[ExI] Don't miss the Terasem Space Day Colloquium on July 20!

[Giulio Prisco]

Don't miss the Terasem Space Day Colloquium on July 20!Cultural,
philosophical, and spiritual aspects of spaceflight and space expansion.
Rick Tumlinson, Riccardo Campa, Elaine Walker, Frank White, Frank Tipler.

You are invited to attend the Terasem Space Day Colloquium
<https://turingchurch.net/terasem-space-day-colloquium-july-20-2022-bda45ffb0ea6>
next Wednesday, July 20, from 10am ET to 1pm ET, via Zoom.

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[image: Twitter avatar for @giulioprisco]Giulio Prisco @giulioprisco
Mark your calendar! Terasem Space Day Colloquium, July 20, 2022. Cultural,
philosophical and spiritual aspects of spaceflight. Rick Tumlinson,
Riccardo Campa, Elaine Walker, Frank White, Frank Tipler.
<https://twitter.com/giulioprisco/status/1531892264552779777>Terasem Space
Day Colloquium, July 20, 2022Cultural, philosophical and spiritual aspects
of spaceflight. Rick Tumlinson, Riccardo Campa, Elaine Walker, Frank White,
Frank Tipler.turingchurch.net
<https://turingchurch.net/terasem-space-day-colloquium-july-20-2022-bda45ffb0ea6>

June 1st 2022
1 Retweet3 Likes
<https://twitter.com/giulioprisco/status/1531892264552779777>

I look forward to seeing you on July 20 at the Terasem Space Day!

Zoom access coordinates:

*CLICK HERE
<https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82445979923?pwd=eWhpY2dMUUVyblZaTjhHdHdZOFVZZz09>
to join the Zoom meeting*
Meeting ID: 824 4597 9923
Passcode: 770541

I hope a special girl will be in the audience and listen to both her
parents speak on our future in space!

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We didn’t assign topics to the speakers but asked them to talk about what
they think needs saying, today, about the cultural, philosophical, and
spiritual aspects of spaceflight and space expansion. So I don’t know what
they’ll choose to talk about. I hope they will talk about my favorite
aspects of their work, which are:
------------------------------

Rick Tumlinson
<https://www.turingchurch.com/p/terasem-space-day-july-20-rick-tumlinson>
is a legendary space activist and a co-founder of the Space Frontier
Foundation <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Frontier_Foundation>. He
wrote most of the “Frontier Files” - a series of e-mails that the
Foundation sent out in 1995 to a select list of space activists. The series
generated great interest.

“Rick philosophized on the prospect of humans in space in such a dramatic
way that it affected me for life,” says Elaine Walker in her book (see
below). “I became immersed in the pro-space movement, as we called it then.
The same crowd now calls it the ‘new-space’ movement.”

The “Frontier Files” don’t seem to be available online but backup copies
like this one
<https://web.archive.org/web/20130609151901/http://archive.spacefrontier.org/History/frontierfiles.html>
can be found via the Wayback Machine of the Internet Archive. I downloaded
a copy in case these historic documents disappear from the internet for
good.

My favorite is Message 15, contributed by Arthur Clarke no less:

“Nuclear Scientists at Harwell have discovered the heaviest element in the
Universe, which they have named Bureaucratium. This extraordinary element
has no protons or electrons, and its atomic number is zero. What it does
have is one neutron, eight assistant neutrons, ten executive neutrons, 35
vice-neutrons and 256 assistant vice-neutrons. These particles are held
together by a force that involves the continuous exchange of meson-like
particles called 'morons'. Bureaucratium is completely inert but can be
detected since it impedes every reaction it comes into contact with.”

This summarizes the libertarian spirit of spaceflight and space expansion
promoted by the Space Frontier Foundation.

Rick’s talk will be titled “The Orphans of Apollo Grow Up.” We have done it
all wrong after Apollo, but what happens if we do it right?
------------------------------

Riccardo Campa
<https://www.turingchurch.com/p/terasem-space-day-july-20-elaine?s=w> is a
professor of sociology and the founder of the Italian Transhumanist
Association <http://www.transumanisti.it/>.

Riccardo has recently written academic papers on the sociological and
spiritual aspects of spaceflight, including “The sociology of lunar
settlement <http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81388-8_19>” (in the book “*The
Human Factor in the Settlement of the Moon: An Interdisciplinary Approach
<https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-81388-8>,*” published by
Springer), “A Theory of the Merging Noospheres: Teilhard and Big History
<https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2021.2012924>” and “Expanding Ecotheology
to Embrace the Earth-Moon System
<https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2022.2051253>,” published in *Theology
and Science*.

Riccardo is the author of many books. My favorite one, titled “*Trattato di
Filosofia Futurista
<https://www.amazon.it/Trattato-filosofia-futurista-Riccardo-Campa/dp/8890608277>*”
(“*A Treatise on Futurist Philosophy*”), analyzes the philosophical aspects
of Italian futurism, a movement related to transhumanism and Russian
cosmism. The full text of the book is available here
<https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327537014_Trattato_di_filosofia_futurista>.
See my review
<https://turingchurch.net/the-philosophy-of-italian-futurism-riccardo-campa-15469e317150>
.

>From my spaceflight book
<https://www.turingchurch.com/p/futurist-spaceflight-meditations>:

The Italian futurists… were enthusiastic fans of aviation and early ideas
of spaceflight. Today, they would be enthusiastic fans of spaceflight.

I think today’s sedate Western culture could use an injection of vitality,
and I stand with Marinetti on the summit of the world to “fling our
challenge to the stars.”

In Campa’s words (my translation): “Marinetti and the futurists set
themselves objectives like, no less, ‘to challenge the stars’, ‘to ascend
to the sky’, ‘to reconstruct the universe’, ‘to create the mechanical man
with interchangeable parts’…”

I think transhumanism, Italian futurism, and Russian cosmism are a powerful
philosophical foundation for humanity’s expansion into space.

In “A Theory of the Merging Noospheres: Teilhard and Big History
<https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2021.2012924>,” co-authored by
Christopher Corbally and Margaret Boone Rappaport and published in *Theology
and Science*, Riccardo proposes a modern interpretation of Teilhard
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Teilhard_de_Chardin>. Perhaps “we are
destined by contact with other thinking planets, across the abysses of
space and time, some day to become integrated within an organized complex
composed of a number of Noospheres.” In late writings, Riccardo explains,
Teilhard considered this as the most plausible hypothesis for the future of
humanity.
------------------------------

Elaine Walker
<https://www.turingchurch.com/p/terasem-space-day-july-20-elaine?s=w> is an
electronic musician and a long time space activist. See this 2005 profile
in space.com
<https://www.space.com/744-electronic-pro-space-pop-music-zia.html>:

“what could be more suitable to accompany the technology driven pro-space
movement than technology driven music? Elaine Walker is an artist and
musician who feels this way. The pro-space movement is also a social
movement. As engineers and entrepreneurs are building hardware and carving
out new markets, pro-space advocates are promoting a new outlook for
humanity on a social level. Pro-spacers are forever finding creative ways
to promote the idea of a spacefaring civilization with outreach projects,
magazines, local chapters, lobbying campaigns, books, art and even music.”

Art has a unique potential to create support for spaceflight and space
expansion. I think the work of artists is equally important as (and perhaps
even more important at this moment than) the work of engineers, scientists
and entrepreneurs. We urgently need to make space sexy again and make the
public fall in love with space again, and only artists can do that.

Elaine is the author of a nonfiction physics/philosophy book, “*Matter Over
Mind: Cosmos, Chaos, and Curiosity
<https://www.amazon.com/Matter-Over-Mind-Cosmos-Curiosity-ebook/dp/B08GKZR4S1>*.”
Matter and mind are parts of one physical reality that doesn’t necessarily
require mind/matter dualism and/or a creator God. The world is
deterministic but not predetermined. I have reservations on some of
Elaine’s ideas, but her book is most certainly a great book and a page
turner.

In the book she comes out as a pro-tech, pro-space libertarian and tells
the story of how she became a futurist philosopher and a space activist,
citing the Extropians and Tumlinson’s “Frontier Files” among her main
influences.
------------------------------

Frank White
<https://www.turingchurch.com/p/terasem-space-say-july-20-frank-tipler?s=w>
coined the term “Overview Effect
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overview_effect>” to describe the powerful
mind-changing and life-changing impact of seeing the Earth from space.
[image: Twitter avatar for @JPMajor]Jason Major @JPMajor
This is the first photo of an "Earthrise" captured by humans from lunar
orbit: AS08-13-2329, taken by Apollo 8 LMP Bill Anders on December 24, 1968
(crop of the original). After taking it Bill asked for a roll of color
film.
[image: Image]
<https://twitter.com/JPMajor/status/1545511405608124420>

July 8th 2022
70 Retweets394 Likes
<https://twitter.com/JPMajor/status/1545511405608124420>

Fred Hoyle noted that the Earthrise pictures
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthrise> taken by Apollo 8 astronauts
during their 1968 mission around the Moon stimulated awareness of the need
to protect the Earth’s natural environment. “It seems to me more than a
coincidence that this awareness should have happened at exactly the moment
man took his first step into space,” he said.

Frank wrote a series of books starting with the seminal and very infuential
“*The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution
<https://www.amazon.com/Overview-Effect-Space-Exploration-Evolution-ebook/dp/B0926NWWST/>*”
(first published in 1987).

In “*The Cosma Hypothesis: Implications of the Overview Effect
<https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07J2QZZ42/>*” (2018), Frank explores a
higher level Overview Effect related not only to the Earth but to the whole
universe. He says:

“[We need] to think about how our exploration of space, or evolution into
the universe, (as I prefer to say) would benefit the universe as a whole …
we need a more complete perspective, yet another ‘Overview,’ if you will.”

>From my spaceflight book
<https://www.turingchurch.com/p/futurist-spaceflight-meditations>:

Frank White extends James Lovelock’s concept of Gaia, the living Earth, to
the whole universe. The universe itself will become a living whole and we
are “actively encouraged by larger forces” to expand beyond the Earth and
“help the universe become increasingly self-aware” … According to Frank
White we will create, or become part of, the universal mind.

------------------------------

Frank Tipler
<https://www.turingchurch.com/p/terasem-space-say-july-20-frank-tipler?s=w>
is the physicist who dared to suggest that our descendants will take over
the universe, remake it over and over, build eternity, and use their
God-like powers to resurrect everyone who ever lived.

I have reservations on some of Frank’s ideas, e.g. his conviction that we
essentially already know all the physics we need to talk about these
things. But this doesn’t diminish the extreme importance of his work, which
is not always appreciated as it should be. Frank says, loud and clear, that
God (or something so God-like that the name God is appropriate) comes to
being in the far future of the universe, and we are part of the process.

More and more scientists are saying similar things, including Nobel Prize
winners:

“God is under construction.” - Frank Wilczek

[image: Twitter avatar for @giulioprisco]Giulio Prisco @giulioprisco
“Wilczek grinned as he remarked that ‘God is under construction,’ as we
gain knowledge and have opportunities to actively shape the world.”
<https://twitter.com/giulioprisco/status/1545713583631306758>‘God is Under
Construction’ | The Playful Spirit of Dr. Frank Wilczek - John Templeton
Foundationtempleton.org
<https://www.templeton.org/news/god-is-under-construction-the-playful-spirit-of-dr-frank-wilczek>

July 9th 2022
1 Like
<https://twitter.com/giulioprisco/status/1545713583631306758>
[image: Twitter avatar for @giulioprisco]Giulio Prisco @giulioprisco
"God is not only the world as it is, but the world as it should be. So, to
me, God is under construction. My concept of God is really based on what I
learn about the nature of reality." @FrankWilczek could you say more on
this? <https://twitter.com/giulioprisco/status/1546061166857822208>Q&A:
Talking God, science and religion with theoretical physicist Frank WilczekAs
a theoretical physicist, Wilczek has been peeking under the hood of our
perceived reality for more than 50 years now.latimes.com
<https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2022-05-19/q-a-peeking-under-the-hood-of-reality-with-theoretical-physicist-frank-wilczek>

July 10th 2022
<https://twitter.com/giulioprisco/status/1546061166857822208>

I guess Wilczek doesn’t mean this in a strong literal sense, but this is
too good a quote to miss!

The concept is also found in Terasem, e.g.:

“4.1.4 - Terasem becomes omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient when it
encompasses all consciousness and enough multiverse.” (source
<https://terasemfaith.net/beliefs/>)

Frank Tipler participated in the first Terasem event
<https://terasemcentral.org/articles/gn/2005GeonanoProgram.html> on July
20, 2005 (video <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qbfAOLv1wg>). The chapter
“Omega Point: Frank Tipler’s physics of immortality and Christianity” in my
book “*Tales of the Turing Church
<https://www.turingchurch.com/p/tales-of-the-turing-church>*” is entirely
dedicated to his ideas. See also my 2016 video interview
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1lm4HmVfs4> with him. Frank sits on
the Academic
Advisory Council <https://www.christiantranshumanism.org/academics> of
the Christian
Transhumanist Association <https://www.christiantranshumanism.org/>.
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