Human fascination with space is as old as humans. Imagine a human eye capturing the vastness of space, and the mind trying to make sense of it. It is overwhelming, putting it too softly.
Poetry, philosophy, mysticism and religious episteme – all have engaged with space, with heavens, and with heavenly bodies. Moon being a neighbour, fascinates more. If planet earth is a family, moon is a nearby relative of sorts.
There was a time when heavenly bodies were deified. It still is at places, but the progress in science leaves little space for such beliefs now. Science has shown the way to conquer the space, to land on moon, to send mission to mars.
These are now objects to be explored, not venerated. All those great scientists who probed into space and added to our knowledge of universe are our heroes.
Not to forget the Greeks, the Chinese, the Indians of the old civilisations; not to forget the Muslim-Arab scientists who took the tradition of science forward; not to forget the Europeans who pushed the frontiers of science – it’s time to think of science as collective human legacy.
It belongs to all. There is no Hindu science, Christian science, Jewish Science, Muslim or Buddhist science.
Congratulations ISRO
If ISRO is over the moon, it’s well deserved. The hard work has finally paid. Congratulations, all the scientists. One shouldn’t be niggardly in acknowledging the human achievement.
A nation, a people, or a country associated with an achievement, in any field – science, art, sports, economy – has a right to feel happy, and express that joy.
It is a natural way of responding to an event like the soft landing of a probe on moon. There isn’t anything unexpected, or unusual in this. The joy and an expression of pride, as long as it’s within human limits, is a given on such occasions.
But moon has no borders
When American’s went to the moon, they hoisted the flag. Then we have Russians, Chinese, Israel and India. As more countries go to the moon, this natural satellite of earth gets to know of more flags.
On an a-scietific note, how would a United Lunar Nations look like?! Who will have a veto power there? And what will a contest look like if it is about lunar land?
The most pernicious affliction of the current world is the water tight borders. It is a permanent suffering and it has divided humans into coercive compartments.
The age old relations that existed before the advent of these borders, and a passport that determines mankind’s movement along and across these lines, are the gifts of man’s longing for power, and slicing of human history into Our-History and Their-History.
If scientists are taking us to a borderless moon, can the political scientists on this planet earth work as hard to make the borders less divisive. Can the political leaders of the countries who take pride in scientific missions, think for while on this?
Why science feeds into anti-science when it comes to planet earth?!
Remember the lady called Kalpana
It is time to remember what Kalpana Chawla, an Indo-American astronaut said: “When you look at the stars and the galaxy, you feel that you are not just from any particular piece of land, but from the solar system.” That is being a true scientists.
The beauty of science is that it transcends barriers. But the beast in it is that all the power that science brings to us, is finally in the hands of political leaders, and corporates. And this brand of people does not belong to solar system, it belongs to its own interest. Remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945.
This limitless universe and human hubris
We build empires, personal and national. We claim histories and civilisations on this earth. We wage wars on this earth, win territories and declare ourselves as conquerors. We take pride in being super powers and wannabe super powers.
We decide who should live and in which condition. We announce judgment on entire people, we decide the fate of nations. We do it all on this earth, and we now convince ourselves that we can triumphantly invade the space and lord over the celestial sphere.
The ground underneath us, while drenched in power, looks like firm as a rock. But ask Carl Sagan and he will tell you that earth is finally a pale blue dot in the limitless expanse of this universe.
Our finitude, in every sense, is frighteningly real. Thinking of the vastness of this universe not only exhausts, it simply melts us away. We forget the science of our finitude, as we celebrate the scientific achievements.
Knowledge culminates into a twin feeling: wonder and humility. Certitude and hubris are exact opposites.
Fatima Bhutto’s song of blood
Sometimes, some comments linger on. Years back Fatima Bhutto, in her book Songs of Blood and Sword wrote: “India has just launched a moon mission and we can’t even light up the streets. We are a nuclear armed street that cannot run refrigerators”. A nation that fights over sighting the moon on Ramadhan and Eid, has a lesson or two to learn form the neighbours.
Al-Beruni must be ashamed of his figurative descendants.
