Why should YOU care about space?
Got enough problems down here, why look up?
That’s the most common question I get asked. It’s not even an unfair question to ask. Most of us aren’t spending our daily lives trying to keep up with the progress of various space programs. Many of us don’t have the time or the interest to do so.
Then there’s a group of people who could be interested, but they have a mental barrier that stops them from learning more. They think they need some educational background or special training to follow along — making it seem like an intimidating topic to delve into.
Another big reason is believing that investments in research are taking away time & resources from solving problems here on Earth. Like climate change, overpopulation, economic & political instability.
These are the people I started writing for. But what I realized, after thoughtful feedback, was that my reasoning was mixed in with other details. That made it harder to appreciate the deeper insights. The approach here is that I am only tackling this one question, as clearly and as holistically as I can.
There are few things worth agreeing upon before moving forward
No special or prior knowledge is needed to follow along. As you’ll see from my own writing, there’s plenty I am learning about along the way.
Curiosity is an important ingredient. Even with clear and precise language some topics need further digging into. Your curiosity can help you understand things much better than my words can explain.
We trust the scientific method. Not worth reading beyond this if we don’t agree that the Earth is not flat!
I also decided to divide my reasons for caring into three main buckets from more obvious to less. These are in separate articles for various reasons. For one, it makes for more consumable reading for everyone. Then different reasons resonate with different readers. I can’t tell you for what exact reason you should care about space, so this gives you the opportunity to figure out your personal “why?”.
So let’s again tackle this age old question — Why care about space!
Obvious Reasons First
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Part of Why care about space series — These are obvious reasons because they are usually talked about the most. We need more stuff! Space exploration could provide an unlimited supply of raw materials as we need to support rapid population growth, coupled with our insatiable need for a better life. Which in the current world translates to the need for bet…
Why care about space — Part 2
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Continuing from Why care about space series — these are subtle reasons that not everyone stops to think about. Navigating our daily lives 🗺️ Did you know that Einstein’s theory of relativity has a practical application in our daily lives? Satellites orbiting our planet have their time tick differently relative to someone on the ground, just as predicted …
Why care about space — Part 3
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Dealing with our own fallacies 🫵 As evolved as we are, as sophisticated we think we are, as special as we want to be, we humans suffer from basic fallacies about ourselves. Ego — For the longest time we put ourselves at the center of all celestial motion. Even when observations refuted this belief, we took a long time to accept it. We now know that our S…
Why Care About Space — Series Finale
In this mini-series, we have talked about how interest in space has played out in the past, is helping us lead better lives now and will continue to be a frontier of scientific collaboration. Let’s wrap up by talking about our connection to the Universe and why caring about it still remains our choice.