T.
Oh no. Sound the alarms! Someone is trying to rebel against the Malaysian Government!
FBI OPEN UP.
Calm down... I'm not trying to rebel or anything. Seriously, I'm not.
Welcome back to another blog post folks, it's been a long while. Today, we're going to talk about a very niche topic, one that most of us won't even consider in our daily lives. And well, given what most of us go through on a daily basis, I don't blame you. So, let's get started.
Recently, Voyager 1, the farthest probe from Earth currently, piqued my interests. The story of Voyager 1 is a sad one, destined to roam the void endlessly until an alien being intercepts it or it runs out of power. Now, that scenario if an alien being intercepts it is the much more interesting part. On the Voyager Probe, there's a golden disc, which contains a wide array about things about humanity. Our history, our culture, our languages. To think that one day, when humanity eventually ends on Earth, the Voyager would be the last thing containing the memories of us existing is truly haunting.
The golden disc contains the recordings of everyone on Earth, no matter Chinese, Indian, American, Malay, Spanish, French, etc etc; their unique languages, and their warm greetings to the inhabitants of the void. There's also a remix on YouTube, titled "Children of the Earth". Which, is why we shouldn't call ourselves Malaysians, but much rather "Children of the Earth". Yes, I know, genius.
Think about it, right now we all differentiate each other through skin colour, languages, nationality, national borders, races, religions, etc. But, what if there comes a day where we no longer identify ourselves as 'Malaysians', or 'Americans' or 'French', but rather, 'Children of Planet Earth'. One global entity, one universal name to signify our existence, despite being a mere speck on the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy.
To reach a new peak in human history, the first thing we can do is to stop judging each other by appearances, by where we are born, by our social status or by our wealth. We, the Homo Sapiens, has won the game of survival of the fittest, where our close relatives- Neanderthals, Erectus, Habilis, just to name a few, lost. Shouldn't we take pride in this achievement? But right now, instead of working together to form a global community, we're just bickering at each other, playing cat and mouse games, threatening and taunting each other from either side of the globe with nuclear weapons destructive enough to turn the world into slag multiple times. Is that the true purpose of us existing, just to be obliterated by our own foolish sense of 'uniqueness'?
We, humans, are truly unique in the universe. Have we found another being that is us in the cosmos? Nope. Not a single speck of life that can be found anywhere else, so far. Sure, there's the Dark Forest Theory to be considered, but still, we should be thriving, we should be working together, we should achieve goals together.
To end my long blog post this week, allow me to share a fact with you. As we all know during the Cold War, one of the greatest achievements of humanity- Landing on the Moon, happened. It was achieved when the Apollo 11 mission succeeded in placing Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong as the first two people to be on the Moon, bringing these iconic words- 'that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind' to life. Celebrated worldwide, this very day, July 20th, marks the beginning of space exploration for us humankind. A joyous fact, indeed.
The Space Race was one of the more important parts of the Cold War, where the Soviets and the Americans fought to show domination. It helped shaped the world as it is, today.
But, looking back on history, what if something else happened? What if the Soviets and Americans were working together, attempting to send a human into space without the barriers of nationality blocking? The Americans had better computers which can calculate trigonometries better, while the Soviets had better rockets, able to fly more efficiently compared to the American rockets. What if they worked together?
On September 20th, 1963, President John F. Kennedy proposed a joint lunar expedition with the Soviets. Kennedy said: “In a field where the United States and the Soviet Union have a special capacity — space — there is room for new cooperation, for further joint efforts. I include among these possibilities,” he added, “a joint expedition to the moon.” Unfortunately for that time, the leader of the USSR, Nikita Khruschev, rejected the proposal.
What's even sadder is that President Nikita had second thoughts, according to his son, Sergei Khruschev. But, at that point, President JFK was assassinated, and Nikita did not trust the new president.
What if Nikita said yes? Think about it.
This has been a very long blog post, thanks for reading! See ya next time!
Cheers,
Chua.
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