Space Race and Diverse Representations

 

Think of a global issue that we are facing today that causes fear or concern. What would be the plot of a television show that depicted a utopian and optimistic vision of the future of that issue? 

While there are (unfortunately) many issues facing humanity today that cause fear and concern, global climate change is the most urgent.  Every other issue we face, from inequality to COVID-19, has ties to climate change and other human impacts on the environment.  While Star Trek has had many episodes with environmental themes, my favorite (and therefore the one I always call to mind), is the fourth feature film, Star Trek: The Voyage Home.  The movie's theme of humanity's shortsightedness, ignorance, and greed coming back to threaten us in unexpected ways reflects our current behavior and attitude around climate change to a chilling degree (pun, sadly, intended--I'm looking at you, "The Day After Tomorrow.").  The entire message can be summed up perfectly in two quotes from The Voyage Home: 

SPOCK: "There are other forms of intelligence on Earth, Doctor. Only human arrogance would assume the message must be meant for man."

and 

KIRK: "You know, it's ironic. When man was killing these creatures, he was destroying his own future."

A television show about the optimistic aspects of this issue would have to start out along these lines (it's been done, for sure).  Only by examining the consequences could the show highlight and champion the utopian view, especially considering that conflict and tension would be needed to drive the plot to some extent.  But, the sky is the lovely limit for what could be depicted after the resolution.  We've seen glimpses of it during the early days of the COVID pandemic, as everyone stayed home, skies and water cleared and wildlife and green spaces thrived in ways we never imagined.  Of course, we don't need a global pandemic to lower our use of fossil-fueled transportation.  And there's always Thanos, blipping half of humanity away so that whales can swim in the Hudson River.  But, we don't need Thanos, either, to solve overpopulation and the strain it causes on our resources.  My tragedy-to-utopia show would end with a vision of a world with fewer people, using our resources thoughtfully and equitably (wait, it's the Ba'Ku in the opening sequence of Star Trek: Insurrection!).   Now that I'm thinking about it, maybe the actual plot of the show is a writer, working on her Star Trek certificate, rounding up and dreaming of solutions, and they happen in the real world as she types.  *turns on news, hopefully*

At the end of the video, Margaret says that space exploration was controversial in the 1970s and 1980s. People wondered why the government was spending time and money exploring the solar system when critical problems existed here on Earth. What do you think? Should the government resolve Earthly issues before exploring space? Or is a scientific investigation of distant worlds a fundamentally human endeavor of exploration? Explain your argument.

My first response to this question is that we do not need to choose.  We actually have ample money and resources to accomplish Earthly goals as well as maintain a space program.  We're choosing not to solve our Earthly problems.  One solution could be a tax called the "If You Can Afford to Fling Yourself Into Space for No Reason Tax."  You get the idea.  

But, for those who insist that some kind of choice needs to be made, I offer the following in defense of keeping at least part of our destiny amongst the stars:

1.  NASA develops oodles of science that has beneficial applications here on Earth.  They have an entire program, the Technology Transfer program, devoted to these applications.  You can learn more about it HERE.  Would we develop some of these things without a space program?  Maybe, but I believe that the aspiration and drive behind the space program are the real catalyst. 

2. Space exploration often relies on international cooperation.  We need that.  Even though, at the moment, things like the future of the International Space Station remain uncertain, largely due to ramifications of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many of our recent Solar System exploration achievements have involved collaborations with and among the European Space Agency, NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, and more.  The James Webb Space Telescope is the most recent example.  

3. The vastness and unknowability of space highlight our collective humanity and our need to care for our planet.  The Earthrise photo taken by Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders on Christmas Eve 1968 is widely acknowledged to have been influential in kicking off a new and stronger environmental awareness of the finite, fragile nature of our shared home.  

4. And the "Pale Blue Dot" photo of Earth, taken in 1990 by Voyager 1 prompted Carl Sagan to write these famous words, and if they don't make folks think there's value and beauty in the very human impulse to explore beyond Earth's boundaries, then nothing will: 

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

— Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994

Can you see the Earth in this photo?