Richard Branson is going to be, or already has announced his new Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo, don’t you love these wealthy guys using their money to push humanity forwards and upwards?
Things like this show the human spirit, and show that we are ever moving to better ourselves and our understanding of the universe. Some would call this progress, and it is in the technological arena, but it is not a progress of humanity itself, it is only an illustration of what humanity has always done. However, my philosophy doesn’t matter here. What does is that all these steps into space will actually get the human species off of this planet.
These steps into the future make one dream about what is possible. Could we actually setup a permanent colony on another planet/moon? Will we ever make it to another star system? Is faster than light travel possible (like warp drive or via worm holes)? Will the future be a utopia, dystopia, something in between, or all three?
As my wife knows, I never want to die, but that is solely because I want to know what the near and distant future hold. I am sure that there will be leaps forward and backward, but every possibility is exciting to contemplate, because out of adversity comes the birth of the enduring human spirit.
With this announcement of Branson’s, let us thank all of those that are trying to get us into space, as well as into the future.
Photo is from the Hubble Telescope of Spiral Galaxy NGC 2841.