#102 – Space won't be the final frontier
(hopefully)
People have prophesied the end since the beginning of civilization. Most prophecies tend to be pessimistic because logically, imagining problems is far easier than imagining solutions to (imagined) problems.
There are also some prophecies that can feel optimistic but in reality are rooted in pessimism as they imagine a world where progress is not needed, i.e. progress stops. Here, the pessimism is more a cause of a lack of imagination of further problems rather than the imagination of both problem and solution.
Science fiction gave us the idea of space as “the final frontier”. However inspirational and worthy of pursuit the exploration of space is, I take exception to the phrase. When taken literally, it falls into the second class of prophecies I described above.
I’m sure this was the opposite intention of the creators of Star Trek and for most people, “the final frontier” invokes the optimistic and adventurous spirit of the sci-fi TV series anyway. So I’m definitely not criticizing the show.
But the idea of an ultimate anything is inherently pessimistic. There’s really an endless number of possibilities when it comes to people having problems. And that’s a good thing!
There’s an implicit endpoint in “the final frontier” insinuating that once we take off to the stars, there will be no more challenges left for humanity.
But that’s misguided. Solving problems will always create more problems. And although problems are inevitable, no single problem is. We can overcome any problem with the right knowledge.
Death is just another word for an unproblematic state.
Rather than thinking of space as “the final frontier”, which is a limiting perspective, we ought to think of it as a worthy goal to progress towards; which will produce further, more interesting and inspiring problems that we can also solve, and go on solving indefinitely.
The weekly roundup
1. What I’m reading
Lulie Tanett’s “Introduction to Alexander Technique”.
See also: our podcast together where I question Lulie about the connection between mindfulness and critical rationalism.
2. Podcast I’m listening to
Ben Chugg and Vaden Masrani cover chapter 16 of Karl Popper’s Conjectures and Refutations in episode 14 of the Increments podcast.
3. On the role of error correction in social institutions
4. An accurate analogy
“Socialism’s answer to poverty is the equivalent of helping wheelchair users by cutting everyone else’s legs off.”
— Konstantin Kisin, An Immigrant's Love Letter to the West
"...imagining problems is far easier than imagining solutions to (imagined) problems."
More generally as well, deducing workable solutions to problems is a lot harder than highlighting them in the first place. All solutions we come up with inevitably, as you say, create new challenges/problems of their own. There are always trade offs we have to consider.
This is one reason that I generally have little respect for people who highlight every problem with the world/society as it is, but then come up with no workable solutions to make it better. There are a great many challengers for humanity to overcome, pointing them out is too easy. I want to hear your solutions, your optimistic vision for how they can be overcome. As you say, we should not be limited to pessimism.