Here’s a great video called Wanderers, by Erik Wernquest, that depicts visions of a future in which humanity has “conquered the solar system” in the words of this frame article at ScienceAlert.com.
It’s narrated by Carl Sagan, whose introduction alludes to the ancient tension between the freedom of the nomad and the sedentary life of the farmer and citydweller, a theme visible all the way back to Genesis. Might humanity’s itching to wander propel, even justify, the exploration of space? At the same time, I’m cautious about the use of the phrase ‘conquer the solar system’, even as that theme has been an essential one for much of the past century’s science fiction. The way we’re ‘conquering’ our own planet seems to be irrevocably damaging its ecosystem – the sixth extinction.
