Space Perspectives in the Time of Covid-19
Why I am thinking about space colonies in the midst of a global crisis
By Andrea Owe, Space Ethicist
This time is hard.
Not because I am locked in my house. Not because I am bored. Not because I can’t see my family. I am so privileged I have absolutely nothing to complain about in the midst of a global crisis.
No. It is hard because, as a researcher shaped by a background in environmental and social sustainability studying the long-term, big picture prospects of potential futures, I see Covid-19 as another theater of a broader, more existential crisis concerning the future of life on Earth.
It is exactly at times like this it is crucial to keep focus on the source of the horrors we see unfolding. And that, I have to remind myself, is why I spend my time contemplating our space future.
Because we are amazing at focusing on the here and now, but terrible at seeing the bigger picture.
Thinking about our potential future in space is about adapting to an unknown future. It is about mentally exploring unknown worlds.
If there is one thing the current pandemic is making clear, it is that the future on Earth is unknown. The pandemic is yet another event that underscores our distorted, utterly disturbing, downright unwise, and ultimately self-destructive relationship with the Earth system and the millions of species of life that inhabit it — and as long as we refuse to learn, the current crisis will only foreshadow what’s to come.
We humans are changing the world to such a degree that the future on Earth is almost as unknown as a future in space.
In not too long, perhaps within a few decades, probably within my lifetime, Earth might very well become a habitat that looks more like a deserted life-less planet than that unique green and blue ball holding billions of variations of life that we know today.
Therefore, when one explores possibilities for surviving and hopefully thriving — in Earth’s orbit, in extraterrestrial habitats, or on a future Earth — one still is exploring the survival and future of humanity and terrestrial life. Whichever trajectory we will chose or be stuck with will be dramatically different than the world the current generations have grown up in.
They will all be worlds utterly foreign to the human species.
Thinking about our future in space provides a framework for thinking which is untainted by all the chaotic preconditions of today’s Earth. Where imagination runs free, creativity and innovation flourish. Creativity and innovation, in fact, may be among the most important tools in our human toolbox as we preemptively try to patch up an uncertain future. This cognitive exercise is about trying to plan for and shape a future that is better than the past and an improvement on the present.
Thinking about our space future is about understanding what we need not only to survive, but flourish, under foreign and uncertain conditions. It is about asking questions concerning what we want to bring with us — our cultural, political, philosophical, and, not least, biological cargo. And, perhaps even more importantly, what we want to leave behind.
Furthermore, it entails thinking seriously about our capacity to even make such decisions in a wise manner.
Take, for example, the idea of terraforming — the process of planetary engineering the environment of a planet to produce an Earth-like ecosystem. While terraforming in space is not currently feasible, by thinking seriously about what terraforming can provide us, we can develop a useful framework for understanding how we can consciously and wisely step into our new role as planetary shapers.
Because, the thing is, we are terraforming Earth right now.
The difference is that we are doing it unconsciously —and I don’t need to point out that it is not going well.
The fact alone that we are thinking about engineering other planets while remaining frighteningly blasé about our impacts on Earth tells us loud and clear how utterly unfit we are for this role, both in space and on our home planet. Since we have granted ourselves this role, however, the need to think creatively and radically about how we can consciously and wisely embrace this role and become better planetary shapers has never been more urgent.
In the current domain of thinking, planning, and exploring in space, we have concepts, ideas, and projects related to stewardship, eternal memory, libraries, and arcs, from organizations such as the Arch Mission Foundation and the Beyond the Earth Foundation. These projects are efforts to conserve, protect, and safeguard knowledge, biodiversity, information, and DNA. These ideas stem from the same motivations as environmental movements here on Earth. The only difference is the scale of the thinking — the retrofitting of local and global initiatives to a cosmic perspective, where concepts of time and space expand dramatically. These perspectives, however, are already coming together here on Earth through projects such as the Global Seed Vault on Svalbard and the Frozen Zoo in San Diego.
All of these ideas are contributive suggestions to that question raised above — what do we want to bring along into the future?
Simply put, there’s nothing like space to make you appreciate the extraordinariness of Earth.
When I read or hear about some of the plans for colonies on Mars or elsewhere, what strikes me most is the similarity of these blueprints to suburban American towns — and the consumerism, environmental exploitation, and existential loneliness they embody.
Humans living in a world made of humans and inhabited by humans, with room, perhaps, for a few selected plants and animals for our consumption or aesthetic pleasing.
That is not the future I want to envision. A cosmic interpretation of American suburbia does not reflect my hopes for humankind’s journey into space. I don’t believe that is a world where humans can thrive, and I believe that it would be an inherently poorer world than the one we currently live in. Sadly, however, this world also seems to be where we are currently headed on Earth.
My vision of a future, both on and off Earth, preferably both, is one that promotes the entire ecosphere that is the Earth system, not one where one particular species takes off and separates itself from the rest of the story.
So what is the source of current events and the bigger existential crisis unfolding?
Human values.
Values that are carefully shaped, both by evolution and culture, to prioritize your individual self, the here and now, our own microworlds of instant desires, wants, reward, and pleasure. Values make up our motivations, and as such they shape our thinking, our choices, and our behavior. Changing our values is hard, but it is not impossible.
Thinking about our space future is a method for thinking in a long-term and big picture perspective — the macroscale perspective. It is a perspective, furthermore, that we can harness to consciously and wisely shape our collective future.
To adapt our thinking, and thus our behaviour, to the scale of what it actually means to be human in the world today, might be the single most important task we must now take on.
To me, thinking about our potential future in space is to think about what really matters. In the face of the extreme, in the face of global crisis, in the face of existential risks, we must ask ourselves — what is truly worth protecting, preserving, and promoting?
Should we preserve our obsession with material affluence? Should we protect the alleged free will of the individual — the freedom to not care? Should we promote our perpetual hunt for economic growth? Should we protect our alleged right to dominate and exploit others? Is it power and dominance that makes us human? Is it the human species as such which ultimately matters?
Or, on the contrary, should we protect, preserve, and promote that which truly makes us humane, continuing the remarkable story which is life on Earth, and maybe one day — beyond.
As mentioned above, our values are shaped by evolution and by culture. Both are malleable phenomena, the former through, for example, biotechnology. The latter is more complex and intrinsically entangled with global and national policies that centralize power and wealth. I’ll save the exploration of these problems for another day. However, this centralization of power is not boundless. The more individuals that consciously expand their perspective on life and the world to a size appropriate for our time — and act on it — the faster we can collectively enable the changes we sorely need in politics.
