<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="gmail-post-title gmail-long gmail-unpublished">Don't miss the Terasem Space Day Colloquium on July 20!</h1><h3 class="gmail-subtitle">Cultural,
philosophical, and spiritual aspects of spaceflight and space
expansion. Rick Tumlinson, Riccardo Campa, Elaine Walker, Frank White,
Frank Tipler.</h3><div><p><span>You are invited to attend the </span><a href="https://turingchurch.net/terasem-space-day-colloquium-july-20-2022-bda45ffb0ea6" rel="">Terasem Space Day Colloquium</a><span> next Wednesday, July 20, from 10am ET to 1pm ET, via Zoom.</span></p><div class="gmail-subscription-widget-wrap"><div class="gmail-subscription-widget gmail-show-subscribe"><div class="gmail-preamble"><p>Turing
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support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><div class="gmail-subscribe-widget gmail-is-signed-up"><p class="gmail-button-wrapper"><a class="gmail-button gmail-primary gmail-subscribe-btn" href="https://www.turingchurch.com/subscribe?utm_medium=web&utm_source=subscribe-widget-preamble&utm_content=62784699"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p></div></div></div><div class="gmail-tweet"><a href="https://twitter.com/giulioprisco/status/1531892264552779777" target="_blank" rel=""><div class="gmail-tweet-header"><img class="gmail-tweet-user-avatar" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_36/giulioprisco.jpg" alt="Twitter avatar for @giulioprisco"><span class="gmail-tweet-author-name">Giulio Prisco </span><span class="gmail-tweet-author">@giulioprisco</span></div><span>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.
</span></a><a class="expanded-link" href="https://turingchurch.net/terasem-space-day-colloquium-july-20-2022-bda45ffb0ea6" target="_blank" rel=""><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_600,h_314,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F105e46e8-3129-4faa-b20a-e32b2a13acff_1200x900.jpeg" class="expanded-link-img"><span class="expanded-link-title">Terasem Space Day Colloquium, July 20, 2022</span><span class="expanded-link-description">Cultural, philosophical and spiritual aspects of spaceflight. Rick Tumlinson, Riccardo Campa, Elaine Walker, Frank White, Frank Tipler.</span><span class="expanded-link-domain">turingchurch.net</span></a><a href="https://twitter.com/giulioprisco/status/1531892264552779777" target="_blank" rel=""><div class="gmail-tweet-footer"><p class="gmail-tweet-date">June 1st 2022</p><span class="gmail-retweets"><span class="gmail-rt-count">1</span><span> Retweet</span></span><span class="gmail-likes"><span class="gmail-like-count">3</span><span> Likes</span></span></div></a></div><p>I look forward to seeing you on July 20 at the Terasem Space Day!</p><p>Zoom access coordinates:</p><p><strong><a href="https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82445979923?pwd=eWhpY2dMUUVyblZaTjhHdHdZOFVZZz09" rel="">CLICK HERE</a><span> to join the Zoom meeting</span></strong><br><span>Meeting ID: 824 4597 9923</span><br><span>Passcode: 770541</span></p><p>I hope a special girl will be in the audience and listen to both her parents speak on our future in space!</p><p class="gmail-button-wrapper"><a class="gmail-button gmail-primary" href="https://www.turingchurch.com/p/dont-miss-the-terasem-space-day-colloquium?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo1MDY4NzcsImlhdCI6MTY1Nzc4Njg2OCwiaXNzIjoicHViLTQ0NzE5MSIsInN1YiI6InBvc3QtcmVhY3Rpb24ifQ.kt6_ZJRtmL_9zNwUVMnvkLVuCslByJSrCWCuSPELOrE" rel=""><span>Share</span></a></p><p>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:</p><div><hr></div><p><a href="https://www.turingchurch.com/p/terasem-space-day-july-20-rick-tumlinson" rel="">Rick Tumlinson</a><span> is a legendary space activist and a co-founder of the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Frontier_Foundation" rel="">Space Frontier Foundation</a><span>.
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.</span></p><p>“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.”</p><p><span>The “Frontier Files” don’t seem to be available online but backup copies like </span><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130609151901/http://archive.spacefrontier.org/History/frontierfiles.html" rel="">this one</a><span>
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.</span></p><p>My favorite is Message 15, contributed by Arthur Clarke no less:</p><blockquote><p>“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.”</p></blockquote><p>This summarizes the libertarian spirit of spaceflight and space expansion promoted by the Space Frontier Foundation.</p><p>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?</p><div><hr></div><p><a href="https://www.turingchurch.com/p/terasem-space-day-july-20-elaine?s=w" rel="">Riccardo Campa</a><span> is a professor of sociology and the founder of the </span><a href="http://www.transumanisti.it/" rel="">Italian Transhumanist Association</a><span>.</span></p><p><span>Riccardo has recently written academic papers on the sociological and spiritual aspects of spaceflight, including “</span><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81388-8_19" rel="">The sociology of lunar settlement</a><span>” (in the book “</span><em><a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-81388-8" rel="">The Human Factor in the Settlement of the Moon: An Interdisciplinary Approach</a><span>,</span></em><span>” published by Springer), “</span><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2021.2012924" rel="">A Theory of the Merging Noospheres: Teilhard and Big History</a><span>” and “</span><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2022.2051253" rel="">Expanding Ecotheology to Embrace the Earth-Moon System</a><span>,” published in </span><em>Theology and Science</em><span>.</span></p><p><span>Riccardo is the author of many books. My favorite one, titled “</span><em><a href="https://www.amazon.it/Trattato-filosofia-futurista-Riccardo-Campa/dp/8890608277" rel="">Trattato di Filosofia Futurista</a></em><span>” (“</span><em>A Treatise on Futurist Philosophy</em><span>”), analyzes the philosophical aspects of Italian futurism, a movement related to transhumanism and Russian cosmism. </span><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327537014_Trattato_di_filosofia_futurista" rel="">The full text of the book is available here</a><span>. See </span><a href="https://turingchurch.net/the-philosophy-of-italian-futurism-riccardo-campa-15469e317150" rel="">my review</a><span>.</span></p><p><span>From </span><a href="https://www.turingchurch.com/p/futurist-spaceflight-meditations" rel="">my spaceflight book</a><span>:</span></p><blockquote><p>The
Italian futurists… were enthusiastic fans of aviation and early ideas
of spaceflight. Today, they would be enthusiastic fans of spaceflight.</p><p>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.”</p><p>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’…”</p></blockquote><p>I think transhumanism,
Italian futurism, and Russian cosmism are a powerful philosophical
foundation for humanity’s expansion into space.</p><p><span>In “</span><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2021.2012924" rel="">A Theory of the Merging Noospheres: Teilhard and Big History</a><span>,” co-authored by Christopher Corbally and Margaret Boone Rappaport and published in </span><em>Theology and Science</em><span>, Riccardo proposes a modern interpretation of </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Teilhard_de_Chardin" rel="">Teilhard</a><span>.
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.</span></p><div><hr></div><p><a href="https://www.turingchurch.com/p/terasem-space-day-july-20-elaine?s=w" rel="">Elaine Walker</a><span> is an electronic musician and a long time space activist. See </span><a href="https://www.space.com/744-electronic-pro-space-pop-music-zia.html" rel="">this 2005 profile in space.com</a><span>:</span></p><blockquote><p>“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.”</p></blockquote><p>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.</p><p><span>Elaine is the author of a nonfiction physics/philosophy book, “</span><em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Matter-Over-Mind-Cosmos-Curiosity-ebook/dp/B08GKZR4S1" rel="">Matter Over Mind: Cosmos, Chaos, and Curiosity</a></em><span>.”
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.</span></p><p>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.</p><div><hr></div><p><a href="https://www.turingchurch.com/p/terasem-space-say-july-20-frank-tipler?s=w" rel="">Frank White</a><span> coined the term “</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overview_effect" rel="">Overview Effect</a><span>” to describe the powerful mind-changing and life-changing impact of seeing the Earth from space.</span></p><div class="gmail-tweet"><a href="https://twitter.com/JPMajor/status/1545511405608124420" target="_blank" rel=""><div class="gmail-tweet-header"><img class="gmail-tweet-user-avatar" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_36/JPMajor.jpg" alt="Twitter avatar for @JPMajor"><span class="gmail-tweet-author-name">Jason Major </span><span class="gmail-tweet-author">@JPMajor</span></div><span>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. </span><div class="gmail-tweet-photos-container"><div class="gmail-tweet-photo-wrapper"><span><img class="gmail-tweet-photo" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_600,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.substack.com%2Fmedia%2FFXLCbiSXkAMsv5d.jpg" alt="Image"></span></div></div></a><a href="https://twitter.com/JPMajor/status/1545511405608124420" target="_blank" rel=""><div class="gmail-tweet-footer"><p class="gmail-tweet-date">July 8th 2022</p><span class="gmail-retweets"><span class="gmail-rt-count">70</span><span> Retweets</span></span><span class="gmail-likes"><span class="gmail-like-count">394</span><span> Likes</span></span></div></a></div><p><span>Fred Hoyle noted that </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthrise" rel="">the Earthrise pictures</a><span>
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.</span></p><p><span>Frank wrote a series of books starting with the seminal and very infuential “</span><em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Overview-Effect-Space-Exploration-Evolution-ebook/dp/B0926NWWST/" rel="">The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution</a></em><span>” (first published in 1987).</span></p><p><span>In “</span><em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07J2QZZ42/" rel="">The Cosma Hypothesis: Implications of the Overview Effect</a></em><span>” (2018), Frank explores a higher level Overview Effect related not only to the Earth but to the whole universe. He says:</span></p><blockquote><p>“[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.”</p></blockquote><p><span>From </span><a href="https://www.turingchurch.com/p/futurist-spaceflight-meditations" rel="">my spaceflight book</a><span>:</span></p><blockquote><p>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.</p></blockquote><div><hr></div><p><a href="https://www.turingchurch.com/p/terasem-space-say-july-20-frank-tipler?s=w" rel="">Frank Tipler</a><span>
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.</span></p><p>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.</p><p>More and more scientists are saying similar things, including Nobel Prize winners:</p><blockquote><p>“God is under construction.” - Frank Wilczek</p></blockquote><div class="gmail-tweet"><a href="https://twitter.com/giulioprisco/status/1545713583631306758" target="_blank" rel=""><div class="gmail-tweet-header"><img class="gmail-tweet-user-avatar" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_36/giulioprisco.jpg" alt="Twitter avatar for @giulioprisco"><span class="gmail-tweet-author-name">Giulio Prisco </span><span class="gmail-tweet-author">@giulioprisco</span></div><span>“Wilczek grinned as he remarked that ‘God is under construction,’ as we gain knowledge and have opportunities to actively shape the world.” </span></a><a class="expanded-link" href="https://www.templeton.org/news/god-is-under-construction-the-playful-spirit-of-dr-frank-wilczek" target="_blank" rel=""><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_600,h_314,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F95dfcbe0-85de-4a88-adb6-791e5aff46ef_2048x1024.jpeg" class="expanded-link-img"><span class="expanded-link-title">‘God is Under Construction’ | The Playful Spirit of Dr. Frank Wilczek - John Templeton Foundation</span><span class="expanded-link-description"></span><span class="expanded-link-domain">templeton.org</span></a><a href="https://twitter.com/giulioprisco/status/1545713583631306758" target="_blank" rel=""><div class="gmail-tweet-footer"><p class="gmail-tweet-date">July 9th 2022</p><span class="gmail-likes"><span class="gmail-like-count">1</span><span> Like</span></span></div></a></div><div class="gmail-tweet"><a href="https://twitter.com/giulioprisco/status/1546061166857822208" target="_blank" rel=""><div class="gmail-tweet-header"><img class="gmail-tweet-user-avatar" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_36/giulioprisco.jpg" alt="Twitter avatar for @giulioprisco"><span class="gmail-tweet-author-name">Giulio Prisco </span><span class="gmail-tweet-author">@giulioprisco</span></div><span>"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." </span><span class="gmail-tweet-fake-link">@FrankWilczek</span><span> could you say more on this?
</span></a><a class="expanded-link" href="https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2022-05-19/q-a-peeking-under-the-hood-of-reality-with-theoretical-physicist-frank-wilczek" target="_blank" rel=""><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_600,h_314,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F186193ca-7ce6-4255-b552-a0158a36ffb9_1200x630.jpeg" class="expanded-link-img"><span class="expanded-link-title">Q&A: Talking God, science and religion with theoretical physicist Frank Wilczek</span><span class="expanded-link-description">As a theoretical physicist, Wilczek has been peeking under the hood of our perceived reality for more than 50 years now.</span><span class="expanded-link-domain">latimes.com</span></a><a href="https://twitter.com/giulioprisco/status/1546061166857822208" target="_blank" rel=""><div class="gmail-tweet-footer"><p class="gmail-tweet-date gmail-no-reactions">July 10th 2022</p></div></a></div><p>I guess Wilczek doesn’t mean this in a strong literal sense, but this is too good a quote to miss!</p><p>The concept is also found in Terasem, e.g.:</p><blockquote><p><span>“4.1.4 - Terasem becomes omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient when it encompasses all consciousness and enough multiverse.” (</span><a href="https://terasemfaith.net/beliefs/" rel="">source</a><span>)</span></p></blockquote><p><span>Frank Tipler participated in </span><a href="https://terasemcentral.org/articles/gn/2005GeonanoProgram.html" rel="">the first Terasem event</a><span> on July 20, 2005 (</span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qbfAOLv1wg" rel="">video</a><span>). The chapter “Omega Point: Frank Tipler’s physics of immortality and Christianity” in my book “</span><em><a href="https://www.turingchurch.com/p/tales-of-the-turing-church" rel="">Tales of the Turing Church</a></em><span>” is entirely dedicated to his ideas. See also </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1lm4HmVfs4" rel="">my 2016 video interview</a><span> with him. Frank sits on the </span><a href="https://www.christiantranshumanism.org/academics" rel="">Academic Advisory Council</a><span> of the </span><a href="https://www.christiantranshumanism.org/" rel="">Christian Transhumanist Association</a><span>.</span></p></div></div>