Spacegeist (without works cited)

8201976
9 May 2008

What is the meaning of life? What is the fate of the universe? These are two of the most compelling questions that have challenged the greatest physicists, philosophers, and anthropologist since the beginning of time as we know it. Throughout time, mankind had continuously asked these same questions. Many answers can be found in simple holism, which is the concept that a complex system or question cannot be determined or explained by breaking it down into parts alone, but instead the system as a whole must be observed and speculated in order to answer or determine a conclusion (Kaku4).

Much of the history that leads to our existence can be found in the immensity and vastness of space, but first we must conquer and master space travel by colonizing space itself. Knowing our meaning in the universe will make an impact on society, changing the way people think, and do things. It is time make changes within the world in order to accommodate the exponential growth of technology. This means expanding our boundaries and colonizing space. There are many thoughts regarding the idea of colonizing space, some are pessimistic, some think it is absurd, while some believe it to be impossible. Most people may believe that the colonization of space will be an impossible waste of time, money, and effort, but the truth is that the colonization of space is necessary for mankind to continue our existence, and will also impact the globe economically, diplomatically, and technologically.

There are four types of civilizations, which we can specifically rank by energy consumption. Russian astrophysicist Nicolai Kardashev theorized that advanced civilizations must be categorized according to three types: Type 1, Type 2, and Type 3 civilizations, which have all mastered galactic energy consumption and space travel, calculated by a difference of billions (Kaku2). A Type 1 civilization is one that harnesses the energy of an entire planet (Kaku2). A Type 2 civilization is one that harnesses the energy output of an entire star, and generates about ten billion times the energy of a Type 1 civilization. The Type 3 civilization is one that harnesses the energy output of an entire galaxy, or about ten billion times the energy output of a Type 2 civilization (Kaku2). Right now, the human civilization is a Type 0, in which earth relies on any or all possible energy sources available just to survive.

The type of civilization and economy also determines the lifestyle of a civilization; this idea must be displayed from an astronomical aspect. For example, considering that Earth today is a Type 0 civilization in the process of becoming a Type 1 civilization, the lifestyle of the planet from a global aspect is terrible. Presently in earth’s Type 0 civilizations we have war, hunger, poverty, conspiracies, genocides, and much more disruption in the world. More than half the world lives on less than two dollars a day (Anup)! The inhabitants of planet earth are in grief and live poor lifestyles. Eventually, at some turn of a century, Earth will have made its final transition to a Type 1 civilization. By then civilization will have made several trips to different planets in the solar system, and will have solved many problems of economy, government, disease, and possibly war. Though it is predictable that even a Type 1 civilization will still be faced with poverty, hunger, genocide, and still lack solutions. When coming to a conclusion about the transitions that a civilization will go through, it can be said that as a civilization advances, the more comfortable lifestyles will be, and so will economic attainment. The problems of today will be problems of the past as the hands of humans reach out into the heavens.

One of the most fascinating subjects of space and the unknown is the idea of extraterrestrial life. The existence of intelligent life is a compelling idea by itself, in which extraterrestrial beings may exist on other stars that are centuries to millennia more advanced than earth’s own. Within the Milky Way Galaxy alone, there are over one hundred billion stars, and there are an uncountable number of galaxies in the universe (Kaku1). About half the stars in the galaxy are double stars, making them possibly unsuitable for intelligent life, but the remaining half probably have solar systems somewhat similar to our sun’s system (Kaku1). Though to many people this idea of life beyond our understanding may seem ridiculous, no one should ever doubt the idea. Many respond by saying if life beyond earth existed they would have already came. Well, think of it like this. When people come across an ant hill, which is a primitive concept of civilization compared to our own, they will step over it, or destroy the ant hill. Now, why would an advanced civilization attempt to bother with our primitive civilization that can barely get out of the earth’s gravitational field? If human civilization ever happened to encounter a Type 3 civilization it is very possible our civilization would work together and share technologies to continue advancement, it would be a new type of contact. It would eliminate the idea that countries and boundaries are foreign, but the new foreigners would be those from other planets. It would cause a conclusive unexplainable feeling for the earth to work together as one, as a world nation. This concept moves us to diplomacy in the journey to colonize space. It may be a subject not many understand, as to how the colonization of space could possibly bring world peace in the long run.

It is obvious that the Earth is not perfect; many even believe that our world leaders are leading us into the direction of complete chaos. Despite the world’s current condition, with disease, war, poverty, and global warming, it is evident that one of the greatest benefits of the colonization of space would be the future diplomatic potential that can have a 180 degree turn on the earth’s current circumstances. The concept where each planet is ruled and governed independently as one nation, with this concept of a federation of planets would make it impossible for wars among each planet, unless civil.

Not many people know the true absolute meaning for the declaration of wars. Many Americans take war lightly, when it is a serious thing. Despite the many alternative resolutions to war, a country like United States first reaction to an attack would be to attack back, and not take consideration of the many other options. Without thinking, world leaders target every other country as the antagonist. Acknowledging how countries today respond to problems with war, shows that there must be a change in the way the government spends money. Every year technology doubles in advancement, every year countries invest trillions of dollars into attaining more nuclear weapons. The next time there is a nuclear fall out between two countries, the bombs will not just destroy a town or an area, but it will destroy countries or even continents. By 1967, Israel already had 15 atomic bombs in its arsenal. In 1976, their nuclear arsenal grew to 15 to 20 nukes, and by 1980 jumped to 200. In 1997, Israel now has over 400 nuclear and hydrogen weapons (Peace and Heroes). That is enough bombs to blow a hole in the earth that can be seen from space (Peace and Heroes). Toxic elements that bombs emit will be trapped within the earth’s atmosphere and flow across the globe killing millions to billions of people. This is alarming, but not only is space exploration advancing technology, it is also improving socialism.
Space exploration is one of the few things that allow countries to collaborate together. For example, the ISS or International Space Station includes many countries, even opponents, to come together and collaborate. The colonization of space is not a rat race, but it is a project. When countries work together it improves communication skills between each other. War comes from people not being able to communicate, or differences in culture, or religion, but last but not least, the reason for war comes from hate. When countries work together all differences can be put aside, which is the true outcome from global socialism, and diplomacy.

Technology is now a part of today’s culture and lifestyles of many people around the world. Technology is the future architecture of life. The most unexpected innovations come from technology. What was once science-fiction is now reality, as everyday we continuously advance every gadget, television, and computer. Many philosophers have even wondered what our technological future holds for us. Some wonder if robots will become so advanced they will be able to fight against the desires of their masters. John Von Neumann, mathematical genius of Princeton University, who developed the first electronic computer during World War II, proved discreetly that robots or automatons can be built with the ability to program themselves, repair themselves, and even create carbon copies of themselves (Kaku3). As space exploration continues and advances, technology doubles its advancement in space exploration. Lifestyles and the cost of living will double and increase, as we move into warless comfortable worlds. Technology will soon pamper the elderly and take care of them, while at the same time doing the most dangerous space missions humans would not be able to do physically. The advancement of technology will also lead to not only comfortable lifestyles, but comfortable interstellar space exploration. Eventually, technology will enable humans to travel faster than the speed of light. Technology will even enable us to someday tear holes and bend space-time at will, allowing us to travel to stars through hyperspace within minutes.

Hyperspace is a dimension greater than three, according to this theory, before the Big Bang, our cosmos was actually a perfect ten-dimensional universe, a world where inter-dimensional travel was possible. However, this ten-dimensional universe “cracked” in two, creating two separate universes: a four- and a six- dimensional universe. The universe in which we live was born in that cosmic cataclysm. While we live in a three dimensional universe, there are higher dimensional universes, also known as Hyperspace (Kaku3). In order to enter hyperspace a vehicle will be required to reach Planck energy, which is about the energy a star emits in its whole lifetime (Kaku3). With this amount of energy someone would be able to tear a hole in space time and jump or warp to or through another dimension. One prolific idea sprouted from Hyperspace is time travel. Time travel is a process that would allow us to discover our origins and answer many questions people have (Guy). Although it sounds like science-fiction it is very possible. Carl Sagan, a consultant and adviser to NASA since the 1950’s, explains how time travel is possible (Guy). With the help of two other physicist from the University of Michigan, they explained that time travel is possible with certain equations from Einstein using the Einstein-Rosen Bridge (Kaku3). The best description of a spinning black hole was given in 1963 by the New Zealand mathematician Roy Kerr, using Einstein’s equations of gravity (Kaku5). But there is a weird feature to his solution. It predicts that if one fell into a black hole, one will be sucked down a tunnel (called the “Einstein-Rosen bridge”) and shot out a “white hole” into a parallel universe (Kaku5)! Kerr showed that a spinning black hole would collapse not into a point, but to a “ring of fire.” Because the ring was spinning rapidly, centrifugal forces would keep it from collapsing (Kaku5). For example, in the movie Déjà vu, one of the scientists mentioned that through using the Einstein-Rosen Bridge they were able to see back in time to catch a criminal. Hyperspace will allow travel across the universe comfortably, allowing humans to expand our existence. This is especially pleasant considering that our very existence is fragile.

The universe we live in today is unpredictable, chaotic, and strange. Our meaning of existence is still officially unknown while many others fit it to their beliefs. Human existence is targeted by war, global warming, natural disasters, space impacts, and other catastrophic scenarios. Millions of people believe that the end of the world is coming. The colonization of space will serve as the stepping stone to continue our existence amongst the universe. If something happens to Earth, humans will always be able to continue their existence on another planet. Humans would be able to continue avoiding the end of mankind.

The world of medicine has many deadly diseases that doctors are faced with everyday. Even today, people manage to be affected with unknown and new diseases as viruses and cells mix to create more. As humans continue our existence and exploration in space, there is no doubt that there will be discoveries found in space that will change millions of lives. For example, cancer is a group of more than one hundred separate diseases. These diseases are all characterized by an abnormal and unregulated growth of cells. This growth destroys surrounding body tissues and may spread to other parts of the body in a process that is known as metastasis (Gordon). As you might expect, a tumor suppressor gene is supposed to prevent tumors. But when these genes are damaged, they can allow cancer to develop instead of preventing it. One of these genes, p53, normally prevents cells with abnormal DNA from surviving. When p53 is defective, these cells with abnormal DNA survive and can multiply, increasing the probability of developing cancer (Gordon). When money is invested in space exploration and research projects, it is also being invested into medical research. NASA today is looking for more medical researchers to develop treatments to diseases like cancer, and to develop various replacement genes and cells to replace defective ones to prevent diseases. Like cancer, there are thousands of different diseases and birth defects on earth that could possibly benefit from discoveries waiting to be found in space. Even Mars may have medical discoveries waiting to be found within its lifeless world.

As civilization starts to conquer space we will begin to notice economic, diplomatic, and social changes everywhere. Ever since the Publication of the ‘Philosophae Naturalis Principia Mathematica’ by Sir Isaac Newton in 1687, there has been an unseen competition between countries for wealth, and power through Technology and Science. In 1947, Fruit Flies become the first travelers to space, 10 years after that you have the First Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, First Artificial Satellite, and First Live Animal in Space (Sea and Sky). Only one year after those events there was the first American Satellite, and the establishment of NASA. In 1961 the world sent the first man to space (Sea and Sky). These events were the establishment to an everlasting “silent war” of Science and Technology, the nations that participated in the scientific war of innovations prove to be the most successful and wealthy nations. Such as Russia, U.S., Iran, China, Japan, U.K., and France, countries like those set the example. The previous factors are all I really need to prove that the exploration and colonization of space is not a waste of time, money, and effort. Global Warming is an event that is happening in reality, though people go through life with there eyes closed, not realizing the seriousness of earth’s circumstances and Global Warming. Even if we did do something, we could not stop Global Warming from happening. It is obvious that if mankind wants to continue existence we must begin to step into the new frontier, space. When Neil Armstrong said “That’s one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind,” the history of space exploration was changed forever. Future human existence is depending on space exploration, but we are too blind to see this. It’s time to wake up, realize, and open your eyes to a new and better future. The U.S. Government is spending a remarkably enormous amount of money on Prisons and War. The cost of Iraq was approximately $517,901,053,387 on May 8th, 2008 2:13:49 PM, and then the amount jumped to $517,901,243,481 at 2:13:04PM the same day (National Priorities Project). That is the amount of money spent on a senseless war, and even right now at 12:49:03AM, the cost has now jumped up to $518,024,820,837 that was a total cost of $123,577,356 only within a few hours (National Priorities Project). All spent on a senseless war, a war that is powered by wrong technological investments for killing. The Spacegeist is waiting for us, what we are waiting on? Over three billion people live off of less than two dollars a day (Anup). It’s time for governments and world leaders to take a stand and make a worthy investment into technology, science, and space exploration for the greater good to come. You may not see it now, you may not see space exploration effecting the economy, government, or violence, you may not realize the $300,000 dead in Darfur for being black (CBC), you may not see the 351 dead in Myanmar from a cyclone, or the 12,000 children in China with deadly viruses (MSNBC). You may not realize or see any of it; many people can’t begin to imagine the horror of living in poverty and violence. Technology has changed the world more than anything else. It has impacted the economy, government, poverty, and the way we fight our wars, and the changed go unnoticed because everyone in America lives life with their eyes closed. Indulging into a fantasy world of nothing, never really opening our eyes to what’s going on, and how changes can be made.

Open your eyes. The right thing to do is for the government to stop spending so much money on systems and wars that don’t work or are not worth it, and for them to make an investment in change. Spending money on improving education, roads, and community programs will benefit the world, and so will investing in Science and Technology for space exploration. It is time for us to expand our existence, in order to develop a global system of peace and wealth. Just like U.S., Russia, Japan, France, and U.K. have done for themselves. It’s time for the age of the Spacegeist, when humanity sets aside its differences, and expands its knowledge of the universe. It is inevitable that the world will end. It’s obvious that the world has been making a slow exponential drop in the time it has left in the universe before it is completely gone. We must be aware of things that go on in this world, and have the determination to preserve this beautiful planet the way God intended. If not, which is most likely, humans will have to band together and invest in space exploration and colonization in order to continue our existence. It is an age of change, and age of advanced technology, an age of solutions to end poverty and war, an age of peace through science. This is the age of the Spacegeist.