Space Humanism

PAMLA 2022
Los Angeles CA, 11 Nov 2022
Slides: http://slideshare.net/LaBlogga
Melanie Swan, PhD
Research Associate
University College London
“Liberty not equally enjoyed by all persons is
not liberty at all” – Cicero (paraphrase)
Dignity and the honorable “smooth flow of life”
– Seneca the Elder, Letters, 66.17
Space Humanism:
Theorizing the Posthuman Imaginary

11 Nov 2022
Space Humanism 1
Inhabiting new geographies of the fantastical
and the quotidian is
1) driven by markets, which entails
2) new forms of order-keeping juridical apparatus,
3) bringing a larger scope of world under control, hence
4) a new idea of who we are as subjects in the bigger
domain, currently as becoming space-faring citizens
Thesis

11 Nov 2022
Space Humanism
Space Humanism
2
 Space Humanism: a concept of humanism based on
the principles of inclusion, progress, and equity
 Seeing beyond contemporary neo-colonialist impulses
 Philosophy of literature approach
 Melville-Foucault
 Extra-planetary geographies as
a mode of human expansion
 Poetry-praxis of the imagination
 Governmentality and biopolitics
 Posthuman philosophy
 Shakespeare’s Renaissance humanism
 Enhancement-based theories
of subjectivation
 Asovereign homo sacer

11 Nov 2022
Space Humanism
New ideas of Space
We are Here~!
3
Source: Tully, R.B., Courtois, H., Hoffman, Y. & Pomarede, D. (2014). The Laniakea supercluster of galaxies. Nature. 513(7516):71.
Distribution of Galaxies
Location of the Milky Way Galaxy (Virgo
Supercluster) within the Laniakea Supercluster
 Decentered in the supercluster, the local
group, the galaxy, and the solar system
Laniakea
Supercluster
Milky Way
Galaxy
Novel method: analyze relative velocities of
galaxies as watershed divides (turbulence)

11 Nov 2022
Space Humanism
New ideas of Time
Seeing farther back into the Big Bang
4
Source: https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/about/comparisonWebbVsHubble.html
Hubble (HST) can see “toddler galaxies”
Webb (JWST) can see “baby galaxies”
6.25x larger collecting area than Hubble
 James Webb Space Telescope (launched Dec 2021)
 “See” farther back
in time with
infrared spectrum

11 Nov 2022
Space Humanism
New ideas of other potential Life
6,000+ Exoplanets Discovered (Nov 2022)
 1/3 each super-earths, neptunes, jupiters
 Over 800 with more than one planet
 Atmosphere, volcanism, sun-planet relation
 Habitable zone (CHON carbon-hydrogen-oxygen-nitrogen)
5
Source: https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/about/comparisonWebbVsHubble.html
Radial Velocity
(Yellow: Kepler, Pink: Terrestrial)
Transit
(Blue: space-based telescopes)
Detection
Method:
6,000+

11 Nov 2022
Space Humanism
New ideas of where we fit
The Large and Small Scale Universe
6
Scale Measure Comment
1 5.1 x 1096 Planck density Kg/Meter3 Density of the universe immediately after the Big Bang
2 1 x 1080 Particles Total particles in the observable universe (est.)
3 1 x 1014 Cells Cells in the human body (9 out of 10 are bacteria)
4 8 x 1010 Stars Number of stars in the Milky Way galaxy (est.)
5 1 x 102 Meter Earth Earth’s atmosphere: 10,000 ft life support, 62 mi to space
6 1 x 101 Meter Human Human-scale: Classical Mechanics
7 1 x 10-9 Nanometer Atoms Quantum mechanics (nanotechnology)
8 1 x 10-12 Picometer Ions, photons Optics, photonics
9 1 x 10-15 Femtometer Subatomic Gauge theories
10 1 x 10-35 Planck scale Meters Smallest known length scale
11 5.4 x 10-44 Planck time Seconds Shortest meaningful interval of time
Source: The Universe by Numbers. https://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/numbers.html
Large-scale:
General
Relativity
(GR)
Small-scale:
Quantum
Mechanics
(QM)
Human-scale:
Classical
Mechanics
 Quantum mechanics, classical mechanics, general relativity
 Quantum effects visible at 10-9 m
 Relativistic effects present at any speed (matter of precision)

11 Nov 2022
Space Humanism
New ideas of multi-planetary humans
Time on Mars
7
Sources: https://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/mars24, https://marsclock.com
 15-minute communications
delay (10-40 minute), hence
 Rover-helicopter coordination
 Mars24 Sunclock
 Earth-day and Martian-sol
 Asynchronous
time-tech

11 Nov 2022
Space Humanism
35 Terrestrial Spaceports (Nov 2022)
8
Source: https://www.go-astronomy.com/space-ports.php
 14 FAA-Permitted U.S. Spaceports

11 Nov 2022
Space Humanism
Imaginaries
9
 Inspire our possible futures
Romance of the Sea Romance of the Road Romance of Space
Melville
1851
Kerouac
1957
Musk-Bezos-Branson
2000-2050e
Baleinier au Mouillage (Whaler at
anchor), Henri Durand-Brager, 1814-79
Whole Earth Catalog, sign off issue,
Stewart Brand, 1971
155th Mission Launch, SpaceX,
Florida SpaceCoast, June 2022

11 Nov 2022
Space Humanism
Moby-Dick (1851)
10
 Singular genre of poetry and praxis
 Captures the heart and the intellect through the imagination
 Melville:
 Praxis: “The whaling voyage is a strange sort of a book;
blubber is blubber tho’ you may get oil out of it”
 Poetry: “The book is a romance of adventure, founded upon
wild legends in the Southern Sperm Whale Fisheries”
Sources: Oriental Repose. Baleinier au Mouillage (Whaler at anchor) colored lithograph drawn by Jean-Baptiste-Henri Durand-Brager
(1814-1879), Garneray’s Sperm Whaling Scene: Peche du Cachalot. Cachalot Fishery. Aquatint by Ambroise Louis Garneray (1783-1857).
Dutch whalers near port of
Spitsbergen, Abraham Storck, 1690

11 Nov 2022
Space Humanism
Moby-Dick: Poetry and Praxis
11
 Praxis: previously representation only by myth
 Though elephants have stood for their full-lengths, the
living Leviathan has never yet floated for his portrait
 The living whale, in his full majesty, is only seen at sea in
unfathomable waters; the vast bulk of him out of sight
 The only way to derive a tolerable idea of his living
contour is by going a whaling yourself
Source: Melville, Moby-Dick, 1851, Chapters 55 and 56: “Of the Monstrous Pictures of Whales” and “Of the Less Erroneous Pictures of
Whales, and the True Pictures of Whaling Scenes”
 Poetry: A portentous, black
mass of something hovering in
a nameless yeast. A boggy,
soggy, squitchy picture truly…

11 Nov 2022
Space Humanism
Posthumanism
 “Theoretical beyond-human physical or mental capacity” (Hassan)
 Shakespeare and Renaissance humanism (Raber)
 Identity as ad-hoc assemblages (Puar, Ferrando, Braidotti)
 Platform agnosticism (Haraway)
 Electronic entities (Rees)
 Enhancement ethics
 Contra parochial bioconservatism (Buchanan)
 For rights of neural privacy and neuro-determination (Bublitz)
 AI: unintended consequences (paper-clip factory) (Bostrom)
 DIY information citizen (Veit)
 Displacement and sovereignty
 Homo sacer (Agamben)
12
Othello Rees
Puar
Sources: Hassan, Ihab H. (1977). Prometheus as Performer: Toward a Posthumanist Culture? The Georgia Review. 31(4):830–50.
Discussed by Ferrando, Francesca. (2019). Philosophical Posthumanism. London: Bloomsbury.

11 Nov 2022
Space Humanism
World-expanding Imaginaries
 Subjectivation moments changing our whole idea of who we are
13
Napoleon arrives in Hegel’s Jena
Sources: Hegel (1807). Phenomenology of Spirit; von Humboldt. (1805).
von Humboldt (credited in Darwin’s worldview): isomap of species

11 Nov 2022
Space Humanism
 Time-space compression
 The accessible world within our ambit
14
Railroad: “annihilation of time
and space” (Schivelbusch, 31)
Sea: Moby-Dick whale’s-eye view: “the 25,000
miles of this world’s circumference” from the
“Polar eternities” to the “Tropics” (p. 272)

11 Nov 2022
Space Humanism
 A new way of seeing ourselves as subjects
15
1816: “I feel like some watcher of the
skies when a new planet swims into
his ken” - Keats, On First Looking into
Chapman’s Homer, 1816 (paraphrase)
1863: Baudelaire’s flâneur (stroller, loafer, observer) - The Painter of
Modern Life “The spectator is a prince who everywhere rejoices in his
incognito…for the perfect flâneur, the passionate spectator, it is an
immense joy to set up house in the heart of the multitude…to be away
from home and yet to feel oneself everywhere at home…to be at the
center of the world, and yet to remain hidden from the world”
(Baudelaire, 1963, p 9) (Paris, London (Hyde Park))
Sources: Baudelaire. (1963 1850). The Painter of Modern Life; Keats (1821).
Observer and Critic Sea-faring Community

11 Nov 2022
Space Humanism 16
 Planetary-scale democracy
 Transnational economic and legal system
 Currency system and IP registration
 Contracting, payment, audit, dispute resolution
 Blockchain (immutable software record) industries
 Software
 Global supply chain (custody)
 Scientific experiment replication
 Clinical trials, EMR, Rx, Dx
 Finance
 Space comms
 3d bioprinting
Novel Juridical Apparatus
Coin Communities
Sources: Swan, M. (2015). Blockchain: Blueprint for a New Economy. Sebastopol CA: O’Reilly. Chin, A.C. (2020). Blockchain
Biology. Front. Blockchain. 3:606413. Short, K. (2014). Printable spacecraft. https://spacenews.com/darpa-to-launch-dods-first-in-
space-manufacturing-research-program
Digital money system:
Blockchain is often seen
currently as a perilous evil
since any NewTech has the
initial tendency to be exploited
in favor of base human drives
(pecuniary, expropriative,
illegal interests) as social
maturity lags technological
advance; the early internet too
was a bastion of unsavory
activity that has evolved into
mainstream use

11 Nov 2022
Space Humanism 17
Inhabiting new geographies of the fantastical
and the quotidian is
1) driven by markets, which entails
2) new forms of order-keeping juridical apparatus,
3) bringing a larger scope of world under control, hence
4) a new idea of who we are as subjects in the bigger
domain, currently as becoming space-faring citizens
Sensibility of the Space Citizen

11 Nov 2022
Space Humanism
Space Imaginary Realities
18
Virgin Galactic: CEO
Richard Branson in Space
Blue Origin: New Shepard
NS-19 mission crew
Anousheh
Ansari, 2006
Yusaka Maezawa and
Yozo Hirano, 2021
Sub-orbital Commercial Spaceflight
International Space Station
Secure Communication
Internet Provision
Astronaut Christina Koch with
Cold Atom Lab, 2019
(planned) Quantum
Networks, 2022
Space-based Services

11 Nov 2022
Space Humanism
Risks and Limitations
19
 Space science is difficult to understand
 Complex relativistic and quantum domains
 Human-Technology Relation
 Personal data monopoly domination
 Google, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft
 Digital divide widens (cost, accessibility)
 Overwhelm and alienation (right to non-adopt
in increasingly technologized world)
 Lack of empowering relation with technology
 Humans willingly self-enframe as standing
reserve (doom-scrolling, internet addicts),
instead of using tech as background enabler
 Some counterweight to worldwide investment in
human-relatable technologies, design, usability
Heidegger, The Question
Concerning Technology
+
-

PAMLA 2022
Los Angeles CA, 11 Nov 2022
Slides: http://slideshare.net/LaBlogga
Melanie Swan, PhD
Research Associate
University College London
Thank you!
Questions?
Space Humanism:
Theorizing the Posthuman Imaginary
“Liberty not equally enjoyed by all persons is
not liberty at all” – Cicero (paraphrase)
Dignity and the honorable “smooth flow of life”
– Seneca the Elder, Letters, 66.17

Space Humanism

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