Billera Blog 5
Simone Billera
May 4th, 2022
Blog Post #5
During our class discussion on the Todorov reading, one of the groups asked a thought-provoking question. Within the question, they proposed the potential similarities between the colonization of the Americas in 1492 to our world’s current pursuit of space exploration. After our class discussion, I concluded that the foundation of these two events are similar in nature, to an extent. Additionally, I deduced that such similarities highlight the hypocrisy that continues to seep through our world today, especially in the United States.
Space exploration is a well-respected sector of society. It can be said that those who work in the field are generally intelligent people from educated backgrounds. Each of these individuals has personal reasoning behind their contributions to space exploration, whether it be an earnest urge to benefit the whole of society or the simple but compelling desire for money and power. Whatever the reasoning might be, it has no influence on the actual results of their actions. Now, let’s say an individual is pursuing space exploration with good intentions. Their altruism has no influence over the outcomes of their pursuits. Their findings could have major negative consequences, whether it be for human kind or even another newly discovered species. Christopher Columbus was pursuing an exploration of his own, and I would say his intentions were pretty selfish and asinine, as we discussed in class. However, his foolish reasoning was still reasoning, and the consequences of his pursuits were drastically different from his initial desires. It is important to note that I am not trying to excuse Columbus's actions, but instead highlight the interesting relationship between reasoning and results.
Today, we rightfully criticize the Europeans and how they went about colonizing the Americas. It has become a widely accepted societal norm. However, our hypocrisy will be tested as space exploration continues to advance. Hypocrisy is a rising pattern in our world today, at least in the United States. People continue to condemn certain situations and accept others that are of similar nature, without even noticing the correlation. Who knows what species we may find in space, and who knows how we are going to react to such newness. If we are following in the footsteps of our entire historical timeline, including the colonization of the Americas in 1492, we will treat newness as a threat. Similar to Todorov’s discussion, our society will once again be forced to navigate how to handle “the other.” How will we go about this? Furthermore, how will we be remembered in around five hundred years?
Wow this is a very insightful blog post. It forced me to self reflect on my own opinions about "the other" You made a great comparison between space exploration and Columbus and it really forced me to self reflect about my own opinions about the future. Personally, I agree with you in that we will definitely see "the other" as a threat if that day ever comes.
ReplyDeleteWhile I really appreciate the insightfulness of this blog, and agree with a strong majority of your points, I am optimistic about how humans would treat a foreign species. We are much more aware now at the dangers that the eye cannot see that can arise from exposing a new population to Earth's aspects, such as the diseases that humans deal with. I also believe that humans would not immediately treat a new species as a threat, but rather attempt to learn from them because both humans and the new species are clearly part of an intelligent life form, which would be admired by both sides.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this blog! I find it very interesting to compare the two topics together. I agree with how space exploration can mirror Columbus' exploration and can be potentially harmful to new species found even if there are good intentions. I find that not everything needs to be explored or even discovered if it means disrupting the peace and lively hood of others.
ReplyDelete