The Problem with Space Exploration

This is a video about The Space Economy and the Geopolitics of space exploration under capitalism versus the potentials of space exploration under socialism. Under capitalism, the privatization of space poses serious concerns, but what could a socialist vision of space exploration look like?

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Often people on the left (such as Bernie Sanders) dismiss Space Exploration as a waste of money and time. However, there are many benefits to space exploration, especially under a more egalitarian society.

Enjoy the trippy visuals (:

Timestamp:
0:00 Intro
1:08 The Space Race
6:20 Arguments Against Space Exploration
9:40 Space Colonization
11:10 Geopolitics of Space
12:05 Commercial Space Travel
12:54 Asteroid Mining
15:04 The Privatization of Space
16:30 The Socialist Alternative
18:50 Space Colonies
20:20 Exploring the Unknown

#SpaceExploration #AsteroidMining

Reading Recommendations:
Space Forces: A Critical History of Life in Outer Space by Fred Scharmen
On the Future: Prospects for Humanity by Martin Rees

Music by White Bat Audio
Outro song: PPK - Ressurrection (Space Club Mix)

Check out more 1Dime content:

About 1Dime (not One Dime):
1Dime is an educational channel dedicated to countering one dimensional thought by analyzing socio-political issues through the lens of political economy, political theory, history, and pop culture

[Dimee]

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[TheCriminalHistorian]

The cosmos is all that is, all that was and all that ever will be. I wish the left still had people like Carl Sagan getting a lot of attention. Great video.

[Gokanaru]

Absolutely stunningly beautiful video. The thematic aesthetics of your videos are reason enough to watch but the insightful commentary always leaves me feeling a genuine curiosity and interest in the topics touched. Truly top-tier edutainment, the combo of your videos and podcasts has expanded my worldview drastically.

[pennyforyourthots]

Space exploration is probably the only way to achieve a post-scarcity society, because no matter how efficient technology becomes, resources will always be at least minorly scarce in a long enough time frame.

That being said, i think it would probably require that socialism be implemented on earth first, and then expand outwards from there, otherwise we'd probably see a socialist earth with bastions of extraterrestrial capitalism on settled worlds, essentially playing a cosmic game of whack-a-mole. I think the approach needs to be PREVENTATIVE rather than a simultaneous one.

[sugarshanea.m.]

there's so many good points made in this video, i often found myself brushing off space exploration as unimportant to everyday people, but this video made me reconsider that notion

[elizabethdavis]

Isaac Arthur has a great channel all about becoming an interplanetary species

[hajimesaigo]

I believe it will benefit humanity greatly if all billionaires get one way tickets to go Mars. The sooner it happens the better

[GillamtheGreatest]

i recognized so much of this backing music

[alexisgoetcherian]

I really appreciate your video! I really like that you propose an alternative view to space exploration to the predominating narrative that exists now. The only issue I find with the proposed image is that of a need to constantly expand, both economically as well as territorially. I don't feel as if your main point lays on this idea, but I think this is an implicit given when talking about space mining and space colonisation. I find it somewhat troubling in general to think that humans are unable to live from the resources on this planet when consumed responsibly, which under Capitalism has essentially become impossible, but part of a socialist future would include the sustainable treatment of our world, to which extent the mining of new resources would be limited to a bare necessity as well as it being done under good working conditions and fair compensation for the workers. Having said that I do see the benefit of moving these polluting practices to space, but not in the idea of expanding economies or hoarding more resources, but rather as an agreed shift of new resource generation if that makes sense. Please do let me know if you feel like I have misunderstood what you actually said or misinterpreted anything.

[edubmf]

The idea that it's easier to colonize mars than to save the earth is so insane. Even the different gravity seems insurmountable.

[smileyface]

Beautiful aesthetics, amazing music, entertaining video and engaging concepts, when will you ever miss, you beautiful man?

[hyperrealhank]

Sick video, I do appreciate the idea of space exploration as an opportunity for socialists - there's no way we can truly think about colonizing space under capitalism. If humanity cares about space exploration then we'll have to collaborate to achieve it - and that collaborative effort wouldn't make sense under capitalism

[eternisedDragon]

You missed the by far most important reason against at least interstellar physical space exploration, which at the same time is the most important ethical argument in the universe as it's known so far, namely to prevent risking intentionally or unintentionally that evolution on exoplanets with (primitive) wildlife is kick-started by outer space activities such as directed panspermia. The reason for why Anti-Panspermia is the most important ethical directive is that the number of risked, affected sentient beings, possibly around a Quintillion, by it is the largest of any known possible undertaking to make, the duration of how long such animal wildlife kick-started to involuntarily exist on some exoplanet would be up to billions of years - again, the longest duration for an effect to hold on that's known - and last but most importantly for the whole argument: Various scientific studies provide strong evidence for pain and suffering to dominate wildlife animals' overall, average experience in general forms of evolution alike that on earth. And therefore, the total accumulated, any therein contained joy dominating, overshadowing miserable calamity has ethical priority over any other projects, no matter the benefits, as they'd pale in comparison.

[moksound]

Your stuff is consistently great. Thank you.

[cmccoy]

Started re-watching this since it is just that good. Its mentioned in passing but I think this video is at least partially misinterpreting the intent of a lot of Cyberpunk media; at least when it comes to 2077. I'm not sure its an endorsement of capitalism so much as a warning against unmitigated tech futurism without the corresponding advances in social technology; i.e. the social restructuring you are correct to emphasize.

[dosbilliam]

Heh, saw this in my subs and went "ooh, new 1Dime!" :D

[dr.zoidberg]

I 100% agree with the message of this video, but I still think it won't be us that defeats capitalists in their space endeavors.

I think that climate change-driven collapse (either of capitalism or of global society) is more likely to put an end to their ambitions.

[riverwilder]

THE FUCKING EVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF SPACE TRAVEL??

[zeke]

Very important topic! I would agree that at least for the 21st century space exploration and resource exploitation would be mostly done by robots. There is no earth 2.0 where people can live as freely and easy like here.

[BrightAgeBeyond]

Very good video, fair play.

Demilitarization of space and a planetary wealth fund for extra-terrestrial resources are solid practical demands.