Interplanetary Transmissions G
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
· Searc lds hi or ng W f o g r n i O v l R o D v E E R f o I N Y T t I h X e E C L O P M Y ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The SFI Press and the InterPlanetary Project would not exist without the support of William H. Miller and the Miller Omega Program. The SFI Press is also supported by Andrew Feldstein and the Feldstein Program on History, Law, and Regulation, and Alana Levinson-Labrosse. I [ INTERPLANETARY TRANSMISSIONS: GENESIS] Proceedings of the Santa Fe Institute’s First InterPlanetary Festival DAVID C. KRAKAUER CAITLIN L. MCSHEA editors with illustrations by Caitlin L. McShea © 2019 Santa Fe Institute All rights reserved. SFI PRESS THE SANTA FE INSTITUTE PRESS 1399 Hyde Park Road Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 InterPlanetary Transmissions: Genesis Proceedings of the Santa Fe Institute’s First InterPlanetary Festival isbn (kindle): 978-1-947864-24-5 Library of Congress Control Number: 2019904092 The SFI Press is supported by the Feldstein Program on History, Regulation, & Law, the Miller Omega Program, and Alana Levinson-LaBrosse. Our model of the cosmos must be as inexhaustible as the cosmos. A complexity that includes not only duration but creation, not only being but becoming, not only geometry but ethics. It is not the answer we are after, but only how to ask the question. —Ursula K. Le Guin The Dispossessed (1974) T Part I: Genesis Preface: Restoring Focus at a Planetary Scale David C. Krakauer 3 “Out of this World” Reprint of Santa Fe Reporter article by Julia Goldberg 4 Introduction: The Recurring La Choza Chat Caitlin L. McShea 15 Chapter 1: What Will It Take to Become an InterPlanetary Civilization? A Roundtable Discussion 21 Part II: Proceedings of Santa Fe Institute’s First InterPlanetary Festival Chapter 2: Planetary Policy & Regulation Introduction by Jeff Ubois 68 Chapter 3: Autonomous Ecosystems Introduction by Jennifer Dunne 88 Chapter 4: Time Design Introduction by Van Savage 108 Chapter 5: Motion & Energy Technology Introduction by Brendan Tracey 128 Chapter 6: Living in Space Introduction by Brian Ferguson 148 Chapter 7: The Origins of Life in Space Introduction by Chris Kempes 170 Chapter 8: Intelligent Systems Introduction by David C. Krakauer 190 Chapter 9: Social & Economic Engineering Introduction by Jessica Flack 214 Chapter 10: Visualization & Designing the Impossible Introduction by Seamus Blackley 240 Chapter 11: The End of the World Introduction by Armin Ellis 258 GENESIS Preface Introduction Proceedings from the InterPlanetary Project’s Roundtable Discussion July, 2017 | Santa Fe, New Mexico David C. Krakauer P PREFACE: RESTORING FOCUS AT A PLANETARY SCALE Man is an artifact designed for space travel. —WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS, “CIVILIAN DEFENSE” The InterPlanetary Project seeks to engage with pressing prob- lems of today by imagining the challenges of tomorrow. Mark Twain wrote, “You can’t depend on your eyes when your imag- ination is out of focus.” InterPlanetary seeks to restore focus at a planetary scale. What terrestrial challenge could provide greater focus than nourishing and uniting the peoples of the Earth to explore the extrasolar planets? And what great solutions might we find by searching beyond the confines of our Earthly troubles? To search through outer space we shall need to rise above our inner spaces, the gravest challenges of our time—from reducing disease and economic inequality to managing finite resources and surviving war—and take all necessary steps towards a larger, shared goal: an understanding of life’s place in the Universe. Because confronting the challenges of space requires braving and solving the complexities of life. The InterPlanetary Project is equal parts conference, festival, and research program. The first project of its kind to combine celebration with experimentation and conversation with anal- ysis, InterPlanetary seeks nothing less than a whole-planet Preface: Restoring Focus at a Planetary Scale Preface: Restoring Focus at a Planetary Scale project—beyond borders, beyond politics, beyond economics—to activate the collective intelligence of our first planet: Earth. We began with a conversation at the historic Lensic Theater in downtown Santa Fe, asking our panelists—science fiction authors, scientists, explorers, and artists—to consider, what will it take to become an InterPlanetary civilization? How should we address the most pressing problems of Earth to tackle a challenge at this scale? What will success mean for future generations? What is holding humanity back, and what do we all need to achieve in terms of novel governance, new technologies, shared resources, and global cooperation to achieve this goal? Santa Fe Institute researchers endeavor to understand and unify the underlying, shared patterns in complex physical, biological, social, cultural, technological, and even possible astrobiological, worlds. Our global research network of scholars spans borders, departments, and disciplines, unifying curious minds steeped in rigorous logical, mathematical, and computational reasoning. As we reveal the unseen mechanisms and processes that shape these evolving worlds, we seek to use this understanding to promote the well-being of humankind and life on earth. —David C. Krakauer President and William H. Miller Professor of Complex Systems, Santa Fe Institute Out of this World: Santa Fe Institute Launches an InterPlanetary Project with Galactic Ambitions Science fiction lovers will probably recognize the galactic tribunal trope from any number of graphic novels, books, or films. Santa Fe Institute President David Krakauer introduces the notion of cosmic judges rendering decrees on humanity as part of a thought experiment: Preface: Restoring Focus at a Planetary Scale Preface: Restoring Focus at a Planetary Scale “I’m so interested in the question, ‘What can we be proud of?’” Krakauer says during an interview in his office at the Institute where, on this June afternoon, smoke from fires burning in the national forest semi-obscures the vast city and mountain views from Hyde Park Road. Stacks of books crowd most available surfaces—George Johnson’s Fire in the Mind and The Book of Trees by Manuel Lima catch the eye; a model rocket sits atop Krakauer’s desk. “So, at the galactic tribunal, where you’re asked, ‘What has your species contributed to the Universe?’ you could stand up and say, unequivocally, ‘This was an amazing accomplishment and I could tell anyone on this planet or any other one that I thought this was something that was worthwhile.’” Questions such as these, which require considering humanity and life on Earth from an interplanetary perspective, drive SFI’s new InterPlanetary Project. It launches July 18 with a panel dis- cussion between scientists, writers, artists, and thinkers whose work all revolves in various ways around humanity’s future—in space and otherwise. InterPlanetary builds on the type of complex, interwoven, boundary-pushing research SFI is known for locally and internationally. The project also comes at a time during which interest and money for space science is harkening a new golden age for galactic exploration. Among other developments, NASA ushered in a new class of astronauts from a record number of applicants, scientist Stephen Hawking proclaimed humans have only one hundred years left on Earth, and SpaceX technologist Elon Musk pub- lished detailed plans for resettlement on Mars. It’s a fitting context, in other words, for InterPlanetary’s first panel, for which the starting question is: “What will it take to become an interplanetary civilization?” That mind-bender encompasses many concerns—from preparing humans for space travel to the hard science and technology required Preface: Restoring Focus at a Planetary Scale Preface: Restoring Focus at a Planetary Scale to make the journey, along with aspirational initiatives centered on how we might communicate with other life in the Universe (should it exist). Last but not least: How can humanity tackle the problems of today to prepare for its future? As a child, Kate Greene always wanted to travel to other planets. She loved both science and stories. “When you’re a kid and you think about other planets, it’s fertile ground. I loved imagining other planets because the thing I liked the most about science was getting little bits of information here and there and weaving them together into a whole story.” As an adult, Greene ended up on a 2013 NASA-sponsored simulated trip to the Red Planet by luck. She was scrolling through Twitter and spotted a link to an NPR article on why astronauts crave Tabasco sauce. NASA was set to begin studies on astronauts’ food habits and, at the end of the article, there was a call to apply to be one of six crew members on the HI-SEAS project—the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation, a Mars simulation research project that takes place on Hawaii’s Big Island, approximately 8,200 feet above sea level on the Mauna Loa side of the saddle area. “My palms started to get sweaty, my heart started racing,” Greene says. “I had a real physical response to living out this kid dream, so I applied.” Greene applied and was accepted into the program—not by luck. Her background includes work as both a laser physicist and a sci- ence journalist. She spent her four months on the project as a crew member and crew writer, contributing dispatches for Discover mag- azine, while also conducting a separate sleep study for NASA. Day to day, she says, the experience didn’t necessarily “feel like living on Mars, and I don’t know if living on Mars day to day would feel like living on Mars.” A fair amount of her time and, pre- sumably, a fair amount of time for future astronauts who would actually live on Mars, was spent indoors in a habitat that included living, kitchen, work, and exercise space.