BREAKOUT INTO SPACE

Reviewed 3/16/1997

Breakout into Space, by George Henry Elias

BREAKOUT INTO SPACE: Mission for a Generation
George Henry Elias
New York: William Morrow & Co., 1990

Rating:

3.0

Fair

ISBN 0-688-07703-X 213p. HC $16.95

When I read the Introduction to this book, I formed a negative opinion of its author. "George Henry Elias is a restless man," I said to myself. "He looks around him and he sees a settled world. This is not to his taste. Where are the frontiers?" I turned to the Appendix, and this view was reinforced. There, Elias notes that in 1988, 35 tourists paid up to thirty-five thousand dollars each to visit the South Pole for several hours. "Earth," he complains, "is no longer a place for men who are explorers and adventurers. When boys, young women, and tourists are recreating expeditions that once cost men their lives, we know that true exploration and adventure have ceased upon this planet." It seemed to me that here was a selfish, short-sighted tract exhorting mankind to give up on Earth and its problems and seek new fortunes beyond the sky — the sort of credo certain to induce apoplexy in certain people, like the woman with whom I've recently been "debating"1 on the Usenet sci.space.policy newsgroup.

However, on reading further, I learned that this was not fair to Elias. He is not some free-wheeling adventurer longing for the life of a privateer of yore. Rather, he feels himself a part of the most fortunate generation ever to have lived on Earth, the so-called "baby boomers" born after World War II. He describes this good fortune in eloquent terms in his first chapter. He is also a student of history and politics, and he sees America as the bright hope of a critical time. The Age of Exploration, an effort that lasted for centuries and largely shaped the American character, ran out of room just as the baby boomers were being born after World War II. Elias sees these people, who he calls the "gifted generation", as uniquely qualified to lead his "breakout into space". Their pioneer spirit and entrepreneurial expertise demand just this sort of challenge; Americans, he asserts, are not fitted for the intrigues and patience required by statecraft. As he says on page 180: "We can never act like Roman proconsuls, British colonial governors or Russian commissars. We need a public philosophy that recognizes our weaknesses as an international power and builds on our strengths in innovation and individualism." Equally important is the fact that we find ourselves faced with no outlet on Earth for these uniquely American energies and ambitions. His thesis that we need a physical frontier, and that the solar system is the logical choice, has a lot to recommend it.

The first two factors that formed his outlook, then, are the energy and ability possessed by the Gifted Generation, and the need to satisfy their ambition by physical expansion. The third factor seems to be a sense of guilt. At the end of Chapter 1, he describes the failures of the Gifted Generation. Chief among them is the failure to follow through on the dreams of the sixties; instead, he points out the decline in voting and the lack of GG political leaders2 as evidence that they have, in some sense, abdicated their responsibilities. Promoting the expansion into space offers a chance for redemption by contributing to the solution of Earth's many problems.

Elias has modeled his manifesto on the Port Huron Statement, a document produced by the nascent Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in 1962. He himself was probably a member of this organization. He does not say so explicitly, but I feel from reading his book that he was out on the barricades during the '60s, that he "walked the walk as well as talking the talk." All of this is admirable. Yet I cannot fully endorse Elias' views. He is well-read and has a fine grasp of historical trends. But his understanding of science and technology is weak, and he thus understates the difficulties and overstates the promises of space. Also, he apparently regards the presence of Native Americans as nothing more than an unfortunate impediment to European exploitation of the Americas, unworthy of mention now that it has been overcome. If this proves too harsh a judgement on my part, I will be delighted.

Of course, there are no "natives" to be considered as we expand into the solar system. But there may be primitive life forms, and we should proceed carefully until we know for sure. Elias, alas, already is sure. He quotes (selectively, IMHO) from scientific analyses of the likelihood that life exists elsewhere in the galaxy, and leaps from this to the conclusion that, although the Milky Way is filled with habitable planets, we are the only intelligent life. I find this a suspect outlook.3

Elias quotes from many sources. However, he does not number his endnotes. Instead, he gives a fragment of the quotation, usually two or three words, to identify it. The practical result of this is to make it much harder to locate citations for a given author. Although they are listed in alphabetical order for each chapter, the entries do not begin with their names, but with the quote fragments. Thus, you have to read the entire entry to find a name. This is a practice I have never seen before. I can only surmise that it must reduce the cost of publication. Desirable as that is, I hope I never see it again.

In sum, while I support the goal of human expansion into the solar system, and while I feel that Elias has written an eloquent work of advocacy for that goal, I find his analysis too simplistic and optimistic by far. Still, it is worth reading.

1 She decried the way humans have befouled the Earth, and responded to all attempts at dialogue with a derisive standard catch-phrase. Of course, she may have simply been trying to stir up trouble — a practice known on Usenet as trolling.
2 There's a contradiction here. If, as Elias asserts, Americans are uniquely unsuited for statecraft, why does he regret them not becoming political leaders?
3 See also my review of The Millennial Project.
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