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My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

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Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#101

Post by layer8 »

sneak wrote: post #92
layer8 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to be in favor of a world government. But then I realized it could quite easily turn into an authoritarian system at some point, which due to the global scope would then be rather difficult to get out of.

Government always turns into an authoritarian system when it is around long enough, and all major world governments are working toward a single Earth government. They will probably achieve it in the next 500 years if the trend of governmental consolidation continues as it has for the last thousand.

Maybe Mars is a good idea after all.

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#102

Post by goodpoint »

api wrote: post #5
shrthnd wrote: post #2

> I learned later that I was not alone in this feeling. It is called the “Overview Effect” and is not uncommon among astronauts, including Yuri Gagarin, Michael Collins, Sally Ride, and many others. Essentially, when someone travels to space and views Earth from orbit, a sense of the planet’s fragility takes hold in an ineffable, instinctive manner. Author Frank White first coined the term in 1987: “There are no bord…

Maybe all the billionaires should go.

...and stay there.

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#103

Post by sandworm101 »

With all respect to Shatner (first canadian space tourist iirc) I dont take much from these narratives. A rich/famous/connected person does a thing that we all want to do but cannot afford, something that requires insane amounts of energy/pollution. Then they turn around and talk of the profound experience and how it has made them a better person. Big deal. The pubic good is limited to a few interviews and an article in variety. Next time go meditate at a monestary. These adventures require so much energy that they will only ever be availible to an elite nanopercent of the population. Enough with famous millionaires. They should have sent a poet.

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#104

Post by jhassell »

theGnuMe wrote: post #75
specialist wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ...this overview effect is something I always felt, even without going into space. Very interesting. Have you met anyone else IRL who shares the overview effect? > ...autocracy to fix the problems. Tchaikovsky's novel Children of Time explores how two different cultures try to tackle this problem. I won't spoil it for you. It's a notion I keep chewing on. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_Time_(novel)

When you fly transatlantically sometimes you can see the curvature of the earth.

Not on a standard transatlantic flight. You are likely seeing the optical effect of the window on the horizon. Observing curvature of the earth at even 60,000 feet requires a very wide-angle view (the cabin), with a clear view of the sky. The earth is huge. https://simpleflying.com/concorde-earth-curvature/

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#105

Post by kingkawn »

layer8 wrote: post #71
INTPenis wrote: post #38

This was very well written, very insightful and humble. Considering he's usually an asshole to people IRL. But I guess he just comes off that way when he wants to convey his truth to people. Not completely foreign to myself, having discovered that I'm actually autistic in my late 30s. That explained a lot. Anyways, this overview effect is something I always felt, even without going into space. I always felt we were w…

I used to be in favor of a world government. But then I realized it could quite easily turn into an authoritarian system at some point, which due to the global scope would then be rather difficult to get out of.

I used to like chocolate croissants then I realize plain ones really capture the essence of what I’m looking for

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#106

Post by vlunkr »

bkirkby wrote: post #70

Fwiw I had something akin to the overview effect when I attended a full solar eclipse. I thought I was prepared. I had read up on what to expect because I wanted to make the most of the experience for the kids. I wanted to make sure we observed the "shadow bands" (snake like shadows traversing across single colored surfaces that aren't always visible). Everything did proceed as I expected (including the shadow bands)…

Reminds me of the lyrics to “do you realize” by the flaming lips:

https://genius.com/The-flaming-lips-do-you-realize-lyrics

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#107

Post by kingkawn »

Piezoid wrote: post #34
shrthnd wrote: post #2

> I learned later that I was not alone in this feeling. It is called the “Overview Effect” and is not uncommon among astronauts, including Yuri Gagarin, Michael Collins, Sally Ride, and many others. Essentially, when someone travels to space and views Earth from orbit, a sense of the planet’s fragility takes hold in an ineffable, instinctive manner. Author Frank White first coined the term in 1987: “There are no bord…

This make me wonder if flat-earth and other limiting cosmological views are mental shields against the realization that nothing matters except our peculiar existence.

The idea that nothing matters also doesn’t matter so you can go back to enjoying yourself and letting things matter without being a downer for nothing

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#108

Post by seydor »

baxtr wrote: post #98

> It was among the strongest feelings of grief I have ever encountered. The contrast between the vicious coldness of space and the warm nurturing of Earth below filled me with overwhelming sadness. Every day, we are confronted with the knowledge of further destruction of Earth at our hands: the extinction of animal species, of flora and fauna . . . things that took five billion years to evolve, and suddenly we will n…

Also technically an impossibility, since evolution would not be possible without extinction

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#109

Post by hprotagonist »

logifail wrote: post #97
j3s wrote: post #64

> I love the mystery of the universe. I love all the questions that have come to us over thousands of years of exploration and hypotheses. Stars exploding years ago, their light traveling to us years later; black holes absorbing energy; satellites showing us entire galaxies in areas thought to be devoid of matter entirely… all of that has thrilled me for years… but when I looked in the opposite direction, into space,…

> [..] talk about death always gets to me At some point during the Covid years, I turned a mental page and decided that 'carpe diem' is my new motto. Not in the traditional "bucket list" sense, until Covid I had a mental list of places I [thought I] wanted to go ... and experiences I [thought I] wanted to have. Daft stuff usually involving long-haul travel and/or hard to get to places. I've ditched all of that. Now i…

this is the path to wisdom.

happy walking.

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#110

Post by shadowfoxx »

sandworm101 wrote: post #103

With all respect to Shatner (first canadian space tourist iirc) I dont take much from these narratives. A rich/famous/connected person does a thing that we all want to do but cannot afford, something that requires insane amounts of energy/pollution. Then they turn around and talk of the profound experience and how it has made them a better person. Big deal. The pubic good is limited to a few interviews and an article…

But Shatner is an actor? I'm not sure I agree with the implication that one type of artist is better to send than another but I do agree that maybe we should consider the frivolous waste of sending people to space for joyrides when the cost is so high.
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