Space: Progress Is Possible
Space: Progress Is Possible
Contents
Our Mission
A Basic Premise
A Sprint, Not A Marathon
How Can We Contribute?
The Tipping Point
Doing Our Part
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Lots is happening in space, with lots more either planned or underway.
Observing Space Age 2.0 in action is almost like sitting trackside at a Formula 1 event. A lot is going on.
Twenty really flashy, really cool, really impressive things just went whizzing by in a body-pulsing blur and, while we saw a lot, we mostly don’t recall many details.
The latest space age is a lot like that. When it comes to our progress in space, like the race, there may be a lot to follow, but we’re pretty sure of two things:
1. There’s way more to it than we thought.
2. It’s exciting.
Our Mission
Let’s take another look at the mission of Forty Suns.
To unite the focus of humanity toward common extraplanetary goals that create an ever-improving future, by building upon the things we hold in common despite the things we hold different.
Further:
To maintain focus on these pursuits, to ensure they do not slip, that they are not forgotten, that they remain at the forefront of our collective minds.
Doing those things will take cooperation.
How can we attain those goals?
A Basic Premise
Our world is an awesome one; it can also be a troubled one. By being willing to look directly into the face of the obstacles, and the people, that would thwart human progress, we soon see how weak those contrary positions truly are.
The Borg said it best:
Resistance is futile.
Not only is progress possible, it is inevitable.
We’re already moving fast.
A Sprint, Not A Marathon
That’s usually written the other way round, “a marathon, not a sprint”, and while we don’t disagree that the road ahead is long, with lots and lots to do, many miles to cover and so on, we think in the “race to space” humanity is poised to undertake it’s better framed as a series of sprints.
Call it a relay race. A long one.
In much the way a baton is handed from runner to runner, each runner giving it their all, viewing progress toward our space future in discrete units is a more accurate analogy.
The race will be long. Each racer will be going flat-out.
Maximum effort, to quote Marvel anti-hero, Deadpool.
Speed is of the essence, but it will also be a collaboration of speed, making each runner vital.
Each program, each scientific discovery, each new mission—in each case we move fast and learn as we go, fall down and get up, innovate and iterate, each of us sprinting when it’s our turn, such that, collectively, the relay race is won.
In this way rapid progress is made.
How Can We Contribute?
What can we be doing? What can each of us do to ensure humanity continues to move fast toward that space future?
So many things.
The biggest is to stay interested, stay informed, be supportive, talk about the latest this, the coolest that with your friends … basically, be a fan.
A fan of space.
Does participation require you to be a scientist?
No.
Does it require you to work for a space-technology company?
Definitely not.
Fly the banner of space.
That alone, if each of us is doing it, is huge.
The net result is that more of us will get involved. In the same way progress is inevitable, if more and more of us are getting fired up about space, at least a few will parlay that keen interest into greater involvement.
Adding action to the race.
The Tipping Point
Where do we cross the line?
Where do we, as a civilization, cross without question into the realm of the spacefaring?
When do we reach and go beyond the point where we become a global, cohesive force toward the conquest of space?
And what does that mean in terms of lost autonomy?
Do we sacrifice too much if all of us are engaged in the same pursuit? Can we truly work shoulder to shoulder, as a planet?
Where do those of us who don’t agree turn?
What if we don’t want to be part of a space future?
If the whole planet’s doing it … how does that work?
Globalism is often a swearword. Bringing all of us together toward a common cause leads in that direction. Philosophical debates, about this crazy, mixed-up world unifying toward a common cause, might rage.
Is the risk of homogeny (and yes, global homogeny without options could be a risk), even if only temporary, be worth the reward of brave new worlds?
Food for thought.
Doing Our Part
We don’t all have to go to space. We don’t all have to invent new rockets, or discover new and fantastic physics.
In fact most of us won’t.
But by being interested, by keeping up with what’s happening in the fields of space, by sharing with others, by being a fan, we help that progress more than we may realize.
If we are, each of us, actively interested, at whatever level we’re playing the game, progress becomes possible.
In fact it’s all but guaranteed.
Want to hear from us Friday mornings?
Every Friday our chief correspondent, Tai Rade (you’ll love her take on things), sends a recap of the week in space.
#FortySuns