Conquest of Space

  "Billionaire Elon Musk said his private spaceflight company SpaceX has made some progress toward establishing a permanent colony on Mars — a longtime goal in the entrepreneur's push to help make humanity a multiplanet species." (Spacex) It is a technological challenge and it should be welcomed.


     But, when we look at the history of the humans on earth, serious questions arise. Do humans have the right to occupy any space they "discover?" What if there are other species on those planets? Those species may be more intelligent or less intelligent than humans or they are not intelligent at all. Does the relative intelligence level give us a right to occupy that space?


     Christopher Columbus set sail to discover new lands and "found" America and claimed it for his sponsors. Likewise, James Cook "discovered" Australia and claimed it for the King of England. Recorded history tells us that the natives welcomed the visitors initially but resisted the visiting invaders when they tried to occupy. But, superior technical capabilities enabled the Europeans to conquer. The natives were happy with their life style; they generally believed that they belonged to the land; but they did not entertain the idea of ownership of parcels of land. Owing land is a European concept. A justification suggested to usurping land from the discovered lands is that since the natives did not have title to the land Europeans could take over.


     Nearly two millenniums back, warriors from countries led armies to other lands, fought with unwary natives and took their land, their food, and their women. That might is right was the law of the time. If a peace loving people did not build sufficient defenses and forces, they risked losing everything including their lives and liberty to the marauding invaders.


     While they were in their quest for land and resources, various European expeditions found strong resistance in Asia. For example, India already had a large population with well established rulers offering strong defense. That appears to be the turning point when the Europeans turned to trade as the means to gain entry. With trade as the ruse, several invaders entered Asia. They were mainly of four classes: priests, warriors, traders, and combat supporters. While the traders broached deals, they egged on the rival local rulers to fight among themselves and the warrior class provided support to the warring rulers. Once the warrior class gained control, the priestly class moved in. Of course, the combat supporters provided the logistical support in exchange for good living, which they lacked in their homelands back in Europe.


     These four classes attacked the natives and deprived them of the human needs. Deprived of their landholdings due to the defeats at the hands of the warrior class, native workers lost their ability to supply themselves against the basic physiological needs. The local merchants and warriors lost their investments and self-esteem. The priestly class pounced on the local intellectuals and rubbished their religion, culture, languages, arts, and so on. Over time, the invaders found that the trade ruse is a better strategy than head to head fighting. Once deprived of their means to feed themselves, the locals were recruited to fight for the occupiers. Moreover, with the services of locals, they can march ahead and invade more Asian territories. The priests converted locals to their religion and culture by offering morsels of relief in the form of food, money, comforts, and recognition. This process allowed them to boast to their masters in Europe that their religious ranks have grown. During the whole process, marketers, rather than warriors, were the leaders of invasions. Even the priest class was marketers and not scholars as their main function was to knock the indigenous arts, cultures, languages, and religion rather than to engage in philosophical discussions and arguments with local scholars and priests.


     In nearly the last one thousand years, this strategy and process worked in favor of the people of European origin and to the detriment of native Americans, Australians, Africans, and Asians. Furthermore, it appears that easy spaces on earth have exhausted and the marketers have to look into the heavens. Now, if we look at our attempts at the conquest of space, ethical and moral questions arise. Do humans have the right to invade and occupy space on any planet? Do we have to right to kill life on that space, whether that life is intelligent or not, resisting our advances or not? Are we entitled to jeopardize their health and safety through the transportation of our germs and diseases and infecting them? Can we take their resources whether they use them or not? Can we demean their self-esteem and enslave them?