Opening this blog with a rather serious topic, but the primary one I want to address, which is-Capitalism in space. It sounds kind of absurd, honestly, but it’s the main reason why I, sci-fi nerd and longtime enjoyer of astrophysics, greatly dislike the idea of space travel, especially on a long term, large scale level.

Going into space, hypothetically, is all well and good. It’s the stars, and one of man’s longest and largest urges. We want to explore space, and especially in the last fifty or so years, people want to go see the stars. People want to see other planets, want to explore new worlds and see unbelievable sights, want to pass by other suns and see new, alien life. It’s an understandable impulse, the impulse for knowledge, for progress, for stunning new advancements in the form of technology that will take us far beyond the world we know. But there’s a lot to consider before then, and though maybe not the most vital to actually getting to the stars, considering government and leadership takes the “most important” role for me.

Looking at recent years and developments, it seems increasingly likely that commercialization will be the means through which space travel will happen. Billionaires like Musk and Bezos are at the top when you think about recent launches, with more and more of space exploration being put in the hands of corporations. This is, to put it lightly, dangerous. These are not companies with a stellar treatment for human rights, or who have wonderful people heading them. There are allegations and reports of misconduct and mistreatment practically every week for both of these companies, and horror stories of peeing in bottles in Amazon warehouses are everywhere to be found on the internet.

Regardless of whether or not these horror stories and allegations are true, there’s still the issue of a corporation being in charge of things like this. While people may insist that it doesn’t benefit companies to mistreat their workers, there’s historical precedence for this being false in the form of the Industrial Revolution. Laissez faire capitalism just doesn’t work, and we know this because we have decades of data to back this up. Employers not only benefit from mistreating their employees under capitalism, but are also directly encouraged to do so when there is nothing holding them back. It should go without saying that this would be so much more dangerous in an environment like space, where any slip-up could expose you to the vacuum, and there is no such thing as worker protections. There’s no authority in space, and hence-No reason that companies would not be able to abuse their workers in a vacuum.

While space travel itself isn’t necessarily something that needs to be reviled or argued against, the means by which we go to space, and how we stay up there are equally as, if not more, important.

Another big issue when it comes to exploring our universe is the time involved in undertaking such a task. The time spent on exploring is unfathomable on a human scale, especially on the scale of other stars and solar systems, even those that are closer to us. Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the sun, part of the triple star system Alpha Centauri. Even this star is 4.35 light years away from earth, or approximately 2.56x10¹³ miles away.¹ These all seem like nonsense numbers on a page, but put in a way that is easier to process, the Parker Solar Probe achieved an amazing 330,000mph, but it would still take almost nine million years to travel this distance.²

Of course, this principle doesn’t apply to all space travel. Flight between planets in our own solar system would be much easier to achieve, and less costly on nearly every front imaginable, but most importantly-In time. It would take about nine months to perform a round trip to Mars, for example. ³ And while all these times and numbers are good, it raises the question of why we are so desperate to leave earth, Earth, and what really awaits us in the stars. The time and materials cost are both incredibly high, the potential loss is high, and it’s very likely that nothing but empty space and rocks await us in the vacuum.

I feel the need now to take a moment and clarify my argument. I do not think exploration in itself is bad, or that the urge to find our way into the universe is a thing to look down on. Rather than discouraging the idea of exploration itself, this is more meant to be an exploration of why we want to explore space-Why do we want to get away from our own planet so badly? What, really, sparked this urge to escape the planet, and what does the fantasy of escaping the bed we made really imply? More than this, there is also the question of what we will do when we come to terms with the idea that space exploration may not be possible. It’s a long-held fantasy for many, and the idea of this realization is painful, but may need to be had.

If space holds nothing for us, then us being a spacefaring race may not be viable. We have many aspirations, ideas for harnessing the energy of our solar system, of lunar bases and dyson spheres, mining mars and finding life in the icy moons of far away gas giants, but the actual logistics of this raises too many issues and questions to properly ignore. If the universe doesn’t hold anything for us, then it may just be better to turn our attentions to what matters the most, and always has:

Home.

This section is partially inspired by the web series 17776. It is an excellent read. The specific part I was inspired by was this, but you can find the full work here.

Another reason that the idea of colonizing space has entered the cultural zeitgeist is global warming. It’s a problem plaguing our plane that we can’t obviously escape, with each year reports, temperatures, and weather all worsening, each new day just bringing more and more bad news into an already bad situation. It seems like no companies are willing to take accountability for their actions, refusing to stop using plastics or harmful practices, and instead just continue to do what they are, using plastics and harmful chemicals, not caring what the consequences of their actions are as long as they meet the bottom line and make their profits.

And so the fantasy of escaping into space is borne-Escaping to another planet, beautiful and lush with life, untarnished by human hands, completely untouched and pure. A perfect place to escape from our world, into something unpolluted and far more natural. Though, even media that indulges this fantasy tends to point out its flaws as well, writing out corrupt corporations and pollution somewhat ruining these landscapes before some hero comes in to save the day-A common enough fantasy that does well to present the current lack of control people have over their situation, and the overwhelming desire to somehow take control of the global warming situation.

So-This fantasy exists, and people think about colonizing planetary paradises, so what? What does this have to do with being against space travel? The real issue at the root of this is who is able to escape. This fantasy invades a lot of current perceptions about space travel, with it seen as something fascinating to do, many of the ultrarich pouring money into spacefaring programs in order to take further steps into the stars. And no matter how infeasible it may be, it leaves the question of who would be able to escape, in a future where everything does go to hell, and we need to escape this planet? Who will be able to afford leaving everything behind, and what is going to end up left behind should this come to pass?

While this fantasy may be unviable and unattainable, I think it’s still important to rid ourselves of it. There isn’t a possibility of actual escape from our world, and it’s important to remember that fact-We can’t fix a housefire by fleeing and never returning, because something will always be left behind, and in this case, it is likely people would find themselves in the crossfire.

Another reason that the idea of colonizing space has entered the cultural zeitgeist is global warming. It’s a problem plaguing our plane that we can’t obviously escape, with each year reports, temperatures, and weather all worsening, each new day just bringing more and more bad news into an already bad situation. It seems like no companies are willing to take accountability for their actions, refusing to stop using plastics or harmful practices, and instead just continue to do what they are, using plastics and harmful chemicals, not caring what the consequences of their actions are as long as they meet the bottom line and make their profits.

And so the fantasy of escaping into space is borne-Escaping to another planet, beautiful and lush with life, untarnished by human hands, completely untouched and pure. A perfect place to escape from our world, into something unpolluted and far more natural. And more than just an escapist fantasy, this fantasy promises the illusion of something far worse: The idea that we, or at least some of us, will be able to actually escape. The idea that when things go to shit, that some people will be able to leave, and they’ll get to walk away from the flaming house and never actually go back, never have to think again about what they did.

I don’t presume that this is the actual thought process, but the idea of escaping into other parts of our own solar system fundamentally reflects this idea for me. When there’s paradise on Mars, who will actually reside there? Space seems like a version of Rapture to me, the underwater city from the game Bioshock. It’s a libertarian paradise that collapsed in on itself because of rampant individualism, mistreatment of the working class, and corruption. What does space have in store, if we pave our path as an escapist fantasy, if we let corporations and billionaires decide what this new space should look like? Capitalism has no room to act as the foundation of any just civilization.