The Power of Words

By David L. Brown

I have been a science fiction fan since about the age of 6 or 7 when I read a novel by A. E. Van Vogt called The Space Beagle. In that book a group of scientists explored the galaxy in search of knowledge about strange life forms and new worlds. They traveled in a starship named for the craft in which Charles Darwin explored the nature of the Earth. Van Vogt’s story had much in common with the later Star Trek TV series, including the appearance of a series of dangerous adversaries to challenge the brave human explorers.

The dream of humankind being able to spread from the Solar System and inhabit other worlds is old indeed. Many writers have mined this concept, as did for example Isaac Asimov in his classic Foundation trilogy, the “future history” of a galaxy-wide civilization, and Frank Herbert in his Dune series.

Fun to think about, interesting to contemplate. But the reality is that space has turned out to be a dangerous and inhospitable place that is clearly unsuited to human life except for brief visits under highly artificial circumstances. Our species evolved here on Earth, and the unique and complex environment of which we are a part is necessary to our existence. Despite thousands of imaginative science fiction stories, no other planet is likely to be even remotely similar enough to our home planet to support human life. Nor does it seem likely that humans could live indefinitely, generation after generation, in enclosed structures in the cold, radiation-filled, void of empty space or on the surface of the Moon or Mars. A key question is: Why would they want to?

I have addressed this subject in my novel of the near future, a time of ecological disaster, in which humans strive to escape from the Solar System in search of another home for humanity. The point of that book, The Star Phoenix, is that human beings belong on the Earth, and that no other alternative exists that can provide any long-term future for generations to come.

There are many reasons why this is so. Biological ones, physical ones, psychological ones, and most of all, economic ones. The cost of establishing permanent colonies of humans in space or on a planet circling another star would be far beyond even considering. And yet, dreamers continue to predict that our planet’s ever-growing population can be relieved by sending excess humanity to live in so-called “space habitats;” on other planets of the Solar System such as Mars or Venus; or on extra-Solar planets far away.

Such plans to deal with human over-population are impractical to say the least - especially the interstellar option, as was demonstrated years ago by Prof. Garrett Hardin of the University of California at Santa Barbara. He wrote an article titled “Interstellar Migration and the Population Problem” that appeared in Heredity magazine. Here is a summary of Hardin’s analysis, as reported by Paul Ehrlich in his classic book The Population Bomb:

“Using extremely optimistic assumptions [Prof. Hardin] has calculated that Americans, by cutting their standard of living down to 18% of its present level, could in one year set aside enough capital to finance the exportation to the stars of one day’s increase in the population of the world.”

Keeping in mind that that estimate was made nearly a half century ago, and that the sheer numbers of human beings has nearly tripled since those words were written, it is apparent that such a program for population reduction could not be realistic. But other less grandious plans have been floated, including so-called “terra-forming” (making Earth-like) other planets such as Mars, and the idea of building free-floating cities in space.

Indeed, I have in my library a book entitled Colonies in Space by T. A. Heppenheimer, published in 1977. In this volume the author seriously proposes building vast self-contained space habitats that would circle the Sun in orbits of their own and provide homes for millions of humans, thus solving the population problem. And, no, Heppelheimer is not some wild eyed science fiction writer, but a planetary scientist with a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering who was at the time the book came out the Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the Max Planck Institut fur Kernphysik in Heidelberg, Germany. Impressive credentials indeed!

And now I approach the true theme of this essay, for in today’s news is a report from the Associated Press about another call for human expansion into the Galaxy. That call comes from no less an authority than Stephen Hawking, thought by many to be the most brilliant man alive today, on a par with Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein.

Speaking at a news conference in Hong Kong, China, Hawking is reported to have said that “the survival of the human race depends on its ability to find new homes elsewhere in the universe because there’s an increasing risk that a disaster will destroy Earth.” The article, reported by CNN, went on to quote the famous theoretical physicist:

“We won’t find anywhere as nice as Earth unless we go to another star system,” added Hawking, who came to Hong Kong to a rock star’s welcome Monday. Tickets for his lecture Thursday were sold out.

Hawking said that if humans can avoid killing themselves in the next 100 years, they should have space settlements that can continue without support from Earth.

“It is important for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species,” Hawking said. “Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of.”

With great respect to Dr. Hawking, I find myself in the position of having to strongly refute the opinion of this justly admired genius. Perhaps he should stick to studies of black holes and cosmology.

Although I must express my strongest disagreement with his ideas, please note that I am not taking exception to Hawking’s warning that there are serious threats to us here on Earth. No, I have no quarrel with him on that. What I disagree with is what I perceive as a false hope that human beings can somehow become like the mythical gods and travel and live throughout the universe. Science and common sense alike offer a wealth of well-reasoned evidence why this cannot be.

As I have said above, there is strong reason to believe that the Earth is the only true home that humankind can ever have. The idea that other alien planets could be converted into mirror images of our own planet - which is itself the product of billions of years of unique geologic and biologic evolution - is patently impossible for any mortal beings, whether human beings as we now exist or some future race of supermen that we can only imagine. As biological entities, humans are not simple machines that could be transplanted into strange and generally hostile environments without ill effect.

As an example of how much the human species is integrated into the entire biosphere of Planet Earth, there are some 800 species of bacteria that flourish in our guts, performing a myriad of functions that are necessary to our very existence, such as synthesizing essential vitamins and amino acids. In a very real sense we are not single entities, but complex colonies of cooperating organisms, all of which have their roots entwined deep in the long and special history and ecology of our planet. Remove humankind from this biological support system and we will die as surely as a goldfish setting out to swim in a glass of ethyl alcohol.

The future of humanity does not depend on migration into space, which is an impractical and impossible dream. It does very much depend on our ability to find ways to live in harmony with our only home, the Planet Earth, in balance with Nature.

In my opinion, the only starship we will ever know is the one on which we are already passengers - “Spaceship Earth” - and if our race is to survive at all it will be right here on our special planet.

We have entered a dangerous time leading to potential environmental collapse, and to find a safe path we must not look outward to the empty promise of a future in space, but inward, to find and apply the solutions to the enormous dangers that face us. Only in that way can we create a secure future for our descendants.

There are no easy answers, and the hard work that awaits us - should we undertake it at all - will in the measure of future times determine our fate. Yes, we should look upward at the stars and the vast beauty of the nebulae for inspiration and a sense of awe. But those are alien places to which we do not belong, and should be viewed with respect and from afar like precious jewels in a museum case.

Now we must turn our eyes away from the stars, to look downward to the precious ground beneath our feet, the bosom of our dear sweet Mother Earth. It is time to stop dreaming of a fantastic Star Trek future, time to roll up our sleeves and begin to address the greatest challenge ever known to mankind. The enormous task is that of preserving and restoring our planet to a state of equilibrium. It may already be too late to prevent great catastrophes, many of which are already beginning to take place, but there may still be time to avert total disaster.

Will we choose to meet this challenge, or become another extinct species in the geological record of future times? The survival of humankind is balanced on the outcome.

© 2006 by David L. Brown, Inc. All Rights Reserved.