INFINITUM: Why should we look to the stars in times of turmoil?
By: Andrin Bär, Editor
Space, the final frontier. An infinite universe unfolding before our eyes every night, as the Earth turns away from the Sun, and the gases that once created blue skies no longer refract light. As the inky blackness engulfs the sky, it is suddenly pierced by billions of tiny pinpricks of light, and we see millions and billions of stars shining. Millions of billions of solar systems, with millions and billions of planets, all above us. On clear nights, we may be fortunate enough to catch a glimpse at our own galaxy, the Milky Way. A streak of stars spilling across the sky like the plate of milk that it gets its name from. And yet, the tears we get from looking at this infinity unfolding before us are not over spilled milk, but rather of awe. Awe at the fact that we are so small. Awe at the fact that we are all here, on this planet, together.
Throughout human history, space has always been a unifying force for mankind. Whilst the cold war threatened nuclear armageddon during the 1960’s, the landing of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the lunar surface was an achievement celebrated by men and women all around the world, regardless of gender, skin colouration or religion. When the space shuttle Challenger exploded, the loss of it’s six crew members and a public school teacher was mourned not just by America, but by the world over. And then there is the international space station, a device built by 15 nations, but with resources collected from all over the world. Metals processed in China that were mined in Australia, Russia and Africa, plastics made in Germany from oil mined in Saudi Arabia. Space is what unites us. It is what captures people from all across the world, and from all walks of life. The fact that there is an infinite universe out there, and that we live on a tiny little blue marble in a void, an infinite void that spreads out ever onwards gives us a sense of wonder, and a sense of awe. It is a miracle we all even exist at all on this tiny little blue speck of dust. So why is it important that we look at space more than usual right now?
Normally we may think of the concept of being small as a scary, perhaps even sad, reality. But it is not sad to think we are a small part of this massive infinite universe. Is it not fun to realise that you are made of the same materials as the stars? In fact, researchers suggest that even if only 10% of the material falling to Earth from space was water, 50 billion of the water molecules in your body would have originated in space. You have space inside of you, in fact we all do. Realising this is an immediate start to seeing people as equal. Because if you realise we all are made of the same materials, and in relatively similar amounts, you realise there is no reason we should ever be seen as unequal. Skin colour? That’s just pigmentation. It is just how much melanin is in your body. That’s all. And yet we treat people as different based on this fact alone? Especially right now, with the riots, protests and pandemic, we need to be united by similarities, not separated differences.
When you realise how massive space is, you also realise how silly it is that we can be racist or xenophobic. You realise that we are all together on this speck of dust. Ok, so we are located on different parts of our planet, separated by water, but imagine if we colonise Mars. What would we refer to people on this separate planet as? Even if they are located at different stations across the surface, we won’t call them Masiatic, or Maucasian, or Amartian. No, we will likely call them Martians. Even if they came from different places on Earth, in the end won’t they all be unified under the name Martian? With that logic in mind, why don’t we just call ourselves Earthlings? When you realise how massive the universe is, you realise how silly the concepts of race are.
Space also offers us the ability of reflection and external judgement. If life exists on other planets, what do you think it would think of us? A species so divided we threaten nuclear armageddon against the fellow men and women. A species so confused we are like lobsters in a pot, except we are the ones who control our own heat. A species so paranoid and afraid of change that we will refuse to accept something even when there is ample evidence in contrary to our original beliefs. Do you think alien races care about how many tentacles they have? Do you think they enslave members of their species who only have one tentacle, whilst the five tentacled creatures rule over all? You may think this is ridiculous. And it is, but did we not do the same to our own people, only with with skin pigment instead of tentacles? Right now, we are all going through a global pandemic together, and we all need to pitch in to help. Realising we solely exist on a tiny speck of dust in an ever expanding universe is a good start to understanding the “why” in “Why do I need to wear a mask?” Like the Who’s in Dr Seuss’ “Horton Hears a Who” we exist in this tiny speck and nowhere else. Regardless of belief as to why we are here, what is more important is that we remain, and taking action for the benefit of all mankind guarantees that our species will survive, and if we survive we will advance. Space shows us how fickle we really are. We only exist here.
The next time you go out and look up at the stars, think of what you see. Realise you are looking upon stars that are shining at you from lightyears away. You are seeing through time and space, literally. The light hitting your eyes is billions of years old, and has travelled even more miles than its age. Imagine all the things happening right now that you will never see, or never have an impact on. The volcanos erupting on the moon Io. The rings of Saturn spinning onward, or all the things happening on the far off planets in another solar system. You will likely never influence these things. And yet here on Earth, we are changing everything. Land, climate, ocean, atmosphere, all of that is being changed by our actions. We are stuck in a global pandemic and historic race reckoning right now because of the actions we took. And yet, when we look out, we realise how tiny that impact really is. We realise the only people we are hurting with our actions is us. Everything we do affects us, and our world. It means simply that we need to think about every action we take.
If we disappear, who will remember us? We are not influencing some far out species. Every action we take is influencing us. Us, and this tiny blue marble we call home. It is precarious, and yet the sooner you see it, the sooner you realise, that space is there to prove to all of us that there is something bigger than ourselves. So how will we be remembered? As a species of thinkers, tinkerers and mathematicians, or as a confused species that annihilated ourselves over our differences? We only exist on this tiny planet. Let’s make the most of it.