Musk wants to take the "fiction" out of "science fiction" and to enable ordinary people to travel as far into space as they want to. How would Poul Anderson respond to this if he were alive now? We know that Anderson wanted mankind to get into space and that he expected entrepreneurs to give a lead. Regular blog readers know the names of relevant characters, Guthrie in particular. (And Harriman if we take Anderson's predecessor, Heinlein, into account.) So would Anderson be fully supportive of everything that Musk is doing today, on and off Earth? I honestly do not know but Anderson enthusiasts will obviously think about it.
British sf author, Bob Shaw, said once that a claw reaching from Earth and grasping the Moon might be an appropriate symbol... CS Lewis was against human beings going into space but that was Lewis. I think that we need a space program for practical and scientific - not military or strategic! - reasons.
I anticipate some discussion.
2 comments:
Well, Starship will reduce costs to orbit to air-freight levels. That will enable the economic exploitation of space, which we badly need.
Kaor, Paul!
I absolutely approve of what Elon Musk/SpaceX has been doing the past 25 years--and hopes to achieve in the future! I am absolutely confident that Anderson would as well, see the "Commentary" he wrote for SPACE FOLK. I would not be surprised Musk's science fictional heroes are DD Harriman, Nicholas van Rijn, and Anson Guthrie.
The human race needs to get OFF this rock for many reasons: to develop economic and technological possibilities only going to be possible in space. And that open new frontiers for mankind, enabling some to get away from heavy-handed societies or oppressive regimes choking initiative and ambitions. Another idea Anderson would agree with.
I hope to soon buy stock in SpaceX, both because I hope to profit from doing that and to support the aspirations of Musk and similar dreamers.
Ad astra! Sean
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