A
view that many people will soon be seeing
firsthand! |
The
World Space Center
Citizen
access to space travel is soon to be a reality.
Although it may sound like pure science fiction,
a new space age is just around the corner. Commercial
space companies will begin offering space travel
to the general public as early as 2007 - with
the first commercial hotel in orbit opening by
2010!
Despite major media coverage, though, few in the
general public are yet considering, let alone
preparing for, the dramatic changes private space
travel will have on our Earth-bound culture and
minds. Such changes will soon appear in business,
politics, jobs, entertainment and much more.
The World Space Center therefore announces its
formation in order to serve as a communication
and resource portal for citizen interest and involvement
in space travel. The Center will especially help
to explain how this epochal revolution will alter
life on Earth, with special emphasis on how the
expansion of society into space will bring much
needed global perspective and insight into our
Earth-based lives and culture. Many of these changes
will come from physical sources such as space-related
industry and jobs, and their effects on the economy,
media, fashion, and culture generally.
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“Humanity
must rise above the Earth, to the
top of the atmosphere and beyond,
for only then will we fully understand
the world in which we live ”
S
o c r a t e s
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However,
just possibly, the most powerful and immediate effect
will come from the kind of internal psychological,
intellectual, spiritual and even interpersonal effects
of the space experience as described by many of
the astronauts. Writer Frank White interviewed dozens
of astronauts, and in his book, The Overview Effect,
described the surprisingly profound effect of simply
seeing the whole Earth hanging in space while you
hang weightless in mid air.
Modern cognitive science suggests perceptual reasons
for this “overview” effect. Today, many leading
perception researchers see the imagery of vision
as internally created by the brain/mind by applying
models and paradigms, drawn from our sensory experience,
to the otherwise inherently ambiguous data of the
senses.
Without the appropriate underlying
mental models and paradigms, we might not see at
all. Significantly, the experience of space - weightlessness,
the enormous Earth hanging in the vastness of space,
and all the rest - have no precedent in our lives.
Thus, pictures and words of space, do not have internal
memory images to draw upon and thus do not communicate
as much as do images of things that we have actually
experienced. This creates “cognitive barriers” to
perception of the space experience through conventional
media. Not surprisingly, then, conventional space
"reporting” is lacking in substantial information
and presence. The overview effect, thus, is describing
the result of suddenly experiencing the reality
of that which we thought we had already learned
through words and pictures; that is, the reality
of the fact that we live on a gigantic ball hanging
in an infinite space.
The
World Space Center will act as a hub for the
emerging age of personal space travel. And,
specifically, the center will focus on the
use of advanced cognitively based simulation
media technologies and techniques (3-D, interactive
and VR media), to communicate something of
the reality of the astronauts” actual descriptions
and experiences.
| Our
goal is to connect the general public
with the imminent beginning of the second
space age, the age of personal space
travel and its effects on all our lives!
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Our
end goal is to overcome the “cognitive barriers”
and to convey much more of the space-based
overview effect to the majority of the population
(especially those who may never go
into space themselves) and to whet the appetite
of many who might otherwise never consider
going into space. That is, until they discover
space”s powerful cognitive effects. These
effects include the way that the intense and
positive impact of seeing the world from the
perspective of space will benefit the entire
culture through this new personal space age.
The World Space Center’s intent is to communicate
this message, not just to existing space enthusiasts,
but to the many thoughtful, intelligent people
who now see space travel as merely a challenging
diversion from "real world,” Earth-based,
issues. |
We
invite all those interested in this new space age
to join us!
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Get
involved with the World Space Center 
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Who we are |||
