THE QUESTION:
Dr Who is a long running BBC Sci-Fi program in which Dr Who uses a time machine called the Tardis to travel back forth in time.
Imagine that you could borrow the Tardis time machine and travel back in time (and return). What past scientist/engineer or moments of discovery would you choose to visit and observe? Do you think you could gain new insights into history that would give us a greater appreciation of the past achievements?
My response:
This is a bit of a cheat,
but I would want to observe the moon landing. This has the bonus of putting me
being in outer space, which is something I’ve always wanted to experience but
never had the opportunity. Unfortunately for me, molecular biology doesn’t
require extra-planetary field work.
The vacuum of space did
not plan for humans to be zipping through it, despite the enticing thought of
frictionless movement. The fragile little blue marble we splash around in like
a bowl of perfectly warmed porridge sits within a cold and hostile universe,
which clearly has no intention of allowing organic life to freely scuttle about
it. Yet, it couldn’t stop us landing on the moon.
Hundreds of years of human
ingenuity coming together, thousands of people, combining physics, orbital
mechanics and gravity with advances in engineering and materials science to
produce a stage-three liquid-propelled rocket and a lunar module, refined and
manufactured from materials which at one stage existed as part of a complex mix
beneath our feet we call ‘Earth’. The sheer audacity of the moon landing! That
is what I want to experience. We reconstructed and recycled particular
components that make up our home planet and turned it into something with
vision, with purpose and into something that is capable of transporting humans
by shooting propulsive fucking explosions out of one end. If you told ANYONE
who lived before the moon landing what would be achieved that day, they would
lock you up. It was a moment when science fiction became plausible and
tangible, and our mouths have been watering ever since. The promise of space
exploration was solidified after this moment; the dream that one day we will
forge a path amongst the stars. That moment we gained some ground against the
ever-redshifting, monolithic universe.
Just going there to stand
on the moon, it was an insignificant gesture really. It didn’t really help
anyone or solve any of society’s problems. It was just standing somewhere new.
Just to see if we could. Humans have been attempting to stand on something new
since before we moved out of Africa. But it wasn’t just that. It opened the
floodgates of inspiration, revitalising interest and passion for reaching out
to the titanic abyss; one of humanity’s greatest achievements.
There are many times I am
not proud of humanity, to be human. To see the things we do and realise I too
am capable of them and the actions of humanity also reflect upon me. But the
moon landing gives me hope that we can be better. The moon landing was humanity
at its absolute best. The culmination of many things gone right, only possible
in an advanced society. A great time for science and exploration where science
was the hero, but so were the people. The everyday taxpayer who helped fund the
project, contributed. On paper it was a waste of money and an infantile
competition. As you can see by these some-500 words, clearly it was not.
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