Sky & Telescope - July 2022 - 12

COSMIC RELIEF by David Grinspoon
Searching for
Intelligence on Earth
Space exploration can serve as an antidote to war. And vice versa.
Now, along with the cities of
IN OCTOBER 2007 I attended celebrations
in Moscow for the 50th
anniversary of Sputnik 1. Space Age
ironies were on full display. The festivities
highlighted both the militaristic
motivations that launched us off Earth,
and the belief in an enlightened, unified
human future that drove, and still
drives, many involved in space exploration.
Post-Soviet Russia, though experiencing
upheavals, seemed plausibly on a
path toward a peaceful, open society.
Several Russian scientists shared
with me in private the traumas they'd
lived through. Following the Soviet collapse,
their research programs had been
stretched thin, but they'd had, at least
on paper, plans for bold new planetary
missions. And in 2007 we made plans,
at least on paper, to work together in
exploring our common solar system.
Ukraine, all that lies in ruins.
Among the many reasons I was
drawn to space exploration was that it
seemed to transcend earthly conflicts
and to promise a future when, as seen
from a distance, our planet would seem
so obviously small and interconnected
that a mature humanity would never
return to deadly fights for perceived
power over tiny patches of it. Yet here
we are, watching wanton, cruel destruction
unfold amid the renewed specter of
nuclear annihilation.
From a cosmic perspective, geopolitics
can seem pathetic and shortsighted.
Even during the height of the
Cold War, space scientists from both
sides found ways to cooperate and assist
each other's missions.
In one example, Russian astrophysicist
Iosif Shklovsky and American
Carl Sagan (both of Ukrainian Jewish
background) reached across the Iron
Curtain to collaborate on the landmark
1966 book Intelligent Life in the Universe,
which anticipated much contemporary
thought in astrobiology and SETI. They
acknowledged that high-tech war could
be the reason why our galaxy isn't full
of chatter. Yet they also pictured civilizations
maturing beyond our current
" technological adolescence, " surmising
that truly advanced societies would
have long ago left behind such primitive,
self-destructive practices.
As of this writing, Vladimir Putin's
army is committing unspeakable
crimes, attacking cities and bombing
hospitals and schools. These atrocities
are unforgiveable. There will be no more
talk of shared missions to the planets
- not with this version of Russia. I fear
for my Russian colleagues, good people
caught up in a bad system.
As long as this MADness, this threat
of mutual assured destruction, persists,
I have to ask: Doesn't that describe
us all - good people caught up in a
bad system? Why didn't we get rid of
our Dr. Strangelove machines during
the post-Cold War thaw? Anyone who
thinks it's unrealistic to dispose of
nuclear weapons entirely has to ask how
realistic it is to think we could go on
not using them ever again. If we are to
survive to become the kind of galaxyspanning
civilization Shklovsky and
Sagan dreamed of, we'll have to find
other ways to resolve our differences,
and ways to keep sociopathic demagogues
out of power.
I do think that humanity has a
chance to live long and prosper, to
seed a truly sustainable society that
could eventually sprout throughout the
galaxy. But right now, any ETs exploring
our solar system, seeking new prospects
for their galactic club of wise civilizations,
would probably take a quick scan
of Earth and keep on searching.
DARKNESS REIGNS A 2011 crew on the International Space Station that included American
and Russian astronauts took this oblique view of Ukraine (Kyiv, top center). Today, future cooperation
in space between Russia and the West now remains deeply uncertain.
12 JULY 2022 * SKY & TELESCOPE
¢ Contributing Editor DAVID GRINSPOON
is author, among other books,
of Earth in Human Hands: Shaping Our
Planet's Future.
NASA

Sky & Telescope - July 2022

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