Sorry about this post but I’m going to digress from football for a minute.
I was walking the dog at my local park yesterday and doing this thing that I do where I look up in the trees to try to find this barred owl I once saw up there. It’s contemplative, I guess, because my mind started wandering back to when I was a kid and how I had all of these dreams about space travel.
I loved space travel books like Starship Troopers, The Foundation series, Dune, and of course all of those space travel films that came out when I was a kid – Alien, Battle Beyond the Stars, Star Wars, etc. Even to this day I will watch a stupid television series or movie as long as it’s got a spaceship!
The ones that really captured my imagination were the ones where they traveled to new and exciting planets. But yesterday as I was walking the dog I was struck by the proliferation of life that I saw: bees, flies, birds, plants, everything around me was an explosion of life, all evolved to compete in this biosphere. And that led me to think how impossible it would be for humans to actually settle on another planet.
We have evolved on this planet, in this biome. The planet has evolved with us. I know that this isn’t popular to say but I think we are pretty much the apex species on the planet.
You might think that this would mean that we could just fly anywhere and set up shop because we can do that here on this planet. But the problem with this idea is that if we found another habitable planet it’s biosphere would be evolved specifically to its own conditions. So it’s going to have its own bacteria, viruses, plants, poisons, and apex creatures. All of those creatures would have evolved to be the most productive that they can be on that planet.
Let’s say that we didn’t just die en mass from the first virus that we encountered. What would we eat? You can’t bring along enough food cubes. And you can’t just take a plant and put it in the ground over there – they aren’t evolved to grow on that planet or defend themselves from whatever billions of bugs will almost certainly live there.
Not only that but our bodies are completely dependent on the bacteria inside of us to get nutrients. We know that gut bacteria changes just from space flight and we know that our bacterial makeup can change just by shaking hands with another human being. Our first breath of air on a foreign planet would undoubtedly radically change our personal biome.
And I haven’t even mentioned all of the larger creatures that would be more than happy to kill us.
Of course the way that science fiction deals with this problem is by imagining that we can bioengineer the entire planet or that we live in specially sealed little huts. These ones are pretty funny. Humans can’t bioengineer a cure for a simple cold virus! That’s a single piece of DNA! Imagine trying to engineer millions of species and systems that are all intertwined in immensely complicated ways.
And the idea of living inside some sort of enclosure is impractical. We know for a fact that humans subjected to this kind of confinement break. Plenty of evidence suggests that like animals kept in the zoo, these humans would go mad.
And then there’s something I came across a few years ago. Research suggests that humans require nature. And specifically, this biosphere. People do significantly better emotionally and physically after just a few days of sleeping in nature.
We have evolved with this planet and even though it feels wildly diverse with extremes at the poles and across the tropics, it’s a system and we are a part of that system. I feel like humans more and more resemble Ahab from Moby Dick. That we feel like we are the masters of nature or that maybe we are extra-natural.
We are not. We are part of this biosphere. We need the very specific conditions that we evolved in in order to continue to survive as a species. The planet isn’t going anywhere but we are destroying the very conditions that we need to survive. Maybe, instead of destroying this biome, or fantasizing about populating another planet we should come together and find a solution.
One day when i visit the US from Nigeria, i would love to put a face to the Genius who always keeps me coming to 7amkickoff daily…..
God bless you. (that is if u believe in him)
A few of my favorite related articles recently… How Dirt Microbes Make You Happy..
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/antidepressant-microbes-soil.htm
https://bestplants.com/how-dirt-makes-you-happy-antidepressant-microbes-in-soil-the-new-prozac/
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/02/spending-2-hours-in-nature-per-week-can-make-you-happier-and-healthier.html
Interesting stuff.
Cheers Tim. Keep baking bread.
Amazing
I always check for new articles everyday
Every time you astound me your writing
My only question is to what end? Science tells us that the sun has only a few billions of years left. Even if we survive that long, which given our propensity to destroy everything around us is doubtful, we won’t survive that.
Very sweet and thoughtful writings as always. I doff my cap to you sire.
Billions of years us a *long* time in human lives. Just twenty thousand took us from rudimentary agriculture to fusion reactors and fridges connected to an internet. If we make it that far the sci-fi technology will probably exist to solve things. For example, the Ice mountains if titan will thaw, and a new wet planet will be born as the earth is cooked. We could move there and start again!
Unfortunately, we’re not likely to make it that far. Our civilization is brand new. 20,000 *isn’t* very long, and we are not adapted to cope with the power we have developed. It’s natural to want to consume stuff, it’s how all species compete, but that natural tendency is going to see us consume the ground out beneath our feet. We are toddlers stumbling around the kitchen, grasping in the knife drawer. And the knife drawer contains nuclear weapons, pesticides, and billions of tons of CO2.
Love this
Does that mean we shouldn’t support airlines that originate from a highly engineered emirate (closet thing to a space colony on this planet, maybe?) all of which are only possible by extracting carbon and burning it (just about) as fast as we can?…
Or at least not wear the shirt?… (The O2 shirts maybe make sense now…)
I say you’re right, but I’m gonna party like it’s 20 years ago…
I am not going to tell you what to do and actually, I think that the environmental movement makes a big error when they try to put the onus on individuals to change. That’s actually what the corproations want: they don’t want laws and regulations to make them clean up their own plastics, they want people to be told it’s their fault. But the reality is single-use plastics are so widely available because we don’t regulate them and because of so many tax breaks for the giant oil companies. Personally, I’m working to get laws changed that make things more sustainable. Sustainable energy would be a huge start. I also try to practice sustainability but I still use plastics and I am probably going to take a flight somewhere soon. That said, I have cut way back on that type of activity. You do you.
This, this, a thousand times this. They try to make us feel the onus is on us as individuals to save the planet while they pollute and destroy with the green light of captured govts.
Tim, have you read any Anand Giridharadas? You’d like him.
Also, mind if I lean on some of these ideals for my novel? There’s a scene, and this topic fits nicely in the discussion that occurs.
Dude! Lean in on anything you want!
Unfortunately the corporations as well as the governments they sponsor (obviously) don’t want to take up responsibility!
With individuals taking up the case, there is hope.
I applaud individual efforts to make a change, I do. But it’s only something that moderately wealthy people can do. Not everyone can afford to eat vegan, organic, or buy a new electric car. People talk about how flying dumps tons of carbon into the sky and they are right but I have to punish myself and my daughter and not take a once in a lifetime trip to japan, while the US military right down the street is flying 160 times a day for no other reason than as a projection of our giant American penis?
Let’s talk about another aspect of this: recycling plastic. The US basically used to ship all of our dirty plastic to China for “recycling”. They said, no thanks because it was too dirty and they were basically just burning it over there or dumping it and stopped accepting our waste. So, now we have a situation in America where our citizens are putting the plastics out on to the curb for recycling but that stuff is at best being shipped to Malaysia to be somewhat recycled and at worst is either going into the landfill somewhere or getting burnt.
I applaud people who want to make personal changes and I also think people should be incentivized to do the right things. But we also have to recognize that a lot of being able to do that right thing is only available to the wealthy and upper middle-class.
Me eating a vegan meal once a day isn’t solving the climate crisis.
Me swearing off air travel isn’t solving the climate crisis.
Me riding a bike twice a week isn’t solving the climate crisis.
Only through regulation, through government investment in clean energy (wind, solar, geo, and even nuclear).
Only by stripping the fossil fuel industry of their tax breaks.
Only by cutting the US military in half (or more).
Only through radical, huge change, are we going to fix this.
So true. We will not find an answer to climate change until we accept that our current economic structure and policies are what drive it. Modern capitalistic economies believe in unlimited growth, which is impossible in a biophysical world with limited resources. Unless this changes, tackling climate change will be impossible. Even simple things such as good public transportation which are more efficient than individual cars are not implemented in North American cities. We see Greta Thunberg give up flying and I am all for young kids and the next generation fighting for the world they have to live in. But not everyone working within today’s economies have the luxury to give up air travel. People have to fly between cities everyday to work. Week long holidays are a luxury for many and they cant spend two days of it traveling. Cars, air travel, specific foods…they have all been made so important to our lives by those industries. Climate change was not caused by individual habits. They were caused by an economic system that has forced certain things on the general population, ensuring growing wealth to the top 1%, who couldn’t care less about our earth’s well being. Unless this changes, we face an incredibly tough fight to reverse the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation.
Oh come on. Spoilsport!
Are you telling me all those planets that Kirk and Spock landed on with attractive women were not likely supported by science?
Arthur C. Clarke is a proponent of “realistic” science fiction (putting the science in science fiction!). His idea of sending out “seeding” ships to possible habitable planets using drones that carry our cryogenically frozen DNA is probably at once the most realistic and most disturbing depiction of deep space travel I’ve read. Spreading our DNA like spores in the universe just feels wrong, but humans have a primal obsession with perpetuating ourselves and given the technological tools I have no doubt this will actually happen one day. His description of the end of the Earth due to inevitable cosmic missiles is also quite realistic and horrifying. Forget Ben Affleck in an orange space suit, his view is all about how society would react to learning about their inevitable end several years before it happens. A fascinating, if somewhat morbid, thought experiment.
On that particular topic, try reading “Children of Time” by Adrian Tchaikovsky, which won the Arthur Clarke award last year, and which deals with the question of seeding and terraforming(but sadly, not the question of who will buy Mustafi).
I definitely agree with your point that “moving to a different planet” is not a good option B if we end up destroying Earth. Lets focus on making sure we protect earth now.
I think the bigger challenge involved with moving to another planet is figuring out how to survive the journey. The closest star systems are so far away and we would need major advancements in bioengineering and energy transfers to even consider the journey. It would probably take multiple generations just to make the one-way trip to our nearest star system. If we can figure out how to survive that far away from a host star, I’m sure we can figure out how to colonize another planet. Plus, if we ever do figure out how to make the trip, I think it’s likely the evolution of earth-based humans and interstellar colonizers would diverge and we might not even be the same species If we ever decide to meet back up again. Throw in the time-warping effect of relativity and it gets especially complicated.
Now I want to read the epic sci fi story of humans who colonize another planet by building biodomes for themselves and then go mad from being confined. Maybe from the perspective of an alien archaeologist who discovered the remains, or perhaps a Space Marine investigator doing a postmortem.
If infinity is taken seriously, there may be many many analogs to Earth
God damn, Tim, thank you.
Thanks to commenters for ideas on sci-fi and environmental interconnection reads.
My sci-fi recommendation is station 11.
For enviro, my question is what’s a better more accurate more compelling term than “climate change,” which to me sounds too calm and neutral and even inevitable. Like earth poisoning. Thoughts??
Hi Jahan – interesting thought.
Maybe “Climate Change Acceleration”?
ie Climate Change is a natural thing that even denialists agree on.
But human activity is accelerating it.
Also riffs on accelerating in cars (which is exciting but can lead to crashes etc).
Maybe not very snappy but just a thought.
Well, “climate crisis” seems to be the new phrase I see a lot. I prefer “we are literally setting the planet on fire”
We ain’t getting off this rock and going to some distant, light years away planets that might or might not support life.
I’ve seen “the passengers”.
It’s all a pipe dream and we better get our act together as a species to make this whole Goldilocks situation we’ve got going on here last for at least a few more generations.
Too bad our political system is so fcuked up that any clown elected President can destroy decades of positive environmental advocacy with one bombastic scribble of a pen , also called an executive order.
Good read Tim.
I used to take my Weimaraner to a near by Forest Preserve every Sunday.
The first hour was for me- a six aside pick up game, the second hour was for him, letting him off the leash to roam around.
I would lie down under a tree and he would go absolutely nuts sniffing around for wild game .
Best of times.
Finding an alternative to capitalism wouldn’t be a bad start, the longer wealth creation remains a primary objective of the planet (well the people who run it) then sadly the longer we will continue to damage and exploit what we have for gain.
Loved sci fi (still do).
I love the way that sci fi allows us to look at people and culture at an angle/ through a lens.
I guess if it gets in the way of a story, even really good writers say “ah well, that’s a distraction” (eg Ursula Le Guin not caring about this when landing people all over the place! But she does handle the affect of time/duration in space travel as well as obviously her more primary concern of relationships, gender etc).
In terms of apex creatures I guess it depends what the criteria are – are viruses actually an apex?
Or Tardigrades (and we now know we’ve accidentally put a bunch of them on the Moon!).
Completely agree with you about the ‘best’ way to make change. I was always very taken by ‘Nudge’ (Thaler & Sunstein).
An economic nudge that the UK introduced (at different times in different countries) was to charge 5p for the plastic carrier bags in major shops.
A small enough amount not to raise cries of “nanny state!” “telling us what we can do!” etc.
But it was enough that people started carrying their own bags into shops and carrier bag usage has dropped enormously (~70-80%).
For more behavioural nudges (that certainly raised a smile with me) the Fun Theory (funded by VW) was good.
Anyway – I will definitely look around me today with a better eye for the life around me – thanks!
Your central point is absolutely right. This planet is the home of our species and our human nature is bound up with the nature of the planet. It’s unclear whether large numbers of us could ever leave – Interstellar suggests the energy problem may be insurmountable. So it would rely on small colonies to populate other planets. I suppose Mars is the exception, in that it’s close enough that lots of small trips might be feasible. (But it’s geology suits it best to a prison planet – a bit like the status of Australia in the late C18th.) Anyway, even if we could leave, we would soon cease to be human in the sense that we are now. Our nature would, eventually, change.
The question of home is central to humanity, from the individual level to the species level and at every intermediate level too. It is inadequately addressed in our cultural discourse but human needs have a way of insistently returning themselves to attention, often in unappealing ways. That would be what Freud called the return of the repressed.
Our resident “tree-hugger”, Daughter-of-1-Nil is impressed with this, as am I. She is entering her Masters of Environmental Science next month. As she gets busy with program, who’ll stop me from putting the wrong stuff in the green bin;?”Daddy, stop! That’s not recyclable!!!”
I remember marvelling at Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos” back in 1980, a wonderful book spun around a simple idea. That we ARE the stars evolved to wonder about the stars themselves, Earth and our place in the cosmos.
This holistic thinking is a requirement if we can reverse humanity’s destruction the planet. It’s not going to be science in the end that wins out but the desire that springs from emotion (as exemplified by our Ishmael here) that can effect positive change.
“We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost’s familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road — the one less traveled by — offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the earth.”
― Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
Impressive commentary. I would like to see some of your suggestions on the weakness of science engineering a cure for a common cold and other clues, as reasons why people should understand Earth was created by God and evolution is some theory which doesn’t answer all questions.
God created earth. We are yet to encounter Martians and extraterrestrial creations and until then, Earth remains the only planet fit for humans.
My context and argument is based on personal experience and religious belief which is real to me.
Cheers and bring on Burnley.
Thank you for writing this Tim. It is written with compassion for our common home. Fully agree that any solution has to be collective.