4 ms·

It was jarring and a bit ironic* to hear William Shatner call space "black ugliness" and the embodiment of "death", for sure. That said, I know we all get his

It was jarring and a bit ironic* to hear William Shatner call space "black ugliness" and the embodiment of "death", for sure. That said, I know we all get his meaning. This tiny blue dot, our collective "blue origin" (har), for humanity is life, livelihood... everything. And it's so fragile and insignificant against the immensity of the universe. I wish all world leaders could have such an epiphany as he clearly had. * Notably, Shatner is familiar to us as the confidently-space-faring Captain Kirk, a character that brought to the world the idea that space travel is the mundane, normal, expected next step for humanity.

jazzyjackson 5y ago
I think realizing space is an embodiment of death is consistent with the "overview effect" - to realize we are lucky to have the earth keeping us all alive, and while we can develop technology to push us outward into the black, there is not necessarily anything there for us. Might be better to "make it work" on this planet rather than run for greener pastures.
- worrycue 5y ago
  In contrast to people super hyped about space I have a far more pessimistic view. I feel that if the US spends enough money they will get to Mars, leave some instruments, and maybe go back a few more times, then … everyone will forget about it and move on - just like they did with the Moon. I don’t get the talk of colonising Mars either. Who the heck would want to live there? After the novelty of “I’m on another planet!” wears off, all you got is a hostile environment that doesn’t support life. It’s a dead planet with insufficient oxygen in the atmosphere to support human life, no magnetic field to protect it, and significantly lower gravity than Earth’s (whose gravitational field our bodies have evolved to function in). Living anywhere but earth seem more dangerous and for most part is a less pleasant experience. Frankly, if it did become economical to migrate to Mars and live there, it would probably be the poor who would end up on Mars due to the potential gentrification of Earth. Not saying we shouldn’t make “escape plans” from earth - although with several billion of us I wonder how feasible an escape plan will really be and for how many - but some people’s view of the colonisation of space is a tad too positive IMHO.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - rrrrrrrrrrrryan 5y ago
    > I don’t get the talk of colonising Mars either. Who the heck would want to live there? I think the idea is more about creating some redundancy for humanity. Every day, there's a nonzero chance of some cataclysmic event happening that wipes out all human life on earth. If we had a self-sustaining colony on Mars, we'd be able to continue on. But I agree with the take that you wouldn't want to live there until they have vineyards, and creating a vineyard on Mars is going to be orders of magnitude more difficult than creating a vineyard on the South Pole, or the top of Everest.
chrisco255 5y ago
Your definition of fragile is different than mine. It's clearly antifragile as it has survived and thrived for billions of years.
- inanutshellus 5y ago
  Tell that to the dinosaurs.
- mrexroad 5y ago
  Sure, the strongest and most adaptable life forms survived each mass extinction event, but our planet itself is middle aged in its “lifespan” of being able to support higher life forms. We (as in life on earth, not just humanity) don’t have much runway for that many more do-overs.
divbzero 5y ago
Space travel would be mundane if we could travel at warp speed to other welcoming dots lightyears away, but current the reality now is closer to what William Shatner described — “black ugliness” surrounding our beautiful blue orb.

jazzyjackson 5y ago

I think realizing space is an embodiment of death is consistent with the "overview effect" - to realize we are lucky to have the earth keeping us all alive, and while we can develop technology to push us outward into the black, there is not necessarily anything there for us. Might be better to "make it work" on this planet rather than run for greener pastures.

worrycue 5y ago
In contrast to people super hyped about space I have a far more pessimistic view. I feel that if the US spends enough money they will get to Mars, leave some instruments, and maybe go back a few more times, then … everyone will forget about it and move on - just like they did with the Moon. I don’t get the talk of colonising Mars either. Who the heck would want to live there? After the novelty of “I’m on another planet!” wears off, all you got is a hostile environment that doesn’t support life. It’s a dead planet with insufficient oxygen in the atmosphere to support human life, no magnetic field to protect it, and significantly lower gravity than Earth’s (whose gravitational field our bodies have evolved to function in). Living anywhere but earth seem more dangerous and for most part is a less pleasant experience. Frankly, if it did become economical to migrate to Mars and live there, it would probably be the poor who would end up on Mars due to the potential gentrification of Earth. Not saying we shouldn’t make “escape plans” from earth - although with several billion of us I wonder how feasible an escape plan will really be and for how many - but some people’s view of the colonisation of space is a tad too positive IMHO.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- rrrrrrrrrrrryan 5y ago
  > I don’t get the talk of colonising Mars either. Who the heck would want to live there? I think the idea is more about creating some redundancy for humanity. Every day, there's a nonzero chance of some cataclysmic event happening that wipes out all human life on earth. If we had a self-sustaining colony on Mars, we'd be able to continue on. But I agree with the take that you wouldn't want to live there until they have vineyards, and creating a vineyard on Mars is going to be orders of magnitude more difficult than creating a vineyard on the South Pole, or the top of Everest.

chrisco255 5y ago

Your definition of fragile is different than mine. It's clearly antifragile as it has survived and thrived for billions of years.

inanutshellus 5y ago
Tell that to the dinosaurs.
mrexroad 5y ago
Sure, the strongest and most adaptable life forms survived each mass extinction event, but our planet itself is middle aged in its “lifespan” of being able to support higher life forms. We (as in life on earth, not just humanity) don’t have much runway for that many more do-overs.

divbzero 5y ago

Space travel would be mundane if we could travel at warp speed to other welcoming dots lightyears away, but current the reality now is closer to what William Shatner described — “black ugliness” surrounding our beautiful blue orb.