Oct 28 2021 - Space Tourism vs Space Colonization

 

There are two themes in the race to space.  The first is the space tourism race.  Titans of private industry are racing each other to space.  It sounds so fun and glamorous - take William Shatner's reaction:  “What you have given me is the most profound experience," an exhilarated Shatner told Bezos after emerging from the capsule. “I hope I never recover from this. I hope that I can maintain what I feel now." That sounds like a lot of money to be made to get a life experience like this. CNN says that the big three are "not the only players in the game, and they may not be the only space barons for very long. There are hundreds of space startups across the United States and the world focused on everything from satellite tech to orbiting hotels." Space race articles often compare the current one to the space race of the last century. Except it isn't Western governments racing Eastern governments in a cold war scenario for military dominance as expressed through scientific and technological superiority.  And these led to increased industry and profits and economic growth.  A double win for the countries. The second goal of the space race is colonization. That's Elon Musk's goal - colonization of Mars.   Colonization is something that humans know a lot about.  In our recorded history, there have been three waves of colonization from the 1400s to the late 1800s.  From Wikipedia:  "The first wave of European expansion involved exploring the world to find new revenue and perpetuating European feudalism. The second wave focused on developing the mercantile capitalism system and the manufacturing industry in Europe. The last wave of European colonialism solidified all capitalistic endeavours by providing new markets and raw materials."   I notice that Wikipedia has no mention of human impacts - they do that in the entry on colonialism. Interesting that we're trying to sort through colonialism in our current era. With this facing us, the question is being asked in advance in relation to Mars colonization:  Is it ethical to go to the red planet?  There's more emphasis on questions like:  how will we get to Mars, who will build the rocket, can we get astronauts, and how to build habitats and live in them.   The question around ethics was investigated in a CBC series:  People may contaminate Mars. We can bring our microbes there and contaminate the indigenous life that's there. This topic is discussed in a CBC series HERE.   Currently the concern is that the answer will come from the billionaires who will be the first to get to Mars. This is a very big topic.  I expect we'll be doing a lot more "soul-searching" on it in the months and years to come. Our image is named Rocket Ship Ride.  I found this decay on a guard rail.  It seems perfect - leaving the planet behind in a trail of dust.

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Marvelling the Mushroom and other Vegetables

The Marvelling the Mushroom series explores the linear art underneath a mushroom.  These pink oyster mushroom are lyrical in the interplay of circles and lines.

Here we are with Rutabaga, and its cracked surface that reveals a pretty purple underneath.

Finally, the red cabbage reveals fingerprints intermixed with its sweeping curves in purple and fuchsia.

In the Key of Red

With the proliferation and abundance of graphic design and signage, there are often opportunities for abstract art in commonplace areas.  This was a Remax sign in Grimsby that had a bit of wear and tear from weather.  The proportions of the black shapes in the top figure make me think of piano keys, so this theme was in my mind as I composed the images.  Mostly I prefer to have even light without shadows to work with the textures and colours and yet the third image shows that shadows can create visual appeal and interest.