In reading about the resource drought that’s bound to come up in technology development and industrialization, it seems obvious to me that if I were someone with a ton of money, I’d be pouring it into space exploration.
Unfortunately, this endeavour lacks the incentive of immediate returns, such that something you build today might not become relevant until 200 years later and you won’t be around to reap the benefits. So the incentives are weak. Incentives are strong for things that will make money now, will be profitable now. But that doesn’t lend us to a very long-term vision.
The more sci-fi reading I’ve done this year makes me contemplate seriously the prospect of us eventually being a space civilization with colonies. That will obviously come with all sorts of its own kinds of sociological, economic and ethical issues, but that’s just the nature of change and if we want it, progress.
I’ve always thought of progress as a bit of a double-edged sword. I don’t really like the concept of ‘progress for its own sake’ because it’s a circular argument without enough thought behind it.
There’s the concept of progress as being beneficial for humanity. Some people might also want to include animals and the environment in that. You could say progress rests on positive values, the maximizing of good outcomes for as many people as possible.
Then there’s technological progress, which if the above is somewhat debated, which no one can deny we have undergone immense amounts. It does make me worried though for the preservation of our world. We only have the one Earth, and we haven’t yet found any good backups.
I also kind of love thinking about how human culture and psychology will change if we ever can crack space. Lots of good stories and books and movies explore this already.
But beyond mere enjoyment, I think this conversation should be more in the forefront of our cultural discourse. For how advanced we feel we are as a species, we sure to get bogged down in earthly mundanity. Celebrity goss? Your Temu addiction? (I get that the fun and beauty of life come in small moments, chill.)
I also think if we don’t want our space civilization to end up a worse, more extreme version of our social state now, just in space, we should probably put a bit of thought and effort into creating a functional and fair human society. But that’s a whole other thing.
Anyway, if you’re an engineer or businessperson or smart person, maybe think a little bit about what you could contribute to a space society. Maybe you’ll help make it happen.