Beyond the Futurology of Space Exploration
People laughed at Leonardo da Vinci when he was dreaming about aircrafts, and observing birds during flight. A few centuries later, the Wright brothers flew for the first time with their plane.
I really like the half-joking, half-serious definition of futurology, written by Leszek Kołakowski, who noted that futurology is a scientific science about something that actually does not exist: the future. I want to ask a question what a being is, and whether we can predict the future. I believe that our actions can have a positive impact on events that happen later in our life. People laughed at Leonardo da Vinci when he was dreaming about aircrafts, drawing incredible machines, and observing birds during flight. A few centuries later, the Wright brothers flew for the first time with their plane. It took a few centuries for Leonardo’s dream to come true. Today, Apollo missions are exploring space, which is changing our imagination and knowledge about the universe. Curiosity fulfills human minds more than ever before.
In 2022, Elon Musk tweeted, “a new philosophy of the future is needed. I believe it should be curiosity about the Universe – expand humanity to become a multiplanet, then interstellar, species to see what’s out there.”
I am thinking about a new philosophy for the future that will be an interdisciplinary science—an intersection of modern philosophy, economy, psychology, and linguistics. In a strict sense, this science should prepare the world we know for a new economic and cognitive reality in which people living on Earth will be able to conduct research on the Moon, for example. Humans should be able to learn and understand “foreign language” quickly. In a larger sense, a science allowing people to manifest their experience into accessible science. If there will be interaction between science and our insights, what it would look like? Maybe authors of science fiction books know how to answer that question? Science fiction writers show us the fantasy and imagination of different worlds and how they perceive the future.
Curiosity lends itself to question whether we are ready to settle other planets. One factor necessary for success is being able to cooperate with people here on Earth. Scientists and astronauts will probably soon create a permanent base on the Moon, which will likely be a first step toward landing people on Mars. When might it happen? I don’t know; however, in dreaming like da Vinci, maybe one day your dreams will come true.
Very interesting, Mateusz.