You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, “Look at that, you son of a bitch.”
— Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 astronaut, People magazine, 8 April 1974.
Four reactions:
(1) What’s preventing us from having this same awe-filled experience from an IMAX seat? Scary movies can seem very “real” to us, and moving pictures can induce the whole range of emotions, so I don’t see why dragging politicians into space is necessary to get the same sort of effect. The effect probably wouldn’t be as strong, but on the other hand, with the right technological enhancements and especially with the right sounds, I could conceivably see an IMAX experience being more powerful than one Edgar Mitchell experienced.
I truly believe that. What I don’t believe is that putting politicians in an IMAX theatre or even in space is likely to make a bit of difference. This relates to the next point.
(2) How long did Edgar Mitchell’s “epiphany” last? I’m guessing he’d tell you it never went away, but I’d believe him about as much as I believe a couple who’s been married for 30 years saying that their in-loveness is as strong as Day 1.
I buy that Edgar Mitchell had this magical almost out-of-body experience that seriously changed his perception of the world (for a bit), but I don’t buy that once he got back thickly into the world of nail clipping and oil changes that the effect remained with even 1/1,000th of the intensity.
We experience a similar effect albeit on a smaller scale when we see an emotional movie. For 5 or so hours afterwards we are noticeably more people-oriented and less interested in what we perceive to be petty things. Yep, for about 5 hours or so. The problem is that we can’t really absorb these facts of the universe. They hit us hard for a short while, but it’s logarithmic decay from there.
It’s certainly possible that Edgar Mitchell’s behaviors changed lastingly after the experience, but that would only be because he willfully developed some new routines, not because this experience blew up some part of his emotional brain. His mind is no more capable of absorbing the facts of the universe than anyone else’s, and he is bound to the same inertia as the rest of us.
(3) Even supposing the effect was everlasting and with equal intensity, is this something that all people could/would experience if we were “dragged a quarter of a million miles out”? Here’s Xan:
When one person goes into space, he sees the insignificant sphere of pettiness below. When everyone goes into space, the sphere of pettiness expands. Individuals can escape from society but society cannot escape from individuals.
So my answer is, never. We will never see what Edgar Mitchell saw.
(4) I sometimes have Edgar Mitchell-like feelings myself. Sometimes when I see foodies complaining about their swiss chard pancakes being too heavy on salt, I want to grab them by the scruff of the neck, pull them into space and say, “can’t you see that you are a tiny, insignificant primate on this mess of a planet and it is some kind of miracle that you even get the chance to complain about salt quantities?”
But then I remember that I don’t have a space shuttle, and that even if I did the effect would last about 5 hours, tops, and that sometimes I get mad about salt quantities, too.
I think there is a temptation to view the astronaut’s perspective of the world as “right.” But right according to what? Does he who takes the biggest-picture perspective win? Why? Why would bigger be righter?
Sometimes when I look at my dog and his entire universe is the lady dog in front of him, I think, damn, that makes at least as much sense as the astronaut’s version of a universe.
