Society and Culture

As we leave our earthly home behind, the mindset of our intrepid explores will be challenged beyond any challenge faced before, and our ties to this world will be stretched to breaking as we contemplate a future elsewhere.

Earths cultures and societies are ill-equipped to serve us on interplanetary flight and living in a bottle on a hostile world. Although our intent is to colonize other worlds the realization of those dreams will require a fundamental change in our perception of us. We are humans of earth and as long as we see ourselves as such we will not be able to entirely accept the conditions of the new realities we strive to achieve.

The first colonists will be living a Spartan life of hard work and dedication. They must be prepared for long periods of isolation from their friends and families back on Earth as the luxury of having families with you will tax the resources without a suitable return on investment. The governments and corporations paying for the colony will probably not permit non productive persons to travel to the colony.

The lunar society and culture will evolve from the example set by the first colonists. This is true of any “field” crew on Earth working in an isolated environment such as the Arctic or Antarctic and will be true of the longer term planetary colonies.

Carrying our humanity to other worlds will hamper our development into a space fairing species as our history is a window on our nature. The way we treat each other, the inequalities and division we now experience can only be detrimental in the fragile environment of a new colony on a barren planet.

Reconditioning ourselves to become colonial beings with a single minded purpose can be accomplished through this fundamental change before travel. The change required includes becoming a single community of mind and purpose, the conditioning of human nature to tolerate a closed communal environment, along with a re-evaluation of the values and concepts of the human experience, and perceptions of self.

For these reasons, the society and culture of a permanent lunar base, must by necessity, leave behind the normal expectations we have on earth.

Money and its societal status must be left behind. Current governmental structures must be left behind. The importance of self worth and purpose must be redefined by personal accomplishments, not societal standing. The luxuries and lifestyles we enjoy on Earth will have no place in a lunar colony.

After millennia of trying to survive as a species and as an individual, the sum total of our human experience has engrained into us certain traits that serve this purpose well. Those very same traits and experiences do not serve us well in confinement as they are tuned to an earthly existence where we roam free within our environment.

Modification of traits such as the territorial imperative and territorial imperialism of the individual and state will be necessary to humans living in a bottle.

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