Internationalism and interplanetarism ..



Image from, with caption:  People dreamed of human spaceflight long before they actually achieved it. In the 1950s, Collier’s magazine promoted the goal of the “conquest of space,” and readers were captivated by plans for missions to the moon, Mars, and exotic worlds across the solar system. The painter and illustrator Chesley Bonestell (1888-1986) provided some of the most popular images of the coming Space Age.  ...

 With earth "internationalism" (some would call it colonialism) fading as a defining factor of the 21st century (Think: Trump -- Make the American homeland great again by building a humongous border wall; Central Europe's turn [return?] to racism/provincialism/nationalism; Britain and Brexit; Putin Russia's official hostility toward the West; Chinese suspicions of American intentions [and vice versa]; the "anti-European," anti-cosmopolitan reactions in the Middle East ...)

To paraphrase the mass media pundits, is this not the much-proclaimed end of the post-WWII American-supported/funded supposedly democratic "international order"? 

 To be regretted? -- allow me to let you decide ...

 Also think of another American enterprise --  interplanetarism ([we will live outside of planet earth and settle other spheres of our solar system/galaxy, hence unlimited progress for USA/mankind] as a fading illusion).  

 See, for  recent examples: Jill Lepore, "Fifty Years Ago We Landed on the Moon. Why Should We Care now?": "It’s been 50 years. The waters are rising. The Earth needs guarding, and not only by people who’ve seen it from space. Saving the planet requires not racing to the moon again, or to Mars ... ," The New York Times (June 14, 2019).

 Also, see Joel Achenbach, "What the Space Age taught us: Earth is the best of all possible worlds," The Washington Post (June 18, 2019): "[S]cience has told us again and again — and this is a deeply humbling message — that the universe is not about us. What’s certain is that, in the foreseeable future, there’s no plausible do-over in space. The Earth is not disposable. Here we make our stand. That’s what we learned from going into space."

 Also see: Jack Miles, "For the love of Earth, Stop Travelling," The Washington Post, November 2, 2017; and Joe Palca,"Robots, not Humans, Are the New Space Explorers," NPR (July 8, 2019)
***
So ... Should we all stick to our birthplace/homeland: on mother Earth, by making our national borders "safe"; in space, by staying put inside our planet's breathable atmosphere?

 Or are there two (if not multiple) possible answers to this question?

 Just askin'. 

 The post-Cold-War generation may have an answer ...
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