Where do you see the human race 50 years from now? If you're a trekkie you may look to the stars. Whovians probably see the world being just as corrupt but with flying cars. If you are into comics you may see a more dystopic view. Anything from a world in which we all wear masks or a zombie ridden shell of a planet. And then you have people who like Red Dwarf who probably think nothing is going to change.
Whatever your view is, we can all agree in a culture so open to the idea of space and time travel, we keep our heads and eyes pressed against the pages of fiction. As entertaining as that is, it can leave you slightly disconnected with the real world and what nerdy, geeky, spacey-wacey things we are ACTUALLY doing.
Guest writer Simon McBride tells us if an apocalyptic future or a space travelling future is our most likely reality. Are we heading for Mad Max or Deep Space Nine? Read on as Simon literally Talks Nerdy to us:
Here are a few thoughts to hopefully lighten your mood on the future. I want to talk big, but by talking big, the topic I want to cover starts to become… imprecise. Keep with me though, and by the end of this I think it’s likely that we’ll be on the same page.
There is something that I think may just be a part of the human condition; a concept that we just love to explore, that some of us obsess over - be it with worry or with a bizarre sense of anticipation. That is, my friends, the end of the world.
The purpose of this article is to either dispel your worries (or crush your hopes!) in regards to this fascinating topic. To be honest I think that even us diehard fans of Left for Dead or Mad Max don’t actually want the end of the world; it’s just a great thought exercise. A way of playing make believe now that we’re grown up after all, climbing through trees and bushes isn’t looked upon as endearingly as it is with children.
On the small scale I recall when George W Bush became the President of the United States of America, the western world was alight with the fear that was intrinsically wrapped around the events of 9/11, and for a moment it felt like anything could happen. We could wake up one morning and find the world a wasteland around us. Like most of the people I assume are reading this I am too young to remember what it felt like when the Soviet Union had thousands of ICBM's pointed at the West, and the West in turn had their own pointed back. In those day the end of the world was, for decades, only minutes away.
My parents were too young to know what it was like when Britain stood on the brink, but my grandparents felt the tremors as they were bombed every single night. They didn’t know if the breaking of dawn would bring an invasion. Sometimes - perversely - I find myself a little envious of that. Envious of never having seen the trails left in the sky from dozens of fighters locked in a battle that would determine the future of our civilisation. Envious of being there while history - the future - unfolded around them, in Dunkirk, in Normandy, in Bastogne, in the Arden. Of course, it should go without saying that I am grateful to be a part of a generation that never had to make such a harrowing sacrifice.
Today people fear the relationship between the US and North Korea, with India and Pakistan, with NATO and the Russian Federation. We fear global warming, and the inevitable dawn of artificial intelligence. These are fears that are well founded; they are worthy of debate and discussion, but today that is not my intent.
Today I want to suggest to you that we have done it; we have achieved something that grants us our future. Well, almost...
If you have been following Space X over the last few years, you will most likely be well aware of what I am about to say. It’s sad that I feel the need to make this article, though; I think that the level of exposure this innovative company gets is pitifully small, especially when you take into account the applications of the technology they produce and what that in turn means for humanity.
Not only has Space X, in the last decade, made the cost of space travel plummet, it has made the transportation reusable, efficient, and so much safer. If all goes to plan next year - which, at the time of writing will be 2018 - it’ll be able to boast half of the world’s orbital launches.I hear you ask; “What has that got to do with avoiding the end of the world?”... I’m here to tell you that it has absolutely everything to do with it!
Space X plan to launch two cargo ships to Mars in 2022, followed by a further two in 2024. The 2024 launch will be accompanied by two manned crafts, embarking on a three month journey to the Red Planet. Yep. Manned crafts. That’s only seven years from now. Not a decade. Not when you’re old. Not something that your grandchildren might get so see. This is something that you will witness, and soon.
So, what’s the plan? I’ll tell you. They want to build a city, a self sustainable one, and have people live there. They want to make humanity an interplanetary civilisation. Think of humanity’s biggest achievements to date; splitting the atom? One small step? Fire? None of them have anything on this. This is going to bring us one step closer to unstoppable; if Earth were to fall humanity will just keep going on. It’ll recover, move forwards.
So what will the next generation bring? The one after that? Think about this moment. Take the time to let it wash over you. You are a part of the last generation of humans that collectively call Earth 'home'. Before you know it Carl Sagan’s 'Pale Blue Dot' will be out of date, and we can be sure that he would be the first to be thrilled about that fact.
Let’s go further - but to do that, we must quickly glance into the past. By the time my grandparents were experiencing World War II, aircraft soared across the skies but had not yet managed to cross the oceans. When my parents were in school, Neil Armstrong placed his boots on the surface of the moon. And me? I’ll get to see someone stand on the surface of Mars. Maybe my future children will live or work there. And my grandchildren? Who knows? How can we possibly predict their actions in this time of exponential scientific growth? The momentum is, and has been for over a century, building up and building up fast.
Dr Frank Drake, in collaboration with some of the best minds in multiple fields, came up with the now famous Drake Equation. You most likely know of it, but in short it’s an equation that predicts the number of probably communicative civilisations in the galaxy. That number… well, given the sheer scale of the numbers involved it should be lots. Lots and lots. But where are these communicative civilisations?
This question gives us the Fermi Paradox, implying that there may well be something akin to filters that prevent technological life from sprouting; barriers that most life could fall prey to such as natural disasters (sorry, dinosaurs! Asteroids are a bitch), or advancements in technology that end up being a destructive force (the Cold War could well have hampered our progress). There may yet even be unforeseen barriers that we are yet to encounter.
Think of this, though, the reason why what SpaceX is doing is so important, the reason why their work should be at the front of every newspaper, every broadcast, why their work should be inspiring church bells to ring and the street parties of old to light up our towns and cities in jubilation… If the world does come to an end it had better happen sooner rather than later, because it won’t be long before the very concept of that happening is as outdated as the idea that we’ll fall off the edge of the world if we sail out too far.
Humanity is about to become a multi-planetary civilisation, and thus a near immortal one.
S.McBride
There is something that I think may just be a part of the human condition; a concept that we just love to explore, that some of us obsess over - be it with worry or with a bizarre sense of anticipation. That is, my friends, the end of the world.
The purpose of this article is to either dispel your worries (or crush your hopes!) in regards to this fascinating topic. To be honest I think that even us diehard fans of Left for Dead or Mad Max don’t actually want the end of the world; it’s just a great thought exercise. A way of playing make believe now that we’re grown up after all, climbing through trees and bushes isn’t looked upon as endearingly as it is with children.
On the small scale I recall when George W Bush became the President of the United States of America, the western world was alight with the fear that was intrinsically wrapped around the events of 9/11, and for a moment it felt like anything could happen. We could wake up one morning and find the world a wasteland around us. Like most of the people I assume are reading this I am too young to remember what it felt like when the Soviet Union had thousands of ICBM's pointed at the West, and the West in turn had their own pointed back. In those day the end of the world was, for decades, only minutes away.
My parents were too young to know what it was like when Britain stood on the brink, but my grandparents felt the tremors as they were bombed every single night. They didn’t know if the breaking of dawn would bring an invasion. Sometimes - perversely - I find myself a little envious of that. Envious of never having seen the trails left in the sky from dozens of fighters locked in a battle that would determine the future of our civilisation. Envious of being there while history - the future - unfolded around them, in Dunkirk, in Normandy, in Bastogne, in the Arden. Of course, it should go without saying that I am grateful to be a part of a generation that never had to make such a harrowing sacrifice.
Today people fear the relationship between the US and North Korea, with India and Pakistan, with NATO and the Russian Federation. We fear global warming, and the inevitable dawn of artificial intelligence. These are fears that are well founded; they are worthy of debate and discussion, but today that is not my intent.
Today I want to suggest to you that we have done it; we have achieved something that grants us our future. Well, almost...
If you have been following Space X over the last few years, you will most likely be well aware of what I am about to say. It’s sad that I feel the need to make this article, though; I think that the level of exposure this innovative company gets is pitifully small, especially when you take into account the applications of the technology they produce and what that in turn means for humanity.
Not only has Space X, in the last decade, made the cost of space travel plummet, it has made the transportation reusable, efficient, and so much safer. If all goes to plan next year - which, at the time of writing will be 2018 - it’ll be able to boast half of the world’s orbital launches.I hear you ask; “What has that got to do with avoiding the end of the world?”... I’m here to tell you that it has absolutely everything to do with it!
Space X plan to launch two cargo ships to Mars in 2022, followed by a further two in 2024. The 2024 launch will be accompanied by two manned crafts, embarking on a three month journey to the Red Planet. Yep. Manned crafts. That’s only seven years from now. Not a decade. Not when you’re old. Not something that your grandchildren might get so see. This is something that you will witness, and soon.
So, what’s the plan? I’ll tell you. They want to build a city, a self sustainable one, and have people live there. They want to make humanity an interplanetary civilisation. Think of humanity’s biggest achievements to date; splitting the atom? One small step? Fire? None of them have anything on this. This is going to bring us one step closer to unstoppable; if Earth were to fall humanity will just keep going on. It’ll recover, move forwards.
So what will the next generation bring? The one after that? Think about this moment. Take the time to let it wash over you. You are a part of the last generation of humans that collectively call Earth 'home'. Before you know it Carl Sagan’s 'Pale Blue Dot' will be out of date, and we can be sure that he would be the first to be thrilled about that fact.
Let’s go further - but to do that, we must quickly glance into the past. By the time my grandparents were experiencing World War II, aircraft soared across the skies but had not yet managed to cross the oceans. When my parents were in school, Neil Armstrong placed his boots on the surface of the moon. And me? I’ll get to see someone stand on the surface of Mars. Maybe my future children will live or work there. And my grandchildren? Who knows? How can we possibly predict their actions in this time of exponential scientific growth? The momentum is, and has been for over a century, building up and building up fast.
Dr Frank Drake, in collaboration with some of the best minds in multiple fields, came up with the now famous Drake Equation. You most likely know of it, but in short it’s an equation that predicts the number of probably communicative civilisations in the galaxy. That number… well, given the sheer scale of the numbers involved it should be lots. Lots and lots. But where are these communicative civilisations?
This question gives us the Fermi Paradox, implying that there may well be something akin to filters that prevent technological life from sprouting; barriers that most life could fall prey to such as natural disasters (sorry, dinosaurs! Asteroids are a bitch), or advancements in technology that end up being a destructive force (the Cold War could well have hampered our progress). There may yet even be unforeseen barriers that we are yet to encounter.
Think of this, though, the reason why what SpaceX is doing is so important, the reason why their work should be at the front of every newspaper, every broadcast, why their work should be inspiring church bells to ring and the street parties of old to light up our towns and cities in jubilation… If the world does come to an end it had better happen sooner rather than later, because it won’t be long before the very concept of that happening is as outdated as the idea that we’ll fall off the edge of the world if we sail out too far.
Humanity is about to become a multi-planetary civilisation, and thus a near immortal one.
S.McBride