Space Day

2004-05-06 - 8:25 a.m.

Great workout this morning...the kind that, half-way through, wakes up the endorphins so I find myself grinning like a fool part-way through a set. Huzzah! Let's hope the rest of the day goes as well.

Today is also Space day in canada (internationally?). I'm for the space program, even in the face of criticism that those billions of dollars might be better spent feeding the hungry. I think it's important that we keep exploring and pushing our boundaries. Exploration is always a dubious prospect: European explorers pretty much brought death and destruction to the Americas a few hundred years ago, African civilizations have been plundered and destroyed...who knows how many cultures have seen their doom come at the hands of men bearing flags. But, despite all this, I can't shake the feeling that exploration, physical exploration, is crucial for our growth as a species. We need to learn to do it better, we need to learn how not to destroy whatever we find, but I think it's essential that we reach out...it's essential for our future.

Beyond that, in the more practical realm, there are more concrete reasons...

For the last billion years (or however long humans have been a species) the prime generator of economic and scientific advancement has been war. War generates a lot of revenue, and, so long as you're on the winning side, it works wonders at bringing in new tools, new cultural elements, new resources. Right now, the bulk of the world economy (though few people talk about it) is propped up by various war machines: there's a reason why the US government spends trillions of dollars on war...it's a good investment.

The only other institution (I'm not sure if that's the right word here...) through our species' history to have a similar effect has been that of exploration. Exploration and war have often been hand-in-hand, but they needn't be. Exploration doesn't need to be destructive, but war, by definition, is.

I think it's possible to, one day, shift our global economies from war-driven models to an exploration-driven model, and if that exploration is done in the spirit of avoiding past mistakes, and honouring what we discover, we'd be doing much better as a species than we are now.

May, incidently, is also Masturbation Month. I'm not sure about how masturbation helps the economy, but I know that I'm definitely in support of it, too.

Cheers,

The Magus

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