Posthuman Blues

I've begun to email the completed version of my "1,000 Years" essay to U.S. Senators. Thanks to Mars anomaly research veteran Vincent DiPietro of SPSR for the suggestion. A waste of time? Probably. But who knows...maybe a staffer will post a copy over the water cooler for laughs and someone will read it and find him/herself in basic agreement. That still doesn't necessarily change anything, but I hope it's a worthy exercise in meme dispersal. (I firmly suspect that the memes in question are already out there, in which case the essay might serve as a trigger. Humans aren't used to thinking in the long-term. Space colonization is effectively a forbidden subject, lumped alongside all manner of urban myth behind the military-industrial "laughter curtain.")

The letter, by the way, goes like this:

Dear Senator [name here],

I'm writing to urge you to envision our current geopolitical and environmental predicament in a cosmic context. The following essay is a brief synthesis of concerns shared by increasing numbers of citizens, as demonstrated by the outcry following the demise of the space shuttle Columbia. The United States is poised at a critical crossroads that spans present and future technologies, political philosophy, and our very understanding of time and space.

Thank you for your attention, and please let me know your feelings on this most decisive of subjects.

Sincerely,
Mac Tonnies