Can Beyond Earth and Interstellar change how we view space colonization?
Earth is not the only habitable planet known to man anymore, but as a race we aren’t quite ready to leave behind the rock that saw us evolve into the intelligent, civilized people we are today. My last statement is bordering on sarcasm, as I believe the only reason we aren’t conquering -or at least planning to- other solar systems is due to our lack of maturity as a species. Our population is too preoccupied with its self-destructive ways to pay attention to the endless possibilities of space. My hopes are that Civilization: Beyond Earth and Interstellar might open the mind of many.
How could a niche video game and a high budget Hollywood production have anything to do with our openness to world exploration beyond earth? They both share a premise that is very likely to happen in reality; in a not so distant future where Earth is unable to sustain overpopulation due to resource scarcity and inability to produce enough food, our imminent extinction triggers a plan to colonize habitable planets using interstellar exploration.
Apocalyptic Thoughts
The idea of an uninhabitable environment has been used many times before. Whether it’s a zombie outbreak, nuclear warfare, an alien invasion or nature’s destructive force, we’ve been exposed to the concept that one day the human race may not be the reigning living thing on Earth, but seldom in a realistic way. History has shown us we are able to endure global wars, famine, genocides and epidemics. While surviving such events is positive and all around amazing, the side effect is a collective false sense of security. We aren’t immune to extinction, no matter how much luxury and technology is able to blind us. Why so grim? Take a step back to evaluate the big picture; we aren’t too far off a decisive era.
Beyond Earth
Civilization is a series well known for giving a sandbox experience based off known history. Players can begin with a select choice of people in 4000 BC; develop their culture, technology, religion and social standing to achieve victory through conquest, worldwide peace, cultural domination or space exploration. The latter represents the least likely condition to occur in our current society and this is why it’s so interesting. In the last 50 years, technological priorities have evolved from landing on the Moon (to “win” the Cold War) to decreasing the size of the next smartphone by a millimeter on a yearly basis. We’re in 2014 and most people have very little interest in what’s happening with space exploration. NASA has closed its shuttle program and the only company resupplying the International Space Station is private; SpaceX. Our problem is we just can’t find a way to monetize or incentivize such activity because we haven’t found a purpose for it, yet. I believe we stopped trying too early, and it’s a shame we’re not exploiting today’s incredible computing power to go beyond landing a rover on Mars. Yes it’s an impressive feat, but imagine where we would actually be if we kept the same efforts the US and Russian made in the 60s.
But what if we had no choice? What if going away from Earth was our only option for survival? This is where Civilization Beyond Earth’s premise kicks in. The Lead Game Designers on the project planned an elaborate timeline of events that occurs between now and when the game starts, which is a period of more than 4 generations. The catch? It’s not an integral part of the game’s lore. They want the players to make their own story; what happened exactly to drive us off our home and why the factions are named after fictional coalition are entirely up to your imagination. What’s interesting is their own idea of what has led to our exile is based off current economic, environmental and political conditions. They share a vision of China pressured into a nuclear war as a result of becoming the world’s most powerful nation, leading to the ice caps melting as well as initiating a reconstruction of Earth’s geo-politics. Some details may be wrong, but overall it seems very plausible this could happen. I strongly suggest you take 30 minutes of your time to listen to these very interesting men.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMe7-1ywRTU
Interstellar
Inability to generate enough food to sustain the population and the scarcity of rare materials are subject matters covered by the multiple trailers released so far for Christopher Nolan’s next opus, Interstellar.
The synopsis is vague but while transcendence of love through time and space is the biggest focus with this movie, it revolves around the desperation of the human race in a time of need.
The actual cause is unknown but previews hint at environmental changes such as frequent dust storms and lands drying up, preventing crops from growing.
The premise here is different to Beyond Earth’s, yet very similar as it reflects on very plausible outcomes in the instance we do not work together to use resource responsibly and take care of our environment. We will have to wait a bit more to find out, as the movie comes out in theaters on November 5th. Until then, look at the following trailers for both releases and notice how many similarities they share.
The Big Picture
The irony here is that we do possess the technology to live in harmony with our planet, seek out to explore this infinite universe and best of all; have a decent quality of living without depleting resources at an alarming rate. The main problem we are facing is our lack of common interest to pursue higher grounds as a species. The sleazy way will always win in a world where money wins over logic and the need of many, where 1% is richer than the rest, where oppression is still the best method to govern and slavery is taboo, yet omnipresent. Add in the relentless, destructive tendencies of the religious extremists and we are in for a wild ride.
Hopefully we are able to find balance and realize our petty differences are nothing to what awaits us if we don’t act soon. Many projects are developed with the sole purpose of restoring (rebooting, if you will) our situation. My favorite is The Venus Project, which I will cover next.
Until then I wish everyone a peaceful, enriching and loving life. A new beginning for mankind…
