The Ultimate Frontier and the American Pioneer Spirit
Do you remember seeing the ocean for the first time? The immensity of the sea is a humbling experience. The sheer power and force before you. Water further than your eyes can see. Hell, it even looks like you can see the curvature of the earth from your vantage point. Could you imagine what it must have been like for the first explorers and pioneers who set out across the sea? They didn’t know what they would find, if anything at all.
How would they prepare for such a voyage? How much food and supplies would they need? How would the ship have to be designed to withstand the journey? We know about the voyages that succeeded, but how many more failed that we don’t even know about? Most Americans, I believe, have a yearning for the frontier. A yearning to experience what their ancestors must have experienced when they came to the new world. They may even feel that smothering oppression their ancestors must have felt before they made that decision to leave to an unknown land. But of course, there are missing steps in between.
Most settlers knew about the new world before they arrived. They were attracted to the idea of a new beginning in this“new world.” But the men who first embarked on this voyage to see what was out there were the men of true bravery and daring. They were the real pioneers. Men who wanted to see just how far they could throw the spear of mankind. I bring up this topic as sort of a prelude to what we must really talk about: the real and final frontier, the great beyond itself: space.
Many on our side have this idea of recolonizing somewhere like Africa, believing that would revitalize our pioneer spirit. I’m not so sure about this. I’m not convinced that there are still frontiers left here on the earth. There are milestones most definitely. Milestones that will have to be achieved before men could truly venture into the great beyond. None of these milestones are nice and kind, but they are necessary if you want to commit to space exploration — not that any of these so-called experts would admit to what must be done. You need only to see how mankind has evolved so far to get an idea of what you will have to do to enter this great beyond, if it even possible.
There is a great cynicism that has taken over our people. This cynicism is greater and more terrible than anyone believes it is. It is antithetical to the American ideal and pioneer spirit. If you look back to the character of the early Americans, you will not find cynicism. You will find me who believed themselves destined to conquer this new world. This new world given to them by God. They were the chosen. Destiny had decided. They believed the time ahead of them would be better than the time they were in. God had a plan for them.
There is great power in belief. It lends a heavy hand to the survival instinct and allows man to go beyond mere survival. It gives man the opportunity to leave his mark on the world. It allowed our ancestors to carve out an empire out of the new world from nothing. You are not going into space without it. Now, this isn’t throwing my hat in with one religion or another, but as Pindar said, “custom is the lord of everything.” There is an American metaphysics and Americans are most adapted to it and it will remain ingrained into our very cores until something superior takes its place.
The bare minimum a man must have is this belief, and despite everything, optimism over cynicism. No doubt this is the most challenging obstacle in our path because belief is being stomped out of everything with a merciless fury by the enemies of mankind. Without it, there is no hope. The great beyond is a frontier like no other. The ultimate frontier. It is damn near impossible to comprehend what it will take for man to separate himself from the earth. There is a secret fear we must consider if we want to attempt this legendary feat.
Can man live beyond the earth?
There is a real possibility that man is a parasite and he cannot live beyond the earth. He is some fungus born from the earth and forever bound there for a multitude of reasons. Think about all the reasons why man was born from the earth and try to find some other world that can meet all these needs. I am no scientist and I will likely miss all the reasons why man cannot live beyond the earth, but here are a few. Space is a void. Man cannot live beyond live for about thirty seconds without a special suit to stop all the air from being stripped from his body. Add in the extreme temperatures found in space.
If somehow, you can overcome the need to breathe or maintain a certain body temperature, how will you deal with the deadly radiation emitted from stars? Now, within those three things there are subsets of minimal conditions that must be met for human life to simply exist. How will you prepare for the journey to the nearest planet scientists believe can sustain human life? Proxima Centauri B is located four light years away. Talking about light years is difficult because the distances cannot be fathomed. Maybe a good indicator of what kind is to think about the Voyager 1 which was launched in 1977. This probe has travelled further than any other manmade device. It’s been in interstellar space for forty-nine years and in those forty-nine years, do you know how far the Voyager has travelled? It has travelled 15.8 billion miles from the earth. Do you know what this distance is in light years? About one light day. Yes, day, not year.
