By Alina Ostrovsky
“Shooting to the stars” is a concept that was conditioned in us since a young age to encourage us to not limit our ambition in pursuit of greatness. Instilled within the abstract presence of our consciousness, the concept functions to stimulate the state of our morale most figuratively. However, when the meaning of this phrase becomes literal, expanded into a foresight by the scientist actually envisioning that “Ultimately our future is among the stars” (Newitz 2) or, shall we say, should be interstellar, the pressure is on a whole other physical dimension.
Habitation amongst stars: A complex issue
The alarming factor about this assertion is that the urgency of it becomes inescapable, as the clock continues ticking. The irony lies in that the message is a call to escape. To escape the most infinitely dreaded self-destruction of our Mother Earth or our very own annihilation to the degree of an irreversible state of extinction. Therefore, to the stars, we must shoot and relocate in an agitated frenzy to perpetuate human existence, but from the completion of that task arise a number of dilemmas.
Sensitivity of the matter
Stephen Hawking, the great British scientist, believes, along with many other experts, that Earth’s physical state is severely deteriorating and, as a doctor looking at its MRI, his diagnosis of it is that it has entered a cancerous stage of unalterable sickness—sickness that is propagated by the human civilisation. To elaborate, in his very own words, he states:
“We face awesome environmental challenges: climate change, food production, overpopulation, the decimation of other species, epidemic disease, ocean acidification…. [and many others for which reason]…more than any time in our history, our species needs to work together” (Torres 2).
This is where the subject becomes sensitive. Work together but how?
Is migration to Mars a moral issue?
Elon Musk, a leader of the SpaceX project who is in rivalry with NASA, came up with the technology that would be able to take people to Mars in an effort of colonising it to escape the approaching fatal fate of the Earth. However, the dilemma constitutes the fact that the expedition is costly because a ticket to it per individual is $200,000, which most people are not fortunate to have in possession.
Even if, hypothetically speaking, people had the financial means for it, Musk said that “fully, self-sustaining civilization on Mars would need around 1 million people” (Russel and Vinsel 7) in capacity, which is a staggeringly minuscule fraction of .014% of the Earth’s population that would leave the rest of its suffering fellow human beings behind. This does not strike as moral to some people because they believe that wealthy people have lost their sense of priority by being more excited to invest their financial resources into a thrill instead of gathering resources to fix the Earth.
Colonising Mars: A viable option
In defence of those accused, they believe that the Earth has reached a state that is unfixable and the only solution is for some to migrate, otherwise, all would perish. Besides, even if we were to fix the overbearing physical issues, we would still face dealing with the self-destructing nature of humankind like “apocalyptic terrorists, psychopaths, psychotics, ecoterrorists…” (Torres 7); hence the grand effort of ‘fixing’ the Earth appears more comical than practical, and much more ambitious than the effort of colonising Mars.
Sacrifice itself is the highest morality
The central question remains, is it moral to leave your fellow brothers behind? Yes, it is, because the cause is self-justified. Denying science is a ticket to foolishness. To perpetuate the existence of humanity requires sacrifice in order to open possibilities, which requires suffering and heroism. If we look back at history, people gave up their lives in the name of freedom and liberty for the prosperity of future generations, which is more within the definition of righteousness than immorality. We should likewise do the same during our point of history. Besides, suffering is a part of living that is beautiful in all of its horridness, because it makes people vulnerable, brings people together and perpetuates compassion. We, as a functional society, need to embrace our mortality and not begrudge those for whom we sacrificed, which is the golden rule of being human.
Featured image source - Pexels
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