Why we need to get off the planet

Turn virtually anywhere in mainstream media for more than a moment and you'll hear some news of humanity's growth damaging our planet. It can be argued that much of that damage is being caused by greedy, overzealous corporations blinded by profit. No matter what perspective you take or blame you place, globally speaking, our techniques at living in harmony with nature obviously warrant some improvement. Imagine we overcame the majority of those difficulties and did manage to consume less, pollute minimally, and recycle almost completely. How many living organisms can the planet sustain? As medical research and various other longevity disciplines improve, our race grows. It is virtually inconceivable for us in the West to think about population control, but at some point it seems inevitable.

The purpose of life is to reproduce and endure. Population control measures are against the very nature of existence ... given other options. And we do have other options at hand. Namely, the colonization of space. How multiply ironic that now, in the year 2001, raising the issue still sounds somewhat ludicrous. But consider that we landed on the moon more than 30 years ago!!! Think for a moment about what time was like that long ago. No pentium 4, cell phone, microwave, VCR, CAT scans, GPS, and countless less fashionable advances which make going to space far easier than it ever was. For some insane reason, we've moved backwards in an area so very crucial to our race's longevity. Explaining why is perhaps a topic to be explored on its own or at the very least at another time. But the fact remains that we have regressed.

How then can the idea move back into the mainstream? Media presentations like Star Trek and various other SciFi help only to a degree. Too far from tangible reality, they keep the torches burning, but only at arms length. Educational efforts that instill wonder in young people are perhaps a more well directed effort, but in an environment where education is supported even less than the space program itself, that hardly seems like a lasting plan either.

Initiatives like the X prize show perhaps the most promise, but have as of yet to produce anything. Even still, their motive is not necessarily to colonize, but perhaps to commercialize. It may be that the ideal is too far removed from what has become a base motivation in humankind, and can only be achieved by remaining linked. Either that or a fundamental shift in public attitude. Motivating that shift lies at the heart of this essay. More precisely, sparking the question of how.

A political candidate would likely be an easy target for ridicule. It's doubtful any media campaign will ever be mounted. So it would seem as though the situation is hopeless. But the need remains. Perhaps it is time for a new type of media, a new type of art, that helps achieve precisely this motivation ... showing people in one breath the elegance of technology and our intimate relation with the cosmos (which are perhaps sides of the same coin).