adults (31%) say that searching for life and planets that could support life should be top priorities, and 63 percent and 56 percent, respectively, say that sending astronauts to Mars or back to the moon should be a top priority or is an important but lower priority.
The problem with this line of thinking — and the Trump administration’s ideological and monetary support for NASA exploring the solar system — is that it perpetuates the myth that, through technological developments, humans are destined to leave Earth and find a utopia elsewhere. After all, who cares about sustaining the planet when our destiny is to leave it?
Jim Bridenstine @JimBridenstine
NEWS: We confirmed water on the sunlit surface of the Moon for the 1st time using @SOFIAtelescope. We don’t know yet if we can use it as a resource, but learning about water on the Moon is key for our #Artemis exploration plans. Join the media telecon at https://t.co/vOGoSHt74c https://t.co/7p2QopMhodThis myth not only allows the government to ignore the ongoing climate crisis on Earth, which scientists say could reach an irreversible tipping point in less than 10 years if the world doesn’t act dramatically to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere; it also reinforces the status quo, which is capitalism and the uninterrupted growth of capitalism.
Indeed, the idea that technological developments will solve all of our problems —eventually allowing us to leave Earth — is instrumental to political mobilization on behalf of the powers that be. It helps to perpetuate the current socio-economic system that is designed for the one percent to stay in power and the working class to stay working.
After all, it’s easier to sell American citizens on space exploration — and the $22.6 billion dollar budget afforded to NASA in 2020 alone — when there is a promise of a future utopia. At a time when American unemployment the worst since the depression era and the wealth divide between the global billionaires and the bottom half of humanity is steadily growing, it's crucial to sell this myth. The system isn’t working, but at least there’s a way out, right?
(The Canada Space Agency, for its part, spent $329 million in 2019-20, which continues a downward trend in spending).
The German philosopher Martin Heidegger argued in the early 1900s that the essence of technology poses the greatest danger to future democracies. He believed that humans and technology had a fascist relationship, tracing a particular wave of destruction to the Nazis. Heidegger pointed out that the Nazis specifically invested in technology and sought to destroy intellectualism, books, and texts.
It’s not the same, but President Donald Trump has actively sought to destroy any credibility of the mainstream media and has, intentionally or not, destroyed most peoples’ trust in American institutions. This has led to a wholly new and different, but still very real, wave of destruction.
It might or might not be a coincidence that the news of SOFIA discovering water on the moon came just days after the GOP announced their otherworldly priorities for a second term. Either way, the announcement is strategically designed to secure funding for the SOFIA program, which is in jeopardy of being cancelled in 2021. At least it was in jeopardy.
American citizens need to decide what they prioritize. Is it space exploration or is it a decent standard of living at home? Is it the moon, Mars, or Earth?
Notes
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-sofia-discovers-water-on-sunlit-surface-of-moon/
https://spacenews.com/nasas-sofia-airborne-observatory-faces-termination-again/
Question (please respond in the comments)
Do you think the Canadian or American governments should be spending resources to search for planets that could support life? Or do you think it makes more sense to leave this work to private companies?
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Orange Man Bad! lol
Man, what a great article. I have always thought this. I lost track of the red herrings people have been falling for and this is another. Elon Musk is going to Mars, not the government. They can't even replace the space shuttle. They can subsidize it however. No, it is not orange man. Everybody jumps on this one. We are doomed, we can't change, we must consume the earth until we all die, their is no hope for humanity! OMG, the money, please don't make me give up the stuff, and the moneeeey! I have been watching Elon. Come on. Say it. We suck and we are going to kill ourselves. We must go forth, to new lands, for we are a conquering species, or ...... we turn on ourselves! Give me a break. Things are definitely going to change here. Earth can't support this many people. Are people going to die? Yeah. We do what we can. Mars isn't in the bag. Who told you that? We can't even live in Antarctica with weekly supply ships, a million dollar habitat, and if something goes wrong? Mars wants to kill you. Space wants to kill you. It is no way solved. You have to cope with what is to come. Don't wait for orange man. There is $$$ in denial.