Humanity In Space

Space Mining and Ethics

Kathryn Denning is an Anthropologist who teaches at York University. She has an amazing perspective on space topics that most people tend not to think about. I am a huge fan because of her awesomeness. She recently did an interview for Wired magazine. Check out the link Space Anthropology for the full article. With the recent news of Planetary Resources Inc., I wanted to throw my two cents into the fire to offer some of that different perspective that seems to be overlooked.

Here is a quote from Kathryn Denning that is ever so worthy for this blog: “What if instead of making messes that we don’t know how to clean up, what if we slowed down a little bit? …Sure, we can harvest sunlight from solar arrays in orbit around the Earth but that’s going to have its own technological problems and geopolitical implications. But the main problem with energy and resources here on Earth isn’t always that we don’t have enough: it’s that the distribution is unequal, and simply harvesting more is not going to resolve that. Chances are it’s just going to continue to increase inequity, and that doesn’t work well for anyone” – Kathryn Denning

Here is what I know from history that can shed light on this topic. One consequence of the Breton Woods meeting came the idea of using the formula gdp/pop=per capita income by the UN. That formula is just a whole bunch inaccurate, for starters it is an average and does not account for individual people. Secondly, this began the idea to fix problems means to throw money at, if you are a country that is not “advanced” like “us” then you need to be (which is completely hegemonic imho). Anyways, from that stemmed the Modernization Theory that wanted to create a higher per capita income. So what happens is that the powers that be force small agricultural production (mainly subsistence) farmers into industrial jobs because these farmers don’t contribute to the GDP (only small transactions of farming surplus) and if population holds steady then GDP will increase. Well, good intentions, but we have learned that as GDP increases, so does poverty. Another example was the Green Revolution where the intentions were good once again. In order to feed the poor, we make more food, makes sense! High Yield Varieties (HYV’s) worked well in the lab, showing more food could be grown than traditional varieties. But, because it didn’t work outside of the labs it led to lower food subsistence, lower irrigatable land, increase problems with chemical use and major health problems for farmers. Another geopolitical point to think about is the mass of people who rely on the production of said minerals here on earth that will be mined on asteroids. What will happen to their jobs? Where will that lead? Throwing more resources may have profound impacts (not at all positive) to life on this planet and these are issues that need to be addressed before hand.

Technologically speaking, one example I can think of is our whole let’s make a crap load of satellites cause they do cool things for us (which they do), but not think about the consequence of such acts. So we throw stuff up in orbit over time and what happens? Space junk…lots and lots of space junk. There is a consequence to “just do it” and I really hope that one day when a large piece of debris decides not burn up in the atmosphere, it won’t land on my head or better yet in a city somewhere.

The point I want to stress here is not that we shouldn’t explore or mine asteroids, the point is to discuss the potential consequences of life here on earth before doing so. The Europeans went headstrong for their resources without thinking of consequences…and we all know how that turned out. The idea is to think first and act second, measure twice and cut once, there are real implications to decisions made by a few and my hope is that people won’t get caught up in the romanticism of space so much that they end up destroying humanity in the process.

I will leave with this quote from the interview: “I’m going to borrow a term here from a scholar named Bill Kramer. He spoke at the 100-Year Starship Conference and he suggested that instead of boldly going, we humbly go.”

SpaceUp Toronto

The first annual SpaceUp Toronto happend on April.14th this year. What a super cool experience. Being that it was an “unconference”, everyone there had a chance to either speak about a space related topic and/or create a discussion. I was able to check out about four meetings throughout the day. Topics ranged from physics to scifi to space law. Not only was the day informative, but I got to meet so many cool people that are passionate about space like myself. I can’t wait for next year and hopefully by that time I will be better equipped to give a talk myself on space psychology! Check out the SpaceUp Toronto page on Facebook for more info.

Modern Psychology - Debunking Myths

Being a psych major has opened my eyes to a crap load (yes, that is the scientific term) of myths that people believe in regards to psychology. This post will reflect some of the big ones that I run into a lot. I hope this will help some people learn a little more about psychology’s fact vs. fiction.

1. Freud is God

Freud is considered the father of psychology because he was the first one to develop the idea of psychoanalysis, which brings that whole idea of dude or dudette lying on a couch telling Freud their feelings. The idea was revolutionary at the time and from his work, we did manage to get some good information. Unfortunately, there was also a lot of crap that came from his mouth. Freuds postulations were based on his own imagination and observations, not science. Let me put it to you this way, the guy used to span entire textbooks back in the day…today, his name comes up more so in psychology history courses and those that are into classical psychology (not too many nowadays). So, yeah

2. Psychologists only listen to peoples problems

Thanks to Freud’s “dude on a couch” scenerio, the echos of psychology ghosts past has reverberated into todays mainstream beliefs. There are two types of psycholgists (broadly speaking), clinicians and researchers. Not all psychologists sit around listening to peoples problems. Even the clinicians that do are comprised of many other tasks such as psychological testing, family therapy, policy consulting, peer reviewing and crap loads more. Researchers work in labs testing out both qualitative AND quantative studies (I’ll get into that in a minute). Psychologists also work in several different fields such as marketing, government, schools, international agencies, public health, administration and others. This field spans several jobs and and helping others in a theraputic environment is only a small piece of the pie.

3. Social Sciences are not Sciences…

This one is my favorite! I will agree that some disciplines within the social sciences are not “scientific” i.e. sociology, if the definition of sciences requires quantitative measures. Here I am speaking of Psychology though, which uses both qualitative and quantitative research methods. I have heard other scientists from other fields say things like the following “social sciences are not science because it is untestable”. This is where my hilarity ensues and I hope that those people read this or do some research on their own to find out. Psychology research uses something called a theory and a hypothesis. Yup, that’s right folks, I’m sure those scientists know what those are. Yes it is testable and Yes it is quantitative (even as students, we frakken use statistics and holy hell I wish we didn’t have to). Psychologists research BOTH correlational and experimental design. And by experimental design, I mean just that..manipulation of variables and once again, testable. With all that being said, the qualitative aspects of research may not be scientific in the math geek terminolgy, but it damn well has its place in going hand in hand with quantitative measures.

Isolation Studies on Earth Continue…

The Mars500 project is at its end. I am anxiously awaiting the psychological findings of the isolation studies that took place after the crew spent 520 days together. This kind of research gives us some idea as to the psychological human factors involved in sending people to space for long periods of time. Like on Mars, you would not have a view of the Earth unless aided with telescopes. Imagine that kind of reassurance that folks on the ISS get that Mars researchers would not. So facinating! Check out the full article to learn more.

The Agenda On TVO

The topics on tonight’s Agenda both have to do with space and psychology! Lovin’ it.

“As exploration technology moves forward, how is it shifting our understanding of the potential for life on Mars and beyond? Then, what makes us underperform when it matters most? Author Sian Beilock, and why we “choke.” And, Dr. Helen Mayberg on the areas of the brain affected by depression and how we can target them directly with a technique called Deep Brain Stimulation”

(Source: tvo.org)

Cosmos Remake

Well…my wish has finally come true. I have wanted a remake of Cosmos, with more updated graphics and such so that it could reach a new generation. Don’t get me wrong, Carl was the best, but I am super excited that there will be a new one featuring Neil deGrasse Tyson! What a great choice, that man is tactful and funny. You can read the full article here

Space Psychology Book

Oh hell yes…this is awesome. So far the only real texts I have had to read is Space Psychology and Psychiatry by Kanas and Space Enterprise: Living and Working Offworld in the 21st century by Harris. Thank you so much NASA for putting this together ‘Psychology of Space Exploration’. I am so excited and I cannot wait to do my independant study next year!!

Shuttle Atlantis Musings

So ends the 30 year US shuttle program with the launch of Atlantis STS-135. There are memories for many (both good and bad) from growing up hearing the thunderous roar of takeoff and the billowy mass that trailed the shuttle as it shot forth into orbit. This last launch was a sight to see in real time and for those of you that witnessed the event in person, I am jealous! With this behind us though, I look forward to the innovative technologies that will continue the legacy of humans in space, whether commercial or government. Public support is always important and hopefully those in marketing positions will fulfill their due diligence in inspiring and relating the importance of space travel and development.

Science Rendezvous 2011

I had the pleasure of attending Science Rendezvous in Markham in this year representing SEDS! It was a fantastic day. We did some colouring with the kids and launched lemon bottle rockets. Although not every launch was successful (as in life) laughs were had and no lemons were harmed. Doing community outreach is a great way of connecting with others by educating and spreading the word regarding the benefits of space development.

Dorion Sagan

I am currently the VP of the club Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) at York. We recently hosted a talk with Dorion Sagan. At first, I was very nervous about meeting him considering he is the offspring of famed scientists Carl Sagan and Lynn Margulis. He has written several books, essays and articles on numerous subjects, click here to learn more.

He was very down to earth and had an awesome sense of humor. Dorion touched on some scientific topics during his lecture, but it was well balanced with an artful poetic delivery. If you ever get a chance to hear a lecture of his, I highly recommend it!