Captains Log, Stardate 99105.44. “Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking warned humans must colonize another planet or face extinction. To save humanity, 500 members of humanity’s best boarded the Starship Kodesh (means ‘special’ or ‘set aside’). If you hear this message, it means the ship has completed its mission to Proxima Centauri [closest potential exoplanet to earth]. However, all proem of human life ceased. In the end, everyone died. Humanity killed us.”
If Hawking is correct, humanity must venture into deep space, toward another planet, or another constellation. The ragged bunch of earth leaders will have to sift the best talents of all cultures, load themselves onto an interstellar starship, and head towards the best-known exoplanet. This writer chose Proxima Centauri in the fictional narrative mainly due to being the closest exoplanet to earth, a mere 4.2 light-years away. Should the ship be placed on ‘autopilot,’ it might make it. Humanity? Not a chance.
Imagine 500 of the world’s best members of humanity stuck on a Starship, not for weeks, not for years, but light-years. That’s similar to being on a cruise ship. It means your entire life, meaning, and fulfillment must occur on something no larger than the size of a cruise ship. ‘Trekies’ claim the fictional USS Enterprise was just over 944 feet (288 meters) long. That’s equivalent to a little over three football fields. By comparison, the largest cruise ship is Symphony of the Seas, measuring 1184 feet (361 meters) in length. Even if today’s technology can replicate such a vessel, humanity is too stupid to survive the trip.
There’s a whole lot of space out there, and getting anywhere interesting will take a long time. It’s not like gassing up the car and filling our day pack full of junk food. We’re talking boredom, way too much boredom. There will be no ‘Burma-Shave’ road signs (Burma-Shave sign series appeared from 1925 to 1963) or ‘Stuckey stops’ (as my father would say, solely for peanut brittle, I add). Sightseeing trips? No. Any chance of seeing the world’s most giant ball of yarn? Any opportunity to get off the ship to stretch legs? National parks? Nope. Nope. Nope. It’s humanity vs. craft.
Unfortunately, humanity is hell-bent on immediate gratification. It’s why instant oatmeal, frozen pizza, and microwaveable soup exist. Before long, crew members will begin asking, “Are we there yet?” Inevitably, such questions will be followed with a corresponding, “Damn it. Don’t make me turn this Starship around.” Disputes will occur, “Stop poking me.” “You’re on my side.” And then the mother all statements, “This ship ain’t big enough for the both of us. Get the f*** off.” Current members of earth’s humanity do not reside in ‘science fiction.'” How do we then believe human interstellar travel is feasible when we do some very idiotic things.
Let’s admit it: our world is filled with ‘stupid.’ Little more than a year post-pandemic-lockdown(s), mass shootings are back. Since January 1, 2021, there have been over 247 mass shootings. A loss of faith in institutional government led to an attempted coup d’état on January 6 (although some American politicians claim it was just standard tourism). There were 3,800 anti-Asian racist incidents during the past year. Again, the GOP attempted to end the Affordable Care Act. Again, they failed (recently upheld by the Supreme Court). We also have ample proof of our inability to self-govern.
America is currently enabling minority rule at the national level. Constitutionally, this is not design but perversion. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) recently stated being 100 percent focused on stopping the Biden administration. Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) one-upped McConnell, “I want to make Joe Biden a one-half-term president.” Presidents will stoke racial fears and encourage violence while displaying profound ignorance of any form of leadership. Our current lack of leadership will also propel the earth toward environmental disaster. In short, we’ll have effectively blown up the environment.
By 2070, this significant expansion in uninhabitable land could affect 30% of the human population. By 2070, up to 3 billion people are likely to live in climate conditions’ deemed unsuitable for human life to flourish.’ “Megadroughts” will suck the moisture out of the soil, and man-made climate change, tied to the emission of greenhouse gases, can be blamed. Many are either going to starve to death or die of thirst. Wars will be wagged over something once relatively abundant, water. And we’ll weaponize religion.
Humanity will kill, destroy, and use religion as a basis to segregate, decide and propel conspiratorial fantasies. Ironically, one of the primary reasons America was settled was to escape religious persecution. Back in 2019, President Biden was reportedly denied communion at a Catholic Church in South Carolina by a priest who objects to the former vice president’s support for abortion rights. Florida pastor Rick Wiles wrote that if Trump is removed, then cowboys, mountain men, and veterans would “hunt down” all responsible. So exists the state of religion (or the politicized side of it). We are now in an era where fealty to an earthly politician is the difference between heaven, hell, war and peace.
Take all these frailties and load them on an interstellar cruise ship. Now reflect upon the last year in lockdown. Image a century stuck in the darkness of space with a relatively small group of people. Human fear and isolation will eventually ebb throughout interstellar travel. Demise is the natural outcome.
Overcoming human frailty involves living in the present. In the book The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle describes that living in the present is the ability to free consciousness from mental noise. By focusing and concentrating attention on the present, you experience the only real thing in this world — what is true at this moment. We must become observers of thought and embrace that being different is humanity’s greatest asset. Unfortunately, humans are too f***ing stupid.
In the end, the Starship might survive. Humanity will not.