Seeking Answers in the Sky

While musing on the nature of a new form of argument strategy, I, like countless others, have begun to look to the sky. Some look upward to contemplate the nature of life and the divinity they believe to have created it, others futility attempt to wrap their minds around the sheer vastness of the celestial abyss. I do not think these two sources of wonder are incompatible, and I cannot do either without considering both. Like millions before me and millions after, an itching inkling promises that all the answers are somewhere over our heads.

One of the great flaws in modern human thought is its obsession with the local. Wealth, power, and dominance are sought ruthlessly over tracts of rock which are beyond insignificant in the galactic sense. What then does it mean in regards to the entirety of the universe? Consider a moment: there are 200 - 400 billion stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way. For every single one of those stars, there is an entire other galaxy somewhere out in the void, filled with its own billions and billions of stars. So many galaxies that scientists have long since given up on naming them with anything other than general acronyms and numbers.

With such infinite possibility, the theory that life only exists on our planet Earth is supreme arrogance, similar to the decrepit idea of the geocentric solar system. When galaxies dot the sky like stars, when a nigh infinite number of suns are orbited by unknown planets, somewhere, someplace, there exists another place where the roll of the dice came out perfect for life to form. We just have not found it. Why else would there be so much superfluous matter, unobserved collections of atoms, if not for life to form and give it consciousness. Whatever force hit the red button for the Big Bang, or designed the flow of the dimensional membranes, surely would not have done so just to put one single dot of life on one small planet, around one aggressively average sun, in the boonies of a thoroughly mediocre galaxy, out in a lonely emptiness.

Galaxies as numerous as stars.

Humans are unique to all previous forms of known life. We have the power to exit our tiny ball of mud. The technology to travel and land on another planet already in our possession. The ability to create isolated and fully self-sufficient environments in which to live already well-rehearsed. Yet we sit here on this stupid rock, bickering amongst one another over who should have black goop from underground, preposterously claiming one theory of an unknowable divine entity is somehow better than another, and killing each other over both. Wasting materials, lives, and genius that would be so much better spent getting us to the stars. Getting us out of our single basket that is so, so fragile; rather than continuing to trust our thus far phenomenal luck.

It's 9 months away. Waiting.

Space. Its exploration. Its settlement. The Hope. The Dream. The Passion. These are the things that can unite humanity together. If the seed of wonder can be sown in the minds of people, the passion to reach for what was thought impossible, the world can change. Money wasted on destruction can be funneled into creation. The creation of food for those billions who do not eat. The construction of schools for those children who then did not starve to death. The fostering of brilliant potential grown from those schools within lavishly funded universities and institutes. Ideas and discoveries then bursting like ripe fruit from an expertly nurtured orchard.

The true end to humanity's dark ages. The true end to our total isolation from the entirety of creation.

Hope and ambition are the driving forces of progress. Mankind has become expert at turning these emotions inward, toward one another. I say we swivel them to the skies, to new horizons, to the nigh endless potential of the universe. It won't be easy. There isn't even an obvious way to do it. But that doesn't mean we should not be starting right now. Just think about it. Think about us as a species, floating like a speck of salt in a vast ocean, powerless. Think about that, and then think about how fast technology can advance when we reach for the future. Think about how my great grandmother went from horse and carriage to an orbiting space station where people actually live. Think about all that, and see then if you can still doubt.