Extracts From The 'Science Fiction' Diaries 2012:
It has been remarked that the
only qualifiable reason that space agencies (such as NASA and affiliated bodies)
are searching the universe for planets with life-sustaining potential is
because it is patently impossible here on earth. We may recall the common
complaint of the ‘man on the street’ in 1969, when Neil Armstrong first stepped
upon the lunar surface: “They spent so much money sending a few blokes to a
floating rock… but still cannot cure a cold, or feed the starving masses in
Africa.” NASA faces the current dilemma of a withdrawal of funding from the
U.S. government, and any future space missions remain on hold, and perhaps
rightly so considering the dire state of the global economy.
We hear many frustrated voices
from the celestial elect at this lack of confidence in future space
exploration. Arguments in favour of a continuance of moon-walking and Martian
rock research speak of tremendous innovation: The amazing advances in various
scientific disciplines, the implementation of creative new solutions to
unsolved astro-physical problems and allsorts of barmy pseudo-intellectual
contrivances. At the core we realize that the so called ‘Space-Race’ was merely
Cold-War rivalry. Not so much a search for new exciting domains, not an
exercise to expand human understanding or development, nor yet an expedition to
extract valuable minerals from distant planets for financial enrichment… but in
totality a grand folly. The entire purpose was, and we recall during the brutal
and equally disasterous Vietnam conflict, was to prove bigger and better we
were than them (the Soviet Eastern Bloc, China and the Communists all). Space
adventures do not prove financially or intellectually profitable, rather they
embolden military might. Is it not unreasonable therefore to observe that there
is a link between journeying in the void and the creation of the absurd yet
effective inter-galactic warfare of the ‘Star Wars’ programme initiated during
the administration of President Ronald Reagan, the Strategic Defense Initiative
of 1983. One is, at this point tempted to begin the serious process of
contemplating conspiracy theories, but we shall remain with feet firmly fixed
upon earth.
There is also an attempt by many
to link and favourably compare the intrepid adventurers of the 15th
and 16th centuries in their exploration of the ‘New World’ with
modern astronauts. In the bold attempt to rewrite history, place such
individuals in a good light and justify further expeditions, albeit in space,
such evocations fail to analyse history correctly. The voyage of Chrisopher
Columbus was financed heavily by Italian investors and the Spanish Crown, partly
on the basis that they regain their losses in the 11 year campaign for control
of Granada in southern Spain, which was successful in 1492. Columbus’ grand
exploration became, as Edward Everett Hale points out in his biography of the
Navigator, ‘The search for
gold, from the beginning, broke up all intelligent plans for geographical
discovery or for colonization.’ It is debateable whether Columbus
was successful at all, considering that in actuality he carved a pathway for
subdugation, enslavement, imprisonment, brutality, genocide and imparting
syphilis in return for gold amongst the various native peoples of the ‘New
World.’
The British attempts at New World
exploration became equally brutal, particularly against their Spanish
adversaries in the quest for gold. We find their expeditions devolving into
plain piracy, and state-sponsored terrorism with the likes of Admiral Sir Henry
Morgan. It is an interesting historical observation to note, that many of these
explorers eventually or at some point ended up in jail; Shamed, disgraced and
stripped of wealth, bankrupt and dishonoured. Some like Sir Walter Raleigh
found their head on the wrong end of an executioner’s axe, despite improving
society with his discovery of a small brown vegetable and a smokeable herb
which has proved xtremely successful.
Far be it for me to suggest that
astronauts be condemned as philanderers, although it is interesting to
speculate on the possible outcome of an encounter with an alien civilization. I
fear that greed may contaminate such a discovery, and perhaps we are better to
remain ignorant of extra-terrestrial life forms. One thing is quite sure in my
mind; If space exploration is to continue it must be funded privately, the
burden of further atrocities cannot be paid for by the general public through
increased taxation. Much like the museum curator preparing a space exhibit, and
lacking the essential moon rock, he placed a lump of cheese in the glass case.
I prefer to contemplate food and eat it, rather than floating in zero gravity.
All Rights Reserved / Copyright: David John Drew 2013
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