The Biggest Upside to the Virus — Making Humans a Multi-Planetary Species

The Crisis at Hand

Many want the year 2020 to end. Without doubt, it has been the worst year in contemporary history. The lockdowns have been unprecedented and debilitating, bringing life to a complete standstill. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres compared the scale of crisis to World War II, predicting a devastating economic fallout. Perhaps, people who have lived their lives in hedonism and denial between these two events (World War II and coronavirus) have been the luckiest lot, enjoying the comforts of modernity and technology in the eye of the storm.

Pandemics have not been a particular favorite of Hollywood production houses, which have preferred more dramatic ways of going out — asteroid collisions, alien invasions, and freak weather events to name a few. Pandemics are too technical, dull, and depressing, unless it starts making zombies out of us. In the real-world sequence though, the coronavirus (or Covid-19 if one wants to sound savvy) has been the first to materialize, bringing the world to its knees. In the very least, it has isolated people within rooms, forcing reflection and contemplation. While the old economic buzz and activity is sorely missed, the invisible enemy has carved out time and space for us, enabling a revaluation of the important things in life. It would not be right to say that the pandemic has opened people’s eyes to the pretenses of modern society and its shallow unnecessities, rather it has brought to fore a craving to jump into the running stream again, so much so that the fear of the virus is relegated. The lesson is counter-intuitive — Man needs to roll at all costs.

Here are a few realizations that have emerged:

• All of mankind’s systems are fallible. Our tall claims stand exposed and decimated.
• No one knows anything. Experts can keep their opinions to themselves.
• Life is not death agnostic. We can live with death, as we have for eons. It’s part of the game and we want to get back in it. Nothing stops Man, least of all death.
• We don’t need a lot of things. At the same time, we want it all. It’s breathless without any less. Toxic habits are integral to human life.
• Every man is a potential threat, but then it is nothing new. Disregard and risk is purposeful.

The Real Problem

If that is the attitude, then Man is unstoppable. Until you factor in a synthetic stimulant that is being pumped in to divert this energetic resource and vigor into a loop. For a species that has broken through every restraint on Earth, witnessing it bumbling inside the glass cage is perplexing. A system of satiation prevents any real breakthrough out of the blue ball. The general direction is to keep exploring inside, to find ever newer guilty pleasures and comforts. The age of consumerism sucks up our innovative prowess and crams the mindspace, denying mankind its true potential. The inspiring story of mankind that started out with fireworks reaches a plateau, leaving everyone disappointed.

The worst part is: we are running out of reasons to live. Much of the manufactured motivation today is digital glut, to keep us glowing company in the trench of life. It is like candy floss that disappears in the mouth and amounts to nothing. The best of minds are innovating gadgets in a commercially driven system that is blind to the larger picture. There is no authority unaffected by economics. The activities project a sense of busyness but remain bereft and visionless, bypassing large opportunities.

So why hasn’t mankind been able to break out of Earth and cool the rising cabin fever? Analyzing the scene with a positive and typical resilient outlook, we derive two lines of thoughts:

• We are sucking the marrow dry before moving on to newer game. After all, the Earth still has reasonable economic worth that is not worth foregoing.
• Or it can be argued that the needs of mankind are ballooning and it will force us out of the comfort of our tiny planet in search of habitats and materials to sustain our extravagant lifestyles

How Coronavirus Enters the Picture

The real damage from coronavirus will be the infection of the human mind. It will become acceptable to lose loved ones, to accept defeat and surrender. This is the worst kind of infection possible, quite literally desaturating mankind and turning us into zombies (yay!) In the future, the plate of mankind is anticipated to be filled with fiery cataclysms that will take man further down the rabbit hole of surrender. Rather than collective thinking, fragmented responses would become the norm as countries and communities try to save their burning backsides, ignoring the rest of the world. The issue of disparities and inequalities will lose significance to primal instincts. We shall devolve to become animals again — dinosaurs, least bothered about the flying rocks above us. There is no morally uplifting outcome of the coronavirus or the disasters that are expected to follow. The institutions of faith, governance and justice are being decimated by the ravages that we have long feared. It’s every man for himself, extracting the last breath.

It is imperative for mankind to think of solutions before things get out of hand. It’s the thing that separates us from the animal world. Coronavirus is a realization of a grim warning, or rather just a preview. The next one may perhaps afford us a few years. While adversity triggers the best in us, it may not allow us the liberty to go beyond the current problem. And there will be plenty at hand in the coming decade. It will submerge us, making us fight for air. When was the last time you heard about a drowning man doing anything other than flapping his hands and crying for help? You certainly wouldn’t expect him to invent a lightbulb in that position.

Whether China-made or natural, the design of the novel coronavirus has been disruptive to the modern setup — a hack in the system exposing its flaws and snapping the daydreaming species back to reality. We have been revealed as sitting ducks with no contingency plan in place other than expensive military weapons. Whenever real disasters have struck, the systems have floundered and grappled in the dark, as cluelessly as the village idiot. Neither the World Health Organization, nor the most advanced countries in the world were prepared or equipped for the 3–4% mortality rate of coronavirus. It is low by every standard. The responses and handling has and will forever be bureaucratic and clumsy. So what was everyone doing till now? Was not everyone talking about antibiotic resistant bacteria? Wouldn’t that be many times more lethal? Apparently, mankind has had little time for these issues. They end up in the activist’s realm, as outside voices. As the world learns the ropes, it is now realized that the lockdowns and quarantines cannot be enforced over longer periods unless the country in question is China. The lack of foresight and planning on the part of mankind is open for all to see.

The Cure from Giants

Choose between Bill Gates’ “Reform the Earth” agenda or Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos’ “Planetary Diversification” strategy.

We must be thankful that our parent is good. Mother Nature is not spoiling us, rather forcing us to pick ourselves up and seek out our destiny. It’s time to stop banging our heads against the walls and computer screens, and strap on the gear, step out of the house, and set sail into distant lands, where the promise of the future lies. It will be more rewarding than superficial muddling. Distributed living with the bounty of space is the obvious answer, but it falls outside the immediate comfort zone. These will be the true containment zones, able to withstand planetary vagaries and also prevent friction and contagions between physically distanced colonies.

As Jeff Bezos put it:
“The solar system can support a trillion humans, and then we’d have 1,000 Mozarts, and 1,000 Einsteins. Think how incredible and dynamic that civilization will be.”

The question really is whether one prefers real sex to virtual sex. Hiding behind the answer is the answer that will free humanity. All the problems of Man melt away when we realize the possibilities of infinite space. The universe is an endless resource, big enough to sustain humanity and produce a zillion luminaries. There is the rush, adventure, thrill and fulfillment that will outdo every known addictive one has consumed or experienced. It will give us priceless meaning.

Realistically though, the step up requires a transcendence, a purge of vices. But perhaps it’s not all that rosy. The space hobbling may only benefit shrewd capitalists, who will leave behind the poor to perish on Earth. Wars and enslavement may follow on galactic levels as civilizations and power politics reemerges after a deceptive rollback.

The following scenarios are conceivable:

Clearly, a chance has to taken, for Man works best against the odds. Any way one looks at it, the leap into space promises to open new chapters in the story of mankind. Not only does it give us purpose and direction, but also the exercise needed to keep our hearts pumping. The flame will burn brighter in the vacuum of space. So pick up your shoulders if you think you’ve seen it all. For the story has just begun and the fantastic part awaits. There is no room for despair and depression. Believe it. We have seen nothing.

The Real Question is How Long Do We Have?

While Jeff Bezos is silent on the matter of timelines, Elon Musk has set up a personal roadmap factoring in his own lifetime. He will be 79 by the time a self-sustaining city comes up on Mars enabling his vision of dying on Mars. It will in no way save humanity, for by then the Earth would have locked up.

As of today no one has ventured beyond the moon. Private companies are only yet in orbit. Perhaps 2100 would be the best estimate for large-scale movement and colonization, enough to move populations in the billions. But do we have eighty years? On the positive side, putting our faith in the higher plan, the Earth may somehow sustain us until we grow up and graduate. We still have time, at least until the last straw is laid on the camel’s back.

Here’s the best guess by Elon Musk:

For the time being, we live in a world where Bill Gates’ predictable and mainstream discourses trend on social media and intellectual platforms. We remain in hunt for vaccines, all the while buying false promises that may never materialize.

On the other side, Elon Musk remains adamant, not wanting coronavirus to impact his transportation company.

As clear as day.

But the coronavirus actually helps Elon Musk more than anyone else (discounting the vaccine makers). It is a pivotal moment for mankind, seeding the idea of a backup plan deep into our hearts and minds. In the long list of threats, coronavirus may be the first and most real contributor to the cause of transforming humanity into a spacefaring civilization. It is the first dose of a bitter medicine that mankind must swallow before it can recover it’s lost pace again. It will definitely herald the start of another explosive burst, enabling mankind to beat Musk’s timelines.

In all likelihood, coronavirus is here to stay, but its welcome, for we will be gone to a better place — Mars.

May nothing find us meek or helpless.

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