I am of the position that in order for the human race to overcome any major
obstacle to it's own future that it must escape the largest barrier that's been
dreamt about since recorded history.
The sky is not the limit!
In all of history there are stories of great human conflict. In no one period
has there ever been a true peace. And there never will, it's human
nature. Until we make the next step in our evolution, conflict will remain
a constant in our history, present, and future.
We've had two world wars. During these wars alarming progress was made in
the science of destruction. At the end of the last war was the most frightening
of all... the nuclear bomb. Although we've not had a world war in over fifty
years, even more alarming progress has been made in nuclear technology. We
now have the capability to turn entire populations (cities, states, maybe
even small countries) into a dust cloud.
Wholesale televised destruction.
With the upcoming onset of a new millennium, tension is at an all-time high.
We've got multiple military and political situations in the East, and small
terrorist groups with the power of nuclear and chemical weapons. Any one
of these factors could be the last straw, and erupt into what may become
the season finale, the war to end all wars.
Think it's not possible? Think the politicians will save us just in time? Take
a look at history. If Hitler or the Japanese had produced the bomb, would we
have won? That's a personal judgement to make, but certainly something to
take into consideration. There's an arms race out there among countries
becoming nuclear on-line. We had it before, and not many people probably really
know just how close we came to being cancelled. However the networks
agreed in last minute negotiations to continue the show.
Enough nostalgia. What about now?
Those network CEOs are long gone. Who's at the helm now? On the one
side we've got a politician who can't stay out of a scandal long enough to
realize he was in the right place at the right time, and that he'll be known
as the president who officially apologized but didn't say I'm sorry once.
He'll also probably be the first president linked to the term blow-job.
On the other hand we've got a drunk puppet who so resembles a repressed teenager
that he may impress on the world his angst. I liken Old Mother Russia to a
young man who is for the first time learning the power of freedom, but also
trying to balance it with responsibility, while at the same time experimenting
with the virtues of alcohol.
Meanwhile, both are trying to rally for allies in the East. But with the
Arabic, Chinese, and Korean factors possibly coming into play, the stability
of our current equilibrium can at any time rapidly disintegrate or even
possibly explode into a chaotic race for the New World Order.
A Time for Reflection...
But let's stop right here before unhealthy paranoia sets in. If, for only
one minute, the world could take a day off and marvel at the exuberance
of our many ways and wonders, we would understand. But that's not the case, is
it? As history shows us, we live at the speed at which we communicate. Right
now, we're in the process of creating a world-wide network which runs at the
speed of light. We don't have time to stop and think, it's always
gogogogogo...
The future, circa 1954.
Another hard day at work. You walk into your house and the lights come on
without intervention. You tell your faithful sentient servant to get you a
cold refreshing brew. Your twelve year old son runs in and greets you with the
story of how he got a A on his calculus test today. Your wife, smiling from the
doorway at the sign of father-son bondage, is telling your stove how to prepare
tonight's home-cooked meal. Everyone sits down for a nutritious meal and
good quality family time. Ever since money was eliminated, everyone now does
their part for the betterment of society. A society without need or
want.
The future, circa 1999.
Another endless day at work. You fumble for the keys to your apartment, and
before you have a chance to switch on the lights, you've got to set down
the papers you've brought home from work to get done tonight. You get
yourself a cheap beer while you microwave salisbury steak because your wife
works even later than you do. You eat alone while watching news stories of
kids killing kids over drugs or guns, the latest Sexually Transmitted Disease
scare, the recent hike in the price of gasoline, or the third world country
that just set off their first nuclear bomb. You wake up four hours later with
your head resting on piles of paperwork to your wife screaming at your son.
Apparently he's been experimenting with some drug you can't even pronounce,
and is dropping out of school. After confronting him, he runs off because
his school psychologist told you he's ashamed of himself because he isn't
as smart as you. That's nothing to speak of your daughter, she had a
pregnancy scare last week, and only comes home to sleep. And that only once
in a while. On TV they're showing an ad for the newest line of Presidential
cigar, with a young, full-lipped woman smoking a long brown stogie with a big
grin on her face. You say to yourself,
What's the point?
Sucks, huh?
Everything I've been saying up to this point is mostly historical,
mostly factual. So what now? Just give up and embrace the coming
of the apocalypse? Enjoy the rapture? Hardly.
A cage is a cage by any other name...
We've built this cage around us and call it home. However, many a person has
taken a vacation to some place, never to have gone back. We've got cars
and planes and satellites that get us from point A to B really quick. But
they keep us here. We never go there. But where's there?
There is out there. Space is to explorers now what America was to
Columbus in 1492. The ultimate frontier.
NO EXCUSES
Don't give me that shit about "we can't even afford to feed our hungry, why
should we blow money on spaceships for joyrides?" Those statements are
made by the ignorant and apathetic. We're going to spend money
on wars and guns and drugs before we feed the poor. Face it! Now don't get
me wrong, I don't condone it, but you get de-sensitized to it. However,
history shows it as fact. So why not spend the money on something
progressive? In the early 60s JFK proposed to do something
we wouldn't have outright done at that time. And we did it. We went to the
moon. But we haven't back. Why not? Because we suck like that. We go
somewhere, declare Been There, Done That, and have done with it. We've
send robotic missions to planets. But we have't made our mark! We're not
even trying to BE THERE. What am I talking about???
Colonization
We've been so obsessed with big planet-killer asteroids lately. We're
scared that some crazed lunatic with a little red button can inadvertantly
set off a chain reaction leading to the start of a long nuclear winter... on
earth. But the fact of the matter is, we're not limited to our cage! We
can leave! But it's so easy to thumb our nose up at the possibility.
It costs too much. You ever seen the budget of NASA? You ever seen
the budget of the making of ONE Stealth B-2 Bomber? Do yourself a
favor and look it up.
I liken the colonization of the planets the the reason the Internet was
build in the first place. If one planet (or node in the Internet view) was
taken out for some reason, the others wouldn't be affected. Meaning if we
left earth and began exploring new territory, maybe we'd find something
more productive to do than blow ourselves to hell!
I don't mean just drop everything and start building a fleet of Jupiter
2s (although that'd be nice), but something is better than the
absolute nothing we're doing now. And if you think NASA for one moment
that it's retained any of it's heritage from the 60s/70s, look again. They're
corporate. They launch satellites so your cell phone can work all over the
world. Yeah, they launched John Glenn in to space. Yeah, they're looking
sending a group of female only astronauts into space. Great! Now for our
next act, let's send a family to the moon to live. Hell, let's
at least build a functional space station where real-life living techniques
will be studied. Are we doing that? No.
But what about the International Space Station?
Please. The ISS is nothing but International Politics. They should
name it the International Politics Station, and send all the politicians there.
Then maybe we can start getting some work done! But then again, if space were
inhabited with Politicians, then space'd be fucked for good now, wouldn't it?
Sarcasm & Cynicism aside...
I dream. I dream of a solar system (galaxy, perhaps) where we can thrive
without worrying about an asteroid or a nuclear firestorm (that's not to say
they won't invent planet-killing nukes). A more productive extro-future,
instead of the smaller-smaller-smaller society were currently living in.
Remember, we live in a three dimensional universe. Therefore we should start
to think in three dimensions! We must find a balance between the micro
AND the macro.
Ignorance, Apathy, Passivity, and Conflict will forever plague the human race.
This is as constant as change. But someone will step forward. Someone who
has at least half a good ethical brain in their head will take the reigns.
When that person comes along, make room, for that person is the architect of
our future! Hopefully he doesn't get lost in the BS of our education system
before we are lost...
Joe Thielen
4/13/1999