Joe NotorantonioPhilosophy

Beautiful QuestionSummer 2013

7/22/13

Beautiful Question

If it were possible, and everyone could experience The Overview Effect, could it potentially “shift peoples awareness” for the good of mankind as a whole?

Why Did I Choose This?• I was introduced to The Overview Effect while

watching the Science Channel and it really caught my attention.

• Space has always interested me

• The questions and realizations which arise from the topic are important to mankind as a whole.

• To introduce others to the topic

An Introduction to The Overview Effect• From the first space missions, astronauts

and cosmonauts were so focused on the moon that they didn’t expect what it would be like to look back at the Earth.

• The sight of the Earth as perceived from space caused a cognitive shift in awareness coined “The Overview Effect”.

Overview• Watch this short film documentary on“The Overview Effect”

• Includes interviews of 5 astronauts who have experienced the overview effect

Experiences of Astronauts

• Malcolm Scott Carpenter

• One of the ‘Original Seven’ Mercury Astronauts

• Pilot of the Aurora 7. May 24, 1962

• Mission Objective: Corroborate man-in orbit

“That’s humanity, love, feeling, and thought. You don’t see the barriers of color and religion and politics that divide this world. You wonder, if you could get everyone in the world up there, wouldn’t they have a different feeling—a new perspective?”

“You can’t return home without feeling that difference. But you do come back to reality very quickly. You try to share

and relate your feelings to others, but you can’t take a billion people back with you. It’s almost as if you have come back from the future. You wonder, if only everyone could relate to the beauty and purposefulness of it, the reality of the infinity of time and space, how our star moves through time and space with logic and purpose. It wouldn’t bring a utopia to this planet for people to understand it all, but it might make a difference.” -Malcolm Scott Carpenter(pg. 184) White, Frank. The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987. Print.

More Experiences• Michael Collins• Flew on Gemini mission, July 1966• First moon landing mission, July 1969• Orbited the moon while Neil

Armstrong and Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. became the first humans in recorded history to walk on the moon.

“I really believe that if the political leaders of the world could see their planet from a distance of…100,000 miles, there outlook would be fundamentally changed. That all-important border would be invisible, that noisy argument suddenly silenced. The tiny globe would continue to turn, serenely ignoring its subdivision, presenting a united facade that would cry out for unified treatment…”

“I think the view from 100,00 miles could be invaluable in getting people together to work out joint solutions, by causing them to realize that the planet we share unites us in a way far more basic and far more important than differences in skin color or religion or economic system. The pity of it is that so far the view from 100,000 miles has been the exclusive property of a handful of test pilots, rather then the world leaders who need this new perspective, or the poets who might communicate it to them.”

-Michael Collins

(pg. 187) White, Frank. The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987. Print.

Casual Interview• I was with some friends about three weeks ago, about five or six of them

sitting around a fire so I thought it would be a good opportunity to I bring up The Overview Effect. I wanted to simply explain to them what The Overview Effect was, some of what I’ve heard in the previous video, and get some outside thoughts on the matter.

• It became clear to me that simply explaining it didn’t do it justice. Explaining how the astronauts felt wasn’t hard but trying to verbally draw the Earth from space in their minds proved to be difficult.

• Asking them my Beautiful Question I got mixed responses. The slight majority argued that people are so blinded by society that it wouldn’t make a difference. They argued there are too many material possessions that people want too badly to give up their ways of life.

• The others stated it could in cause this shift and make people more aware of what is actually important to our existence.

Realizations• The Earth is in reality a giant fragile “marble” floating in a

void, protected by a paper-thin atmosphere that protects all living species on Earth from death.

• The Sun is at the perfect distance to help the Earth flourish, we need to begin to do the things necessary, to return the favor to the sun, and take care of the Earth from here.

• We have an undeniable interconnectedness with all living things on Earth. We are part of “Spaceship Earth” where we must begin to live as one cohesive species in order to care for, help, and better the Earth for future generations to come.

My Final Thoughts• Based on the experiences talked about by the astronauts in the video

“Overview” and the astronauts I read about, it is clear that The Overview Effect had a profound effect on the overall awareness of these individuals who have been to space. They return with a greater sense of what is truly important to our survival as a species.

• It was clear that simply trying to verbally describe The Overview Effect was difficult, especially sitting around the fire without resources in front of me. The interview showed me that word of mouth is not enough to get the effect across and try to change peoples perspectives about what is important.

• Finally, I believe if it were possible for every individual to experience The Overview Effect for themselves by physically looking back at the Earth from space, that it would definitely help mankind for the better. I believe that people would look at the world much differently. Most of the petty things we find important would no longer be the main focus. I do not believe that it would happen over night, but it may at least bring about some urgency in changing our bad habits in order to better the environment and care for the planet which we depend on for our existence.

References

Web:http://www.overviewthemovie.com/the-overview-effect-and-overview-2www.scottcarpenter.com/about_scottText: White, Frank. The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987. Print.Interview: Kyle Langley, Carl Pieranunzi, Jared Shippee, Ally Fortier, Nicole Buckley. 6/28/13