Wondrous Web Worlds Vol. 2
Good evening. My name is Tyree Campbell, and I will be your host for the next thirty minutes or so of rampant reasoning, reactionary romanticism, and randy rationality, during which I get to present an opinion and you get to read it...or not. For any of this to make sense, though, you're going to need a point of reference, a coign of vantage from which you can observe and interpret the entire battlefield. That would be the ProMartian Message Board. You're looking for the series of entries titled "Mars and Bleakness." Keep them in mind as you read this.
The desirability of Space Travel seems to trouble some of us. Specifically: why should we spend billions of dollars, pounds, yen, francs, and ringgits on Space Travel when we could put that money to far better use right here on Earth, fighting the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? Specifically: why not solve our problems here first?
[*anime sigh]
Okay...let's start with the response from history. [You in the third row! No cringing or wincing!] As far as I am aware, Homo sapiens sapiens emerged as a species some 100,000 years ago. If you want to say 200,000, I won't quibble. If you wish to adhere to the date of Biblical Creation established by James, Bishop of Ussher, at 4004 B.C., go for it. [The Universal Histories, published in several volumes in 1779, took this date for fact, and included considerable debate over whether the specific day was March 21 or September 21, and leaned, btw, toward the latter...] [There will be a quiz...] But during all this time--200,000 years or 100,000 years or [as you read this] 6,005 years 10 months 10 days--and despite Commandments, laws, codes, regulations, rules, statutes, strictures, policies, decrees, directives, edicts, protocols, Diets, Committees, Conventions, revolutions, movements, folk songs, earnest wishes, and just plain old hope, we are still killing one another and we are still wasting resources and we are still overpopulating this planet. Moreover, despite the wussy philosophical and socio-emotional slush that passes for Star Trek Theory and Practice, we are going to continue to do these things to one another in the XXIII Century, the XXIV, and the LXXXVIII. Per omnia saecula saeculorum.**
And the Haves have been depriving the Have-Nots since Jacob donned that cloth of hair and deked Esau out of his inheritance [jeez, you'd think old Ike woulda noticed...like, Esau, you smell like a goat, man...go take a bath, then we'll talk]. It's not going to change. The French Revolution lopped off enough aristocratic heads to stock a proletarian bowling alley. The Russian Revolution and Stalin's Great Purge arguably led to the current situation in which Tovarishch Putin finds himself vying with the Russian mafia for economic control of the country...because the bourgeoisie Haves who managed the industry and economy, however poorly, are long gone, and all that remain are the bureaucrats and the criminals--which in many cases are one and the same. The Chinese Cultural Revolution destroyed so many creative individuals that it assured for decades the supremacy and conformity of the mediocre [I don't know which is worse: that China manufactures each day enough trinkets and knick-knacks to fill a major city's landfill, or that Americans buy them].
Well, Nature abhors a vacuum, it is said. So does economics. If you kill off the rich, others will replace them. And most people will still be poor. That is the way of things.
And now on to the response from socio-economics. Admittedly there are solutions...actions we can choose to take, practices we can choose to adopt. The problems referred to in "Mars and Bleakness" are not unsolvable. Gordian, perhaps, but not unsolvable. Here's some ideas---
1. Reduce the population of the planet.
There are several ways to accomplish this. War would do it, if sufficiently extensive and destructive. So would pestilence, and/or famine. Splicing a lemming gene into human DNA might even contribute to population reduction [we could help our children practice for their eventual demise by teaching them to build little walls of Legos and hurl themselves off them]. Extensive and strict practice of birth control is the duh! answer. But virtually every major Terran religion advocates as a principle of faith unceasing reproduction until the entire mass of the planet has been converted into human flesh. [Note to Pope John Paul II: Open a can of sardines sometime]. And how, exactly, are you going to enforce birth laws? Forcibly terminate a woman's second pregnancy? Lop off the head of the man who sires a second child? [Not that head...the other one] [On the plus side of which the television series "The Sopranos" could take on a whole new meaning...].
Population is also a weapon. China brags that it can lose half its people in a nuclear war and still be the most populous country on the planet [India, I'm sure, would have something to say about that, as would, in fifty years, at the present reproductive rate, Brazil]. In this country, in the public schools, blacks and Hispanics comprise over 50% of the students...a fact which has not been lost on mostly white Christian fundamentalists and militants, who have recently accelerated the rate of their own reproduction. Overpopulation and unchecked population growth lead to fear and to the racism that fear engenders. And to competition for resources. Which leads to war. Which brings us full circle. Sigh.
In short: external factors such as disease and war might temporarily reduce the Earth's population, but without a practical and enforceable birth control practice, that population would recover...and we'll do this again and again. And we are not going to have a birth control policy until religion gets out of the way. And on that day, Satan will practice triple salchows in the office.
2. Reduce/efficiently manage the exploitation of Earth's resources.
At one time there was hope for this. But the present administration has pulled so many teeth from the Environmental Protection Agency that the worst punishment the EPA can now inflict on a polluter is a severe gumming. And the present administration has managed to cloak itself with the flag. To oppose it is unpatriotic.
Contributing to the planetwide problems are the desires of the so-called Third World to be brought up to economic speed as quickly as possible [one of the reasons the Kyoto Accords were gutted of effective policy even before the U.S. deratified them]. The shortcuts used by the Third World to achieve economic parity waste resources and pollute the Earth...but if the U.S. and the other G8 countries impede these practices by requiring, for example, control of emission levels, it leaves us open to charges of racism. True, when the G8 countries were in the industrial developmental stages, they polluted like nobody's business, but innovations and developments in technology have now enabled them to ravage the Earth with far more sophisticated pollution. Third World countries are mere tyros by comparison...
Unpleasantly, I must add here that the U.S. and G8 countries have thrown money at the Third World countries, ostensibly to help solve some of their difficulties. Most recently, Argentina defaulted on World Bank loans, much of the money from which went into the coffers of the wealthy in Buenos Aires and Geneva and Nassau instead of into development of the country. Not long before, Brazil failed to maintain payments on World Bank loans, much money from which also went into the bank accounts of the wealthy, many of which can be found at 1-800-ZURICH, ext. HUSH. Both defaults, incidentally, ruined a major bank or two, converted some middle-class investments and IRAs to rubble, and contributed to the least talked-about problem in this country, incipient inflation. Throwing money at the problem also helped another individual, one Idi Amin, who now resides in Switzerland with a bank account chock full of U.S. dollars [about ten billion, by some estimates]. Uganda could use an infusion of ten billion dollars into its economy. The problem is, World Bank loans and foreign aid rarely make it to the target economies intact. Someone always grabs.
It might be possible, of course, to elect a government in this country that would insist on the institution of economic reforms in the target country before it threw money at the problems. But that would require voters to rise up and throw entire legislatures out of office...and there is no guarantee the newly elected officials would be an improvement...nor is there any indication that any mass of voters anywhere in the industrialized world is actually on the verge of rising up. It is unreasonable to expect an uprising among a population which, by and large, uses a remote control module to change channels on the television set without having actually to get up off the couch.
All that aside, the bottom line is that [duh!] as population increases, the exploitable resources decrease and pollution increases. Which returns us to the population problem.
3. Give money to the poor.
Here's a simple test. Did you receive a $300 tax rebate last year? If so, what did you do with it? Are you any better off now for the objects you bought with it? Are you any better off, because of this rebate, than those who did not receive one? Or vice versa? [Yeh, yeh, depends on the vice...].
Maybe that's a bit harsh. There are organizations which help the needy. There are food pantries, various shelters, homeless programs. Sure, give a can of pork and beans, or donate an old sofa, or take a few moments to say hi to those who sleep in the Greyhound stations. Stop by a Veterans' Home once in a while and say thank you to those who lost limbs or body parts in the service of their--and your--country. Participate in assistance activities with your church, if you are of a mind to do. Sponsor a child or two through the Christian Children's Fund or the Pearl Buck Society. If each person eased the pain and suffering of one other person on this planet, yes, that would be a Good Thing. But without population control, those of us who CAN help will continue to be vastly outnumbered by those who NEED help. We've come full circle again, folks. We're back to square one. We're back to the problem of overpopulation.
[*anime voice in crowd: Psst! What's all this got to do with Space Travel?]
I thought you'd never ask...
Exactly one year ago ProMartian published my first Tuppence [you can still read it...simply scroll down and click on August]. In it I pointed out that when the New World opened up, the vast majority of people on the planet stayed home. Those who settled here did so primarily for one of three reasons. One, nobody could stand them in Europe, so they had to leave [e.g., the Pilgrims]. Two, they were brought here by force [e.g., the slaves, and the convicts of Georgia--England's practice run for Australia]. Three, they came seeking fortune and glory [in fact, the fortune-hunters came first]. The New World was not for everyone...not, at least, until it was molded into a place attractive to people who desired to live and work.
Space Travel is not for everyone. When planets in this Solar System and others are colonized, most people will still be here, looking down. It seems likely, history being repetitive, that Earth will find people it cannot stand, and send them to the colonies [e.g., HIV-positives? Liberals? Cubs fans?]. And labor forces will be impressed [no, the other definition], and dispatched to the colonies. And some will go Out There to seek their fortunes. And that's it. Most folks will stay home, watch re-runs of "Seinfeld," quaff bad beer, complain about their neighbor's power mowers, pretend that pizza is actually nutritious and not just a Happy Face with acne, lament the mundane in their lives, read their horoscopes religiously, vote for one of the two major parties instead of for a party whose political beliefs are not moribund, wear the attire du jour and drink the flavored high fructose corn syrup du jour as decreed by the fluff pop star du jour, place a brick in their toilet tank to conserve water just like the rich people do, and ruminate about the good old days. Perhaps, at the very end, they will yell out, as Steve McQueen did just before they shot him at the climax of The Sand Pebbles, "What the hell happened?"
[Oh yes it is true! What's worse, the lives of the vast majority of people on this planet are not even that good.] [Life is nasty, British, and short].
Let's consider a rather more cogent paradigm. In Wondrous Web Worlds 2, a marvelous collection of the very best short stories and poems published online during the year 2001 [you don't own a copy???? Fie on you!!! But you can rectify the omission by ordering one through ProMartian...there should be a logo somewhere in this here site] you will find four wonderful thought-provoking poems by the Barrister Bard of Almost Heaven, Erin Donahoe. One of them is Eurydice's Legacy. If I were to "theme" the poem, I would do so like this: Cinderella transforms to The Old Woman In The Shoe.
Yeah, well...happens allatime. C'est la vie.
Fantasy and science fiction and, to some extent, even horror, prolong the sense of Cinderella in our lives for as long as possible. That "sense" is what keeps us dreaming and thinking and living. Those of us who "see"--the Donahoes and Guidrys and Sngs [oh, my!], and Erwines, Buburuzes, Sikoras, Miniers, Bostons, Simons, Garfunkels, Heinleins, Asimovs, Sheffields, McCaffreys, Dostoyevskys, Van Goghs, Hawkings, Lucases, Moores...--those of us able to express our vision in a medium which others can grasp, however poorly, be it in words, colors, film, lyrics, equations...those of us who "see" are the ones who instill that "sense" in others. That "sense" is what impedes the progression from Cinderella to The Old Woman In The Shoe.
In our own way, perhaps, we serve to lift the spirits of others.
Is it like this, for you? You gather a couple cups of flour, some baking soda, brown sugar, cane sugar, couple eggs, nice big mixing bowl, big wooden spoon, and a whole package of chocolate chips [minus those you nibble along the way, of course], blend, spoon onto a cookie sheet, pop into the oven for like fifteen minutes, and at the end, you eat them all before they are even cooled. Do you feel a sense of euphoria? Of having accomplished something you set out to do?
Is it like this, for you? You buy a clay pot, fill it with dirt, pop a couple pea seeds in. You water, and nurture...and maybe five, ten days later a leaf pops up. Maybe you think, awright! And you start the vigil. Two leaves, four leaves, six leaves, a flower. And another. Maybe you insert a little trellis for the pea vine to cling to. And the flowers bloom, and form little pods, and day by day you can see the pods expand, you can count the tiny bumps inside them as they grow. And one day, maybe two months after you planted the seed, you snip off a pod, open it, and pop those peas right into your mouth. Aren't they the best peas you've ever eaten? Why do you suppose that is? Could it be the euphoria of accomplishment?
Is it like this, for you? You "see" a protagonist and a circumstance, a conflict and a potential resolution--a story. Maybe even, like me, you see something of yourself in the situation. You sit down and type, day after day. You cut, paste, delete, add, delete and add again, and still the &%$#$%ing words just won't come out the way you want them, and you print out what you have, and line through this %$&#ing paragraph and that, and finally crumple the &%$#ing papers, it's just not right, you can't get it right, and so you pour more coffee, and stay up so late that the dogs begin to wonder if you are ever going to let them outside again... And one evening, maybe you've just gotten off the IM with a friend, and suddenly you see it! That's the word you wanted! That's the ending you were looking for! That's what your protagonist should do! That's exactly how to portray that emotion! Yes!
Been there? Done that?
That's one person. You. Me. What you feel. What I feel. One person.
There are like seven billion of us. We have some things in common. We eat, we drink, we defecate, we fight, we fuck, we sleep, we hurt, we enjoy, laugh, write, lament, read, cry, smile, create, destroy...and we die. A hundred million Indonesians have never even heard of that consecration of athletic/financial prowess known as the Super Bowl. To them, it's maybe something that holds a lot more salad. Probably 95% of Americans have no idea what Borobudur is, or have a clue regarding what to do with the apsaras on the friezes there [of course I know. I'm not that old].
But we have something in common. Something we all know about...maybe not approve of, but know about. Something that includes all of humanity. It's not the Beatles, not Muhammad Ali, not Monica Lewinsky, or the Ramones, chocolate creme pie, laser eye surgery, breast implants, viagra, Enron, El Nino...it's...well...
Here---
This is how it was described by one observer.
"...we had seen a demonstration of man at his best...this was the cause of the event's attraction and of the stunned, numbed state in which it left us. And no one could doubt that we had seen an achievement of man in his capacity as a rational being--an achievement of reason, of logic, of mathematics, of total dedication..."***
This describes the launching of Apollo 11.
Man at his best.
That is what this species is capable of.
A sense of euphoria, not for an individual, but for a species.
"For All Mankind."
That's, like, all, dude. And that's pretty friggin' inclusive.
There will always be poverty, brutality, unkindness, inequity. As there will always be courage, rectitude, help, and love. Do whatever we will, we cannot alter these dichotomies, not without violating every precept of liberty that ostensibly we hold dear...and even then the probability of success is approximately that of buying the winning lottery ticket. If that.
On the aforementioned Message Board, it was suggested that we ought to solve all our problems here before venturing out into space, because if we don't solve them, we might well take those problems out into space with us.
Well...yeah!
That's true. We might well do that.
The very motivations that appall us--excessive acquisition, lust for power and/or money--are the ones that drove the first explorers into the New World...and are the ones which will impell the first explorers into Out There. As for the rest of us--among our other lamentable characteristics, we are a complacent species. As long as no one interferes with the "Cheers" re-runs and the six-packs of Old Armpit, and the horoscopes, humans are happy as a muckraker in sewage. If we solved all our problems, we might as well hang a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the Solar System. We wouldn't go anywhere. [Ooo, which reminds me...when you have time, read "Vapors" in the current issue of The Fifth Di... It might be relevant...].
Also, we'd have damn little to write about. The very conflicts that make us human also provide grist for the mills of our keyboards. Where would Dostoyevsky be with Raskolnikov's need to murder the old lady, and his subsequent guilt? Where would Tolstoy be without Napoleon? Heinlein without The Future?
Bush without al-Qaeda?
And without the Palestinians, Israel would be just another place for the caravan camels to relieve themselves on the way from Cairo to Baghdad.
And where would we be without the Space Program?
[*anime voice in crowd: There would be no Tang.]
Yup! No Tang. And there would be no computers, calculators, Martian Wave, Fifth Di..., Aoife's Kiss, Champagne Shivers, Mazdas, Tupperware, Bud Ice [oops, wait a sec, that might be a good thing], DVDs, fuel injection, Playstation 2, Vanilla Coke [oops, again], palm pilots, Britney Spears [hmm...maybe the naysayers have a point], cell phones, clap on/off ceiling lights, organ transplants, and so on ad nauseam. Virtually everything we take for granted in our lives has come about as the result of, or has been improved by, the Space Program of the Fifties and Sixties and the concommittant development of technology.
And there is something mystical about the prospect of Space Travel that makes some of us dream. There's no denying that. You look up at the night sky and wonder what's out there and whether we are truly alone. What happens to a people, to a sentient species, when you take away the inspirations for dreams? When you take away the stars? Do you truly wish to find out?
Let's summarize: Virtually everything that makes your lives easier, more pleasant, more convenient, safer, and healthier derives in some way from technologies developed as the result of the Space Program. Virtually everything that makes your lives harder, more unpleasant, inconvenient, and dangerous derives in some way from the overpopulation of the planet.
So...yes, gosh yes, do help others. Do hold hands and light candles against those darknesses you see. Show others your vision. Recycle. Respect. Be kind.
Write. Draw.
But always, remember where you're going. Where you are capable of going. Remember humanity at its best.
Always, look up.
--------------------
* apologies to the Moody Blues
** 'world without end' - translation from the Vulgate [Latin Mass]
*** from "Apollo 11" by Ayn Rand, The Objectivist, September 1969, p.6
Previous Tuppence
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December '01
October '01
August '01
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Wondrous Web Worlds Vol. 2
