“Make America Great Again”, shouts (or tweets) US President Donald Trump every time he feels people are not paying attention to him. This will be our “Independence Day” cried Nigel Farage and his fellow brexiteers in the run up to the EU Referendum. This is a pattern followed by right wing groups in many places around the world, some of whom are gaining popularity in their countries.
This backwards thought of becoming insular struck me once more when I read about China landing a probe on the far side of the moon and sending images back from there. Not to say there’s anything wrong with China exploring the moon; indeed, why should America have all the moon glory? Rather I wondered why China should go it alone or why there should be European probes sent to explore in the solar system; why not a whole Earth agency mission? Oneupmanship must play some part as well as the desire not to share technology with others who are still thought of as rivals.
In the past cities or areas fought one another for territory and power and great empires were formed from one small city, for example Rome or later on small countries such as Britain or Spain. The United Nations and the European Union were more recently formed for specific areas of unified interest which seemed the way forward to uniting the world. The space station orbiting our planet is already an example of different countries space agencies working together on missions which is a great first step to further exploration. After all isn’t it easier for a unified world working together to explore the universe and deal with any problems using the best our planet has to offer? Although in the mess that is brexit I do worry what will become of Britain’s involvement in the European Space Agency; brexiteers probably think we can do it much better alone, after all, we’ll have our independence and kick those pesky Europeans, and others while we’re at it, out of our lives.
A story on Star Trek Enterprise a few years ago told of a group called Terra Prime that wanted to expel all aliens and work for the betterment of humans alone. In other words “Make Earth Great Again”; sound familiar?! The Star Trek version of planet Earth went on to eliminate wars and unite to explore the universe before joining with other planets to form a federation which pooled information and resources for the good of them all. A work of fiction but a sensible idea all the same.
Star Trek has already shown us the way so it should be simple to forget petty political differences and share resources and technology to strike out to the moon, into the solar system and beyond.
quillandinkandparchment 