“Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for?” Robert Browning

“It is a terrible mistake to think that the future is somewhere off in a distance time. It is here – in embryo. We are creating it right now, with the decisions we make about the environment, with the attitude we take toward space exploration, with the education we are giving our children. Everything!!” Gene Roddenberry

“Nobody knows what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow.” Robert Goddard

When a place gets crowded enough to require ID’s, social collapse is not far away. It is time to go elsewhere. The best thing about space travel is that it made it possible to go elsewhere. Robert A. Heinlein

“Doing a task is usually easy. Thinking about a task makes it hard.” Ajahn Brahm

HEY!! I AM LOOKING AT YOU!! THAT’S WHO!! LOLOLOLOLOL

Well it’s the start of a new year!! And wow!! Where has the time gone?? Funny, as I have gotten older it has sped up. Or that is what it seems like. When I was in my 20s and 30s it just dragged by, but now that I am much closer to 60 than 50, the perception of time jumping forward seems almost palpable. I know that it is all perception, but still where has it gone? Oh well. If you find it let me know. Lol

So I was thinking what do I talk about for the first month of the new year? That was a good question. And I had to ask it several times over and over, again and again. I mean I usually talk about Marvin, or some book I read, or sometimes current events. And those are all good, and I will talk about them. After all it is what is going on in my immediate life. But this time I want to start out with something that is a little more intangible for most of us. I want to start out with something I think will be a game changer for humanity. And once I lay it out, you will probably be skeptical. But as a species, we need to be able to pull this off. OK, here it goes. As a species, we need to figure out a way to get out of earth’s gravity well without having to use chemical rockets all the time. To be able to lift large amounts of mass into orbit without riding a “Roman Candle” so to speak every time we do it. If this is not a reality in the near future, then the next best thing is what Elon Musk is doing with reusable rockets. I know what you are thinking (what have you been smoking in Colorado) and I would not blame you. But we need to be able to do this sooner rather than later. The survival of “us” – HUMANS – depends upon it. If you keep reading I will explain my madness.

Elon Musk has the right idea about getting a million people to Mars. Around the middle of this month he made a series of tweets about getting 1000s of star ships to Mars by 2050. That is a huge claim and I really hope that he can pull it off, but I am skeptical. In order to colonize another planet in our solar system we have to be able to get a huge amount (megatons) of material in orbit. Especially if we are going to send 100s, 1000s and then 10s of thousands of people to Mars every year. Using a reusable rocket is a great idea but I am not sure if this can be scaled up to the degree needed. In my personal opinion the game change will be the development of an AG drive (Anti-gravity Drive). I do believe Musk will get us there initial, but not to the degree that he claims. By the way – if you know how or have a working model of an AG drive, please let Elon, or NASA know. I am sure it would be greatly appreciated. Lol

Now at this point you might be asking yourself why do we need to do this? Has Ed lost his mind? And the answers to these are yes and no. Right now the world population is at 7.8 billion and will continue to grow. The current estimate is 10 billion by 2057. (37 years from now) But I believe it will happen sooner rather than later. All it will take is one or two advances in health care that leads to a decrease in infant and mother mortality, and /or a break through in longevity research. And you also need to consider all the money that is being spent on curing cancer and heart disease. Not a matter of IF but WHEN will it happen. I know I sound like someone that might be arguing against these advances in medical treatment and care, but I am not. I think they will be great!! After all, who wants to die of Cancer or lose their child to preventable disease? Right?! But it is going to create a bottle neck in population growth vs available resources on earth. Imagine a balloon (the earth) that is being filled with air (people). At some point it will over fill and….. We all know what happens when a balloon gets too full. We need a relief value. And “space exploration and settlement” on a large scale is the answer.

A interesting web site to check out on population is called worldometer. Here is the link: https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/#growthrate

The 10 billion number is coming and it is not going to take 37 years to get there. So why does this really become a much more significant issue now as opposed to 50 years ago? Well for one, we did not have 7.8 billion people on earth. Two, health care was not at the level it is now. Three, Global Warming and increasing CO2 levels had only been talked about in small scientific circles. And CO2 was not at the concentration it is now (over 400 ppm). As the planet warms and some areas become more inhospitable to human habitation, the balloon gets smaller but the volume of air continues to increase and the proverbial “pop” is just around the corner. In my personal opinion we have already reached the point of no return with global warming. It is not a matter of if this will happen, we are already there and it is happening right now. What we need to be doing is looking at how we are going to survive the coming decades as a species living on a very crowded and much warmer planet.

One of the things I see happening is that the United Nations or something like it becoming a much more powerful world governing body. As countries are over-whelmed with over population and environmental degradation and all of their associated ills (starvation, disease, poverty, violence, etc…) the world will need a central governing body. A United Nations on Steroids with a powerful Military / Police force that can step in any where in the world (and I mean anywhere – all first world countries included) as needed to bring order and more importantly Food, Water, Medicine, etc…

The concept of an all powerful “World Government” has been around for a long time. And depending on how you look at it and what your situation is, this will be the “Godsend” for some. Millions will be saved that would have otherwise died. But on the flip side there will be those that do not want meddling by any kind of central authority. Think “Super Libertarians”. They will fight it and I have no doubt, to the death if needed. Maybe this is how world/global civilizations end. After all, where are all the aliens from space? They get to a certain point in development and if they have not achieved sustained large scale space travel then they die. Their planets are over populated, resources all minded out. And in desperation they turn to draconian governmental and religious “myth” leaders that promise a way out of the debacle. When things continue to fail, they rationalize and rationalize their continue belief in this false path, turning away from the very science and technology that could save them. The end result is total societal collapse and the extinction of the “insert name of species/race here” as we know it.

I know this all sounds terribly depressing and it is. Most of us have no control in the world. We have no way to change what happens to us. The only control we have is how we respond to it. As the population booms and the earth shrinks, the potential of societal collapse becomes much more likely. One way out is the exploration and colonization of space on a large scale. So call your Congressman or Woman and let them know how important this is to humanity. Support NASA, support Musk, support Branson, support Bezos. Well we probably already support Bezos too much through Amazon. But seriously, even if it is just words of encouragement. Give them your support. And one last thing – support Science. It is the lone candle in the darkness that can be religious belief. And the only true path to getting out.

Well that is about it my friends. I hope you have had a great start to the new year. See you next month and in the mean time, “May you live long and prosper.” Adios amigos!!