In a closed system, all growth must eventually cease; all change gradually diminishes into constancy. Right now, humanity is exponentially accelerating its pace towards the boundaries of its own (currently) closed system. We must scale the walls of the closed systems that have limited us for so long. With no leader, and no helpful measures of our progress, we must traverse paths that will enable our transcendence–or at least forestall violent collision. This blog recounts, comments on, and sometimes attempts to predict the leaps (both big and small) that move us along these paths.
I believe that reason can inform this discussion, and that reason demands flexible opinions, for the facts are never truly known. Nevertheless, I do have an agenda in my writings, a set of goals I think will move us forward, and they are my primary focus:
We must move into space, harness non-fossil-fuel energies, sustainably live in our environment, make true peace with our neighbors, broaden tolerance and respect beyond the narrow confines of homogenous social groups, teach science to our children who will maintain and expand the technological edifice that sustains every human life, guarantee safety and equality to everyone despite tremendous and irresistible technological change, and finally we must elevate the tone of our discussion in order to encourage the voices of beneficial change to speak up and be heard.
Along the way to the future, corporations, governments, societies, religions, and cultures will be irrevocably changed. Change may even come to our definitions of intelligence, and of humanity itself. These deeper issues are not part of an agenda which I have predefined; my opinions on them will change through the course of the coming years. But I will not be shy about voicing those same opinions, because the discussion that follows is what will redefine them. So read, enjoy (or not), and comment–especially if you disagree.
Thanks for making your agenda even less hidden. There are paradoxes at work here as is often the case in your writing. You can embrace technology as part of the human condition and the key to the future while recognizing it as part of the human problem. You can have strong opinions without being dogmatic. You can recognize and promote discussion of what needs to be done for long term survival of our species, while remaining engaged with the present — through education, discussion, and empathy for the problems of the less fortunate in the here and now. Good paradoxes there.
I’m glad you are writing this blog, and I’m glad I have started to explore the “blog subculture” of people who are thinking differently about the future and the present. Sure you have your blogging bigots and curmudgeons, and maybe blogging won’t change the world. Maybe it’s just thinking out loud. But there is the ever so slight chance that you will make a difference.
When I wrote “Go Play in Space” I had a mental picture of a boy or girl somewhere who might find this book in 2005 or 2006, maybe play with Orbiter a bit, and maybe this would plant a seed of interest in science or technology, space or otherwise. Maybe he or she will someday play a key role in getting us through the many likely crises of the next 50-100 years. I probably will never know if this happens, but the chance to make a difference with even one person is worth it.
I think a commitment to humanity’s future is more important than any consistent position you or anyone could have — I guess I really believe in successive approximations. So keep blogging in approximately the right direction - I for one think it’s worth it.
-Bruce
P.S. My Orbiter article is on Space Review this week.
Bruce,
Thanks again for another thoughtful comment. The paradoxes you’ve highlighted are part of the nuanced nature of life that serve to keep us on our toes. We are all torn by competing interests; for example, we are angered that innocent people die in wars, but we know that they are sometimes worth fighting.
I think that the blog subculture has a definite value to society, even those who do not blog. A year ago I remember sitting in my apartment thinking about how dominant corporations had become in the voice of the internet. The top sites are all run by corporations, with the exception of a rare-few “pre-blogs” such as Slashdot or Boing-Boing. Then, I discovered blogs around the time of the election, and starting with political blogs and working my way out I was amazed at the energy and thought that people devote to online discussion.
Blogs provide something totally new to the universe of disseminating information, they provide context. A typicaly blog entry provides facts, either from the blogger’s expriences or culled from the net, and then comments on them. Others often comment on those posts, providing, in one click, a view of an issue far broader than the lone newsman can provide. Their promise to informing and exciting teenagers and children because of the context offered is perhaps a science or space blog’s greatest strength.