Beyond Earth (ATWG) - Chapter 10 - Cooperative Worldwide Space Collaboration by Michael Hannon

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Chapter 10

Cooperative, Worldwide Space Collaboration Epiphany: A Turning Point, or Else

by Michael Hannon

The implicate desire of all life, without exception, is to live long, prosper, and reproduce.

These are my impressions and interpretations of my perceptions:

Obstacles to Worldwide Space Collaboration:


Success for international space cooperation over the long term future requires an idealized space community in which no nation, or bloc of nations, dominates the others. Out of respect, trust, and understanding, a new international "supernation" of enthusiastic, cooperative, and collaborative nations would work together to bring forth the best results for all. The participants would include all nations presently involved in space, as well as those who aspire to participate, to achieve both a strong sense of unity and positive outcomes unprecedented in space endeavors.

This would be a single group with shared aims, rather than competition involving one-upmanship. A shared sense of identity would be foremost among all members regardless of other affiliations such as nationality, race, education, or other influences that would lead to separatism. Cooperation can be achieved by the open sharing of common goals, priorities, and results so that a strong sense of global identity and team spirit pervade as the foremost influence in decision making.

In doing so, these nations will experience equality and fairness, sharing both burdens and rewards which they could not otherwise. An inherent sense of balanced responsibility would preclude what might otherwise turn into unnecessary conflict and competition. Each member goes about its tasks in the certainty that all are doing their fair share - a strong sense of team and group effort pervades the general atmosphere, and non-productive, competitive, self-seeking attitudes give way to a shared identity with the entire group as a whole.

In contrast, the current state of space exploration and research is one of competition between agencies and nations, with only limited cooperation between them. Although the concept of worldwide space cooperation appears to be a wonderful idea, acting against the implementation of this noble enterprise and making it seem virtually impossible are issues including radically disparate national policies, and growing mistrust of efforts coming from the major world powers on anything involving international cooperation in the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq.

Despite the significant economic advantages of working together, the world is far from ready to unite in space efforts, and shall remain so as long as governments demonstrate inconsistency between their actions and their stated intents, and a general lack of open shared honesty. A stigma of unilateralism has been established so powerfully that any sudden shift to authentic internationalist goals has every appearance of disingenuousness and lack of authenticity, regardless of how sincere the intent.

Thus, a realistic outlook for a sudden shift to large scale cooperation in 2006 is neither foreseeable nor entirely possible, but able leaders worldwide in both the public and private sectors must be willing to break the ice in a sincere commitment to worldwide space cooperation research and exploration, the results of which shall be shared openly for all mankind's benefit.

Looking ahead for the next ten years, a major push needs to be made toward a mutual building of cooperation and trust so that healing to bring about serious collaboration in space can commence.


In the hostile environment of space, every move must be well-considered beforehand so that mistakes are not compounded and do not act in concert. Those involved must trust each other and themselves at a level that transcends the demands of daily life on Earth. Proven methods of nurturing and preserving trust are necessary.

It frequently happens that the best solutions do not reach fruition because of lack of shared trust and intention. Economic pressures from corporate and other influences take priority, centered not in the best effort, but in self-serving interests seated in financial gain, nationalism, cultural priorities, and all those things that have kept people separated and at odds for millennia.

Thus, the goal of maximum immediate profit must give way to meeting the needs of humanity via creation and preservation of a highly cooperative international community. The economics of such an effort must be dictated by a sense of practicality that only wisdom can nurture. It requires that we consider the entire human race as we would one human being - that humanity as a single organism exists, has needs and goals, and that the means exist for its maximum benefit, health, and well-being.

Our most common concepts of power in this respect must be expanded to include all human beings, as the limited focus only on select individuals and groups has exposed their extreme degree of negligence, waste, and environmental destruction. This poor and unwise use of power has magnified into dilemmas without known solutions, including societal, economic, financial, environmental, health, and climatic crises.

Thus, the world cannot continue as it is indefinitely without suffering dire consequences. We must choose wisely, or forever pay the price for ringing a bell that we shall discover afterwards we cannot un-ring, no matter how we try. So if there ever was a time to join together in long term visionary efforts worldwide aimed at space and space projects to benefit Earth, it is now.

The time of selfish, irresponsible gain must give way to a new era of contribution and transcendent wisdom. 2006 is the year to begin, as otherwise it will be yet another year lost to history with old problems compounded. It may very well mark the year that the war against poverty was finally undertaken in earnest at the international level, and the potential for success in the noble pursuits could create an even greater front of authentic, sincere innovation and quest toward a planetary and space renaissance. We would look back on this as the beginning, when the Earth's peoples transcended themselves to a higher level of existence rooted in potential yet dormant in their hearts and minds, as they would will to become more than they have ever been in their rightful and inevitable evolution toward their celestial future. Let us hope and pray that it shall be so.

A Future Psychology for International Cooperation:

Human behavior has now reached a point, due to advancements in weaponry and the capacity for destruction, that it has become absolutely necessary that a new psychology and methodology be developed. The capacity of humanity to continue to inflict harm and even to destroy itself must be tempered by insight and wisdom into human nature. A profound sense of purpose must emerge from within the framework of possibilities for all peoples.

If, for example, the first word children worldwide learn to read and write is "we," then child by child the world could become a much better place for all of us to enjoy life and liberty, and pursue happiness.

While spending vast resources over centuries and becoming more and more sophisticated at such methods as psychological warfare, we have spent disproportionately little energy on needs such as psychological welfare. The price of this is self-evident. If we continue dealing with the realities facing us now in a pathological manner, we shall indeed reap the fruits of our misuse of what has been given to us. Rather than acting as the true custodians of our planet and its surroundings, we shall perish as delinquent caretakers who, out of ignorance of our own self-inflicted perceptions and actions stemming from them, could never fathom why the world we created became what it has.

Thus, we descend into the same patterns suffered by previous civilizations that also failed to survive, and for the same reasons. Fixation on destructive tendencies has brought us to this, and the only way to stop this pathological state is to change the way we think, feel, and deal with ourselves and the world around us. Proven methods exist by which we can do this when we choose to.

We have in our languages words that show us the way out of the apparent dilemma in which we have placed ourselves, and we must recognize those words as belonging to us rather than simply as ideas that we have grown incapable of manifesting. Truth, honesty, honor, compassion, love, wisdom, understanding, responsibility, conscience, decency, knowledge, being, custodianship, care, and so many others have authentic meanings that have been exhibited by many of our ancestors, yet for some reason we veer ever farther away from the realities which those words describe and name. The noble dreams of our youth are clouded by icons of selfishness and greed, the thunder of war fills their ears, while among us globally those in need find neither audience, nor aid, nor solace.

We have lost our way, and we must restore it by actively pursuing world harmony through concerted efforts to overcome our disunity from millennia of negative associations, even at the subconscious level, which have plagued humanity and shall continue to do so unless we find a new way. We must do everything we can to evolve psychologically beyond where we are now, and we have the means available to do so. We simply need to make the choice and do it.

The costs borne by individual nations without international cooperation are becoming more difficult to continue, let alone expand their budgets and programs into even more serious and expansive space goals such as the Mars missions and even beyond. We are approaching the limit of what individual nations can shoulder to finance future space goals, particularly as the Earth's climate change may well saddle us with huge natural disaster recovery burdens as never before seen in history.

It thus behooves all nations to realize that what may have worked in the past is fast becoming obsolete in terms of our common wealth, and to actively seek a fundamental shift in their cultural perceptions. This will require serious effort to transform old patterns of thinking and behavior to favor shared programs instead of unilateral efforts focusing on maximum benefit for a much narrower spectrum of interests. For centuries there have been various traditional disciplines which could help us change those patterns and bring us out of this dilemma, and we are compelled by our realization of the truth to use them to do so now as never before.

As Albert Einstein expressed it, problems created at one level cannot be solved by thinking at the same level. Thus, much of what plagues mankind today, and which prevents the sort of cooperation the world indeed needs today, cannot be resolved through the same patterns of thought and action which created them in the first place. It is simply impossible to do so, and we must admit this to ourselves or continue to suffer.

The necessity of peaceful, multinational cooperation has become a major priority.

Worldwide reports of imminent climate changes, evidenced by historically unprecedented shrinking of the Arctic ice (1), and the unstoppable melting of the vast, methane-rich permafrost of western Siberia (2), which holds 70 billion tons of until-now-frozen methane and has begun its first melting in more than 10,000 years, clearly suggest that the hurricanes which struck the Gulf Coast in 2005 were a portent of worse weather coming, which will cost the United States and other nations dearly. Budgeting for space must of necessity give way to coping with such disasters.

A shift in thinking toward a general sense of "we" among all nations is needed as never before in history, or few of us may survive what is coming. It is our destiny to thus change our minds both for our own benefit and that of all life.

Thus, as our own perceptive patterns change, science itself could very well change dramatically, and in so doing stretch the possibilities before us, and the requirements to meet them.

In a world that is arguably dying from the over-use of fossil fuels and other accepted methods of energy production, we must consider any inventions not founded in conventional thought. All claims need serious review and testing in order that we all may survive on Earth and in space, where it is entirely possible that inventions such as Tom Bearden's Motionless Electromagnetic Generator (3) may provide us with long awaited safe solutions to our vast energy needs.

We cannot afford to leave any stone unturned when it comes to investigating possible energy sources, just as we cannot afford to continue thinking as we have for so long about each other. Our lives and those of our children depend on our rapidly gaining the wisdom to recognize the destructive path that we have trod so far and forever change it for our mutual benefit.

Expectations of Collaboration:

It's not that there is no value in protecting what we have - we are of course absolutely obliged to protect it. But we have taken a road which, by forcing others to submit to our will, we fail to protect. We have no intrinsic need to continue to rely on such force, particularly when its cost is so high when we can ill afford it, and when new disasters appear at our doorstep that cost us so dearly. War is increasingly losing its value as a viable option when natural disasters affect the lives of so many, and shall continue to do so because we ourselves are generating the very causes of them. Shall we fight with each other as the ship upon which we stand slowly sinks, and we all drown? It is our choice to make.

Ultimately, if all nations remain on the same path, the world will find itself in an international conflict as never experienced before in mankind's history, a conflict over conventional sources of energy and the territories that hold them. This continuing conflict will drain the resources of every nation involved, weakening them to the point of potential extinction, while any dreams we have held about space exploration and research other than for the military use will find no home, and the entire world will suffer from the insanity of conflict as never before.

We do not need to do this - any of us. We can work with each other around the world to restore our planet as a safe home for all of us and our children, and pursue unprecedented projects together internationally on Earth and in space to demonstrate those better, creative, adventurous, courageous, inventive, nourishing, enthusiastic, giving, embracing, inquisitive, loving, bold qualities in ourselves which are so capable and willing to perform, given the opportunities to do so. We can indeed make our dreams of the world and space real, and do so peacefully.

It is certain that we cannot continue with the patterns we have been manifesting for so long; we must realize how mistaken those patterns are for our own lives and those of our children, and change how we live and treat each other worldwide. Such a change opens the possibility for the fulfillment of a destiny in space that will just as certainly leave us breathless in its wonders and rewards. We can share such dreams because they are not outside the realm of possibility, and we can choose to experience them in reality and pursue them with all our hearts, minds, and bodies. We must endure in peace and make it so.

It is our choice to make with the greatest sense of conscience, responsibility, and love toward each other which each of us can muster, because the future depends on our doing so. The stars do indeed await us for the time when we have earned the right to them by our own thoughts, words, and deeds, when we at last share our destiny as members of the Divine Cosmos. Look into the heavens on a clear night and you will see our heritage. Trust in this and make no mistake about it.

Are we to take the challenge with the clarity and courage to carry on into space, other planets their moons, and the stars, or are we to toss our heritage aside while bickering our way to oblivion? Are we incapable of cooperating with each other to our mutual benefit, because we cannot break free from our deeply ingrained historical patterns of pettiness, mistrust, and lack of vision that fall upon us? I find it difficult to pose the question because the answer to this is so self-evident, yet it must certainly be asked in the context of the world as it exists today.

Other questions requiring serious research for our future:

What aspects of the human psyche pose the greatest barriers to creating a successful worldwide society based on mutual responsibility, enthusiasm, cooperation, and commitment to the general welfare of all participants?

How do we successfully prevent them from continuing to prevent a fully functional worldwide society capable of cooperative existence? How can we end the destructive cycle of war that has been draining the world of its resources for millennia, so that we can simply live to achieve those things we naturally desire as part of our heritage in the Divine Cosmos?

How do we best support each other in dealing immediately with the imminent climatic changes that could devastate significant portions of Earth's lands and populations, so that we can fulfill our heritage in peaceful international cooperative collaboration?

Postscript

The Dr. Buzz Aldrin and Thomas F. Rogers "Space Trips for Peace" concept:

Planners for the future of humans in space have the responsibility to give their plans the best potential for solving serious Earth problems. Peace has always been humanity's most important and illusive goal. Dr. Buzz Aldrin, the Gemini XII and Apollo 11 astronaut who shared the first human landings on the Moon with Neil Armstrong, during his astronaut missions conceived the idea of "Space Trips for Peace."

Tom Rogers has held leadership positions in military and civil space matters since the late 1940s. His primary contributions have been in satellite communications and navigation, space transportation, space housing, space solar power, and general public space travel. Tom joined Buzz in informal discussions, as the Third Millennium was approaching, to promote the "Space Trips for Peace" idea.

Space Trips for Peace would create crews composed of members from nations marginally friendly, hostile, or even at war with each other. Space, new to civilization and without territorial boundaries and national sovereignties, would be the ideal frontier for demonstrating that people of all cultural beliefs and religious backgrounds are able to set aside differences and work harmoniously for goals mutually considered good. The space environment would give humankind an opportunity to establish new precedents and create defining moments in the quest for worldwide peace. The selected space crew and travelers would be fully trained and active participants during these highly publicized missions.

References:

About the Author

Extracted from the book Beyond Earth - The Future of Humans in Space edited by Bob Krone ©2006 Apogee Books ISBN 978-1-894959-41-4

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