231. Space Tourism
When I was young, I imagined that the future world would have cars that fly. We are not quite there yet, but the rate of technological innovation is astounding recently, especially in the rocket industry. In the last two weeks, two space companies, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, have successfully launched commercial rockets to the edge of orbit, preparing the way for the era of “space tourism” for all people. Blue Origin’s launch was special because it was the first unpiloted suborbital flight with the all-civilian crew in history.
Though behind these two companies in this feat, SpaceX has been successfully launching rockets and landing them as is, and its CEO Elon Musk is planning to use it for rocket travel from city to city. With this rocket, travel from London to New York would only take 22 minutes. (It is an 8-hour flight) He also has declared that he wants to settle human beings on Mars, making humans multi-planetary species.
As someone who is into technology, I get excited when I hear this news. But I also cannot help but wonder why people desire to leave earth perfectly conditioned and suited for human existence and explore other planets? There is no clear answer, but I have my explanation: Evil. Technological innovation will continue to defeat human problems one by one. We will find more cures for Incurable diseases, elongate human lifespan, and solve energy problems. But there is one problem that we will never be able to solve, and that is the existence of evil.
Despite the continued effort to control evil, evil will continue to increase because all outside evil came from the evil within. No one can “improve” inner condition with technology. Many honest and conscientious thinkers in our world have admitted their capacity to commit evil lurking within themselves, which has shocked them.
But as a Christian, increasing evil in the world only makes me turn to the Gospel and yearn for the day when all evil will be eradicated, and the perfect goodness of God will rule the world. In heaven, we will probably travel in the air with a brand new body that is no longer subject to the law of physics, without the need for a rocket. Space tourism will become a daily experience, not a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
