67
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. Spagnulo, The Geopolitics of Space Exploration, Springer Praxis Books,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69125-7_7
7
Technopolitics of Space Between History
and Realpolitik
“Study the past, if you would define the future”.
Confucius
Nobody can predict the future. Bookstores are full of texts explaining how humankind will live on the Moon or on Mars in 20 or 30 years, but for the most part, the
authors get it wrong time and again. Of course there are exceptions; in science,
politics or economics, there have been some visionary people with a broad intellectual perspective who can anticipate what may happen, who have realistically
imagined the evolution of society. However, as said, these are rare exceptions.
Jules Verne, creator of the literary genre named Romans de la Science – a sort
of precursor of modern science fiction – wrote in 1863 a short book called Paris
au XX
e
siècle.
1
In the book, he imagined life the twentieth century in the French
capital. He described a future where morality was subjugated by the rules of the
economy, and despite the revolution propelled by incredible technological
advancements like new hydrogen fuels, people lived gloomy and impersonal existences in glass skyscrapers, moved on elevated rails aboard autonomous vehicles
and communicating through ubiquitous wireless networks. During his lifetime,
Verne retained close contact with scientists and academics from which he got
inspiration, and in this remarkable dystopic book, he grasped many aspects of the
future that would later become reality.
In 1865, Verne wrote his best-known novel From Earth to the Moon, in which
he described a space mission incredibly similar to NASA’s lunar endeavour of the
next century. He imagined that three explorers were launched into space from
1
Verne, Jules. 1994. « Paris au XXe siècle », Hachette en coédition avec Le Cherche Midi.
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. Spagnulo, The Geopolitics of Space Exploration, Springer Praxis Books,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69125-7_7
7
Technopolitics of Space Between History
and Realpolitik
“Study the past, if you would define the future”.
Confucius
Nobody can predict the future. Bookstores are full of texts explaining how humankind will live on the Moon or on Mars in 20 or 30 years, but for the most part, the
authors get it wrong time and again. Of course there are exceptions; in science,
politics or economics, there have been some visionary people with a broad intellectual perspective who can anticipate what may happen, who have realistically
imagined the evolution of society. However, as said, these are rare exceptions.
Jules Verne, creator of the literary genre named Romans de la Science – a sort
of precursor of modern science fiction – wrote in 1863 a short book called Paris
au XX
e
siècle.
1
In the book, he imagined life the twentieth century in the French
capital. He described a future where morality was subjugated by the rules of the
economy, and despite the revolution propelled by incredible technological
advancements like new hydrogen fuels, people lived gloomy and impersonal existences in glass skyscrapers, moved on elevated rails aboard autonomous vehicles
and communicating through ubiquitous wireless networks. During his lifetime,
Verne retained close contact with scientists and academics from which he got
inspiration, and in this remarkable dystopic book, he grasped many aspects of the
future that would later become reality.
In 1865, Verne wrote his best-known novel From Earth to the Moon, in which
he described a space mission incredibly similar to NASA’s lunar endeavour of the
next century. He imagined that three explorers were launched into space from
1
Verne, Jules. 1994. « Paris au XXe siècle », Hachette en coédition avec Le Cherche Midi.