Here's an idea, space travel might make you a better person.
In 1969, we did what was both literally and figuratively one
of the most math things, we meaning people, have ever done.
We landed on the moon.
No way!
We went there six times and put a total of 12 men on it.
Over the course of three and a half years,
the US blasted off to a distant rock for many very complex,
to examine the moon's surface and geology,
to make sure it's not made of cheese,
as a matter of cultural and scientific pride as a growing
world power in the mid- 20th century,
to leave some poop there and of course
to stick it to the Russians.
And then we just kind of stopped.
I mean not going to space, we did just send a robot to Mars.
But with the Cold War over, other wars coming and going,
a massively shifting cultural landscape
and a growing private sector in the sciences,
government support for space exploration
has recently been at an all time low.
There is however a molybdenum lining, sort of.
Remember that growing private sector in the sciences,
well it includes space travel.
So not quite, but almost Tony Stark style
geniuses decided that instead of designing a new toothbrush
or starting Facebook for dogs, they would rather go to space.
And no one argued with them.
SpaceX is the first commercial business
to launch, orbit, and land a spacecraft, dock with the space
station, and will probably be the first to launch
a geostationary satellite.
It occurs to me now that these guys better be Iron Man style
geniuses and not Mandarin style evil geniuses, otherwise we're
in trouble.
The straight talk is that SpaceX, the company started
by the guy with the eye in the sky, spends $100 million a year
to NASA's $16 billion spent last year alone.
So they're pretty far off from being anything
more than insane toys for the rich.
But it makes you wonder.
Cars, trains, air travel, watches, televisions,
mobile phones, they were all at one point toys for the rich.
Sure nothing so seemingly extravagant
as space travel, just a tiny box in your pocket
that has more computing power than all of NASA in 1969.
The idea being that once we start adding private economies
into the mix, we can expect that some point, a
to point which might be very far off, but existent nonetheless,
that normal people will be able to go to space.
And I think that this is very important.
Here's why.
When an astronaut blasts into the distant blue, does a U-turn
and looks at their home rock, they
are presented-- nay, bludgeoned-- with perspective.
Alan Shephard, the first American in space,
said that "if somebody had said before the flight are you going
to get carried away just staring at the Earth from the moon,
I'd have said no, no way.
But yet, when I first looked back at the Earth standing
on the moon, I cried."
And Rusty Schweickart, the lunar module pilot for Apollo 9,
said that "when you go around the earth
in an hour and a half, you begin to recognize that your identity
is with that whole thing.
That makes it change.
It comes through to you so powerfully
that you're the sensing element for man."
Whoa.
It's not just these dudes.
This sense befalls many space travelers.
And in reading their accounts, it's
clear that words just barely do it justice.
They should've sent a poet.
Overview effect is the term used
to describe the change in behavior
experienced by people who have had a romp in the stars.
It's characterized by feelings of bliss, profound awareness,
and universal interconnectedness,
which just sounds awesome literally.
So but why?
Why does overview effect happen?
I have a guess.
Our view of the world, much like parts of the space program,
is political.
We view the world through history,
relationships, threats, treaties.
When we picture it, we imagine borders, countries and states.
Hi.
I'm in Delaware.
And even if you don't, these things
are often expressed by infrastructure, signage,
culture, everything.
This is just how the world.
It's the empire's map all over again.
In his book, "The Power of Maps,"
Dennis Wood writes "The map doesn't let us see anything,
but it does let us know what others have seen or found out
or discovered.
The things they learned piled up in layer atop layer,
so that to study even the simplest looking images
is to peer back through ages of cultural acquisition."
This is the world to us, ages of cultural acquisition.
And what do you see when you look at the Earth from space
or from the moon?
A unified whole, blue, some green, white, and round.
That's it, just an object, mostly harmless.
But yeah, space travel is hard.
You have to be fit.
Its cramped.
It can mess up your bones and make you an insomniac.
And maybe the people who experience overview affect
are in some way the only people who ever would.
I mean, astronauts look forward to this moment
for their whole lives.
So yes, it might be a little pie in the sky
to think that while space travel started out political,
it could in some way cure us of politics.
I think a little perspective never hurt anyone.
What do you guys think?
Would widespread space travel provide some much needed
perspective?
Let us know in the comments.
And if you want to feel universal interconnectedness
with the rest of the Idea Channel subscribers,
you know what to do.
I don't know about you guys, but I'm
glad I didn't have to pile into the back of John Cusak's limo
to escape the end of the world.
Let's see what you guys had to say about the apocalypse.
To Alexander Tzalumen and everyone else who pointed out
that we used the Aztec calendar instead of a Mayan one, yeah,
we messed that one up.
Sorry.
But to compare us to the History Channel, that stings.
And thanks to alotofllama for pointing out that we didn't
get the plural for Maya right.
I knew this going into the episode,
but I just messed it up.
But thank you. thanks.
To cphilly27, it's actually really straightforward.
You just have to like the taste of dirt,
root beer, and backwash, which I do.
Nicholas Medusa thinks that we're
obsessed with the end of the world
because it's entertaining, for the same reason that we
like ghost stories and scare stories and stuff like that,
which yeah there is an entertaining element.
It's a little morbid, but entertaining nonetheless.
Tyverus says that it's really easy to blame
the teleological perspective on Western culture and religion,
but that it's actually probably a little bit more complicated
than that and points out that in the West,
we sort of have this idea that if you aren't moving forward,
you're moving backwards, which is really interesting.
Caleb Valdez points out that not all Western religions
are focused on or hoping for the end of the world, which
is I think a good thing.
JBanthe points out that the apocalypse is exciting
because it's a new thing in a time where new things are
kind of hard to come by.
To Blur866, I don't know if your logic holds up,
but I am totally on board with your final point.
To Trunn52, I spell it like the beginning of psychology,
but to really find out we'd have to call all the way back
to 1995, which would be difficult.
And now we're going to choose a few of our favorite year's
resolutions, but I just want to say
to everyone who posted their screen resolutions,
you are all very cleaver.
Rational Pie says that his new year's strategy
is to have new month resolutions, which I really
like.
It sounds like a great idea.
I don't know if I could eat vegetarian for a whole month
though.
Was that one really hard?
I bet it was.
WarriorZ676 resolves to learn Blender,
which I have always wanted to do but just never had the time.
It looks really fun.
Let me know how you do.
Bennington!
Lang and I are friends, so-- To Lorna Drucker,
flasking orchids looks really cool.
Keep us updated and post some pictures.