Opening Remarks at Launch of Academy in Space Initiative

The following are a portion of my opening remarks at the launch of the Academy in Space Initiative at Framingham State University on April 6, 2016:

“As you will see in the film we are about to show, the idea of the Overview Effect came to me on a cross-country flight in the late 1970s. I had the insight that seeing the Earth from orbit or the moon might fundamentally change one’s identity and worldview. So I began interviewing astronauts to see if they had indeed had such an experience. The book by the same name was published in November 1987 and is now in its third edition.

“The Overview Effect is not about me, or our panel members, or any one individual—it is about all of us as human beings. The Overview Effect is a message from the universe to us about who we really are and what our future is all about.

“The first person to have this remarkable experience was Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who orbited the Earth on April 12, 1961, just about 55 years ago. He said:

The point was not the distance but the principle. (Humanity) had  overcome  the  force  of Earth’s gravity and gone out into space.*

“As Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart said of his experience:

            You’re out there on the forefront and you have to bring that back somehow. That becomes a rather special responsibility and it tells you something about your relationship with this thing we call life…And all through this I’ve used the word “you” because it’s not me, it’s you, it’s we. It’s Life that’s had that experience.

“This message was first passed to the astronauts, and then to many others, including myself, who have been working to interpret it, and now to the filmmakers at Planetary Collective, and we are now passing it to you.

            “Let me just say a few things about that message:

            “First, it is true that there are no borders or boundaries on our planet except those that we create in our minds or through human behaviors.  All the ideas and concepts that divide us when we are on the surface begin to fade from orbit and the moon. The result is a shift in worldview, and in identity.

            “Second, our planet is, in the words of former astronaut Ron Garan, a fragile oasis and we need to take care of it.  So there is a strong environmental component to the message.

            “Third, we are one species with one destiny as we move out from the Earth and begin to explore the universe. Survival of the planet and exploration of the solar system should both be seen as global concerns.

            “Finally, we need to understand that we are in space, we have always been in space, and we always will be in space, whether we leave the planet or not. In a very real sense, all of us are astronauts, members of the crew of spaceship Earth, and the time has come to realize that this is so.

“So, do you want to change the world? It begins with how you see the world. It begins with your worldview.

* Gagarin used the term "man," which I have updated here.

Liftoff!

The Academy in Space Initiative had a great launch on April 6 at Framingham State University. About 125 faculty, students, and members of the public came together to discuss the future of humanity as we migrate out into the solar system.

We will now be deciding on next steps. In the meantime, if any readers of this blog are interested in getting involved, please contact me at fwhite66@post.harvard.edu.

The Academy in Space Initiative (Part IV)

The Academy in Space Initiative will launch on April 6, 2016, at Framingham State University, 100 State Street, Framingham, MA 01701 from 4:30 to 6:30 pm. It is free and open to the public and if you live in the area, please plan to attend. The event is titled "Beyond the Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution" and our outstanding panel will begin the discussion of key issues surrounding human migration into the solar system.

The Academy in Space Initiative (Part III)

For too long, the space exploration enterprise has been cordoned off and seen as the province of "space advocates." This grouping includes those of us who believe that human migration into the solar system and beyond is both inevitable and desirable.

We need to spread the idea of the Overview Effect and the importance of space exploration to a much wider audience, and not as an advocacy effort. The goal is to have a conversation with academics from every subject, and not only those who are working in science and technology. Human migration into the solar system raises questions that touch on economics, ethics, ecology, government, sociology, philosophy, and many other realms of thought.

The underlying premise is that space exploration and development is a large-scale human enterprise, not a narrow scientific and technological endeavor. As such, every academic field can offer something of value to the effort. Economists can ponder the business opportunities presented by an essentially infinite frontier, while medical researchers can think about how human beings are going to survive in an environment totally unsuited to them biologically. Political scientists can speculate on when the first Mars settlement will declare independence, and environmentalists can debate whether to use nuclear power there.

It is time for a vigorous discussion about the many issues surrounding space exploration and development. I hope it will begin at Framingham State University on April 6, 2016.

(To be continued)

The Academy in Space Initiative (Part II)

In my view, the Academy in Space Initiative (AISI) should look at all the pertinent questions about space exploration and development that are not be asked---or answered---right now.

Let me provide an example: the Curiosity rover that is now exploring the surface of Mars is an amazing machine. It is allowing us to learn an enormous amount about the red planet without incurring the costs and risks of sending humans there. When we do send humans to Mars, they will know a great deal about it, more than some of the early explorers knew when they began exploring the Earth in the 16th and 17th centuries.

With high-resolution video and, soon, virtual reality, all of us will be able to "explore Mars," mentally at least.

However, did you know that Curiosity is powered by nuclear fuel? Did you hear any debates about that when it was launched? Do you care that we are now placing nuclear waste on other planets in the solar system? Considering all the problems we have with spent nuclear fuel on Earth, does it bother you that we now have the same situation on Mars?

Along the same lines, do you think we should use nuclear-powered spacecraft to explore the solar system? The Russians do, and they are planning to cut travel time to Mars by using nuclear power: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/science/science/180316/russia-plans-mars-nuclear-engine-in-2018.html

My personal opinion on these issues is less important than the fact that they are not being discussed in an open way, in the pro-space community or the wider public arena.

That is the purpose of the Academy in Space Initiative, which will launch at Framingham State University (near Boston) on 4/6/16.

(To be continued)

Academy in Space Initiative

For the past 35-plus years, I have been working on an initiative that seems finally to be coming to fruition. It is now called the "Academy in Space Initiative," and it will be launched on April 6, 2016, at Framingham State University, just outside of Boston.

The basic idea is simple: humanity is about to embark on a great adventure---leaving our home planet and exploring the universe, starting with the solar system. So far, this effort has been the stuff of science fiction, and writers like Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Philip K. Dick have painted vivid pictures of a future in which we are a multi-planet species.

However, many of our best thinkers, located in universities and colleges around the world, have paid scant attention to this phenomenon. As a result, the population is divided into three groups regarding our foray onto the infinite frontier: Advocates, Opponents, and Neutrals.

We need to go beyond this simplistic division of the population, and begin to think ahead and shape our future with an open-ended dialogue about space exploration and development, and how we want to guide the enterprise so that we don't look back in the future and wish we had done it better.

Let me be clear: I am, and always have been, an advocate of space exploration, and I am not trying to erect barriers to a robust and continuing exploration of the solar system. However, we can do it in a positive way and we can do it poorly.

Surely, if Americans had a "do-over" of our last effort at settling a frontier, we would want to improve on the process. After all, the conflict over whether new Western states would be "slave or free" led to the Civil War, and for the indigenous peoples of the region, the coming of the pioneers was a disaster. Frontiers can play a highly positive role for societies, but they can also bring unintended consequences. Maximizing the former outcome, and minimizing the latter, is the purpose of this effort.

(To be continued)

The Passing of Edgar Mitchell

I met Edgar in 1986, when I was conducting interviews with astronauts for the first edition of my book, The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution.

That day took on a surreal quality because it was snowing hard in Boston, flights were delayed, and I made several phone calls to him down in Florida, asking if he could wait a bit longer for me to get there. He was always gracious and accommodating, and I finally ended up in Palm Beach, with the sun shining and weather as different from that of Boston as imaginable.

When I arrived at Edgar’s beautiful home, he greeted me warmly and offered some food, which I readily accepted. We then conducted one of the very best interviews of those that made up the book.

Edgar had many things to say that were different from what other astronauts told me, and I cannot possibly share all of them here. He was unique, and my interview with him was also unique. However, a couple of interchanges are relevant and I include them directly from the book.

First, I told him that I was surprised at how varied the astronauts’ experiences were. I had expected something far more homogeneous. He corrected me with a turn of phrase that I have repeated many times since then:

I would challenge that. The variety in the interpretation of the experience is a lot greater than you expected. The experience is the same. I have developed a whole philosophy  around  the notion that the first-person experiential event is valid for every human, whatever  it is. The problem is, how do they interpret it and how do they express it? (1)

I have quoted Edgar many times since then when talking about “the astronaut experience,” suggesting that the experience is the same, but it is because of the interpretation of individuals that it seems to vary so much.

Second, we talked about the difference between the orbital experience and a lunar mission. While Edgar agreed that they were distinct, he said that the impact depended more on the astronaut’s attitude and less on the type of mission. Was the astronaut open to experiencing a shift in the structure of his or her thinking:

To me, the difference between getting and not getting an “aha” experience  out of it is whether it shifts your structure a bit. Do you get a sense of freedom, of expansiveness, because you've just experienced something that is different from your previous experiences and beliefs? (2)

In talking with Edgar about his extraordinary experience returning home from the moon, it seemed to me that it was more dramatic than the norm, as I had heard it from the other astronauts I had interviewed. To make the distinction, I called it the “universal insight,” which was defined as:

An intensification of the Overview Effect that brings a similar understanding of the universe and our place in it. It tends to occur when astronauts look beyond the Earth and focus their attention on the universe in which our planet exists. (3)

Edgar made great contributions to the theory of the Overview Effect with that interview, of course. Moreover, he continued to support the evolution of the idea and its dissemination right up until his death. Generally, whenever he spoke, he brought up the Overview Effect. He was also a principal speaker at early meetings that led to the establishing of the Overview Institute, and served as a Founding Member of the organization. Personally, I always experienced his support for the various initiatives we advanced over the past seven years.

I will miss Edgar in so many ways, and I know that many others will miss him as well, including his family, friends, and colleagues. He was a great man—and a great friend.

Notes

(1) White, F., The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA, 2014, p. 192.

(2) Ibid., p. 193.

(3) Ibid., p.24.