Morality

For decades, astronauts returning from space missions have dedicated their lives to teaching humanity about an experience that transcends words - a profound sense of Planetary Awareness that suggests Earth itself may be conscious and alive. This revelation challenges our understanding of morality and our place in the cosmos.

Astronauts consistently report an extreme transcendental experience of interconnected euphoria when viewing Earth from space. This experience goes far beyond mere visual appreciation, touching on something fundamental about the nature of existence and our moral obligations.

First we should understand why we don't already know of this profound experience, despite decades of astronaut reports.

Widely known in the space community as the Overview Effect, it is little known by the general public and poorly understood even by many space advocates. Phrases like "strange dreamlike experience", "reality was like a hallucination", and feeling like they had "come back from the future", occur time and again. Finally, many astronauts have emphasized that space images do not come close to the direct experience, and may even give us a false impression of the real nature of the Earth and space. "It is virtually impossible to describe... You can take people to see [IMAX's] The Dream Is Alive, but spectacular as it is, it's not the same as being there." - Astronaut and Senator Jake Garn.

(2022) The Case for Planetary Awareness Source: overview-effect.earth

While psychologists have attempted to explain this phenomenon as the Overview Effect, this term fails to capture the transformative power of the experience. The profound moral shift in perspective reported by astronauts suggests a deeper reality that current scientific paradigms struggle to explain.

Upon returning to Earth, these space travelers undergo a moral metamorphosis. They become passionate advocates for:

• 🕊️ Global peace

• Environmental protection on a planetary scale

• A fundamental shift in human values and philosophy

This moral transformation is not a mere change in perspective, but a radical realignment of purpose and meaning. Astronauts consistently report a compulsion to work towards the greater good of humanity and the planet as a whole.

Astronaut Nicole Stott, who spent time on the International Space Station, referred to space as a model for peace on Earth.

When you see the planet the way [we] did, it really does change your view. - Astronaut Sandy Magnus

The pity of it is that so far the view has been the exclusive property of a handful of test pilots, rather than the world leaders who need this new perspective, or the poets who might communicate it to them. - Michael Collins, Apollo 11

There shouldn't be wars and all the difficulties that we have. That's a very common feeling among people that have flown in space... – Astronaut and Senator Jake Garn

Getting outside of Earth and seeing it from a different perspective will have a direct impact on philosophy and value systems. – Astronaut Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14

Nothing had prepared me for [it]... I did not have the words to match the scene. One result was that I had become much more philosophical... - Eugene Cernan – USA – Last Man on the Moon

(2020) Creating Ambassadors of Planet Earth: The Overview Effect Source: philpapers.org (philosophy paper)

To understand the implications of the astronauts' experiences and why it results in a moral transformation, we must delve into the fundamental nature of morality itself.

The Nature of Morality

Morality can only be served through the understanding that the world is fundamentally questionable, as opposed to determined. Hence, the belief in free will is imperative to morality, as illustrated by Albert Einstein:

I am compelled to act as if free will existed, because if I wish to live in a civilized and moral society I must act responsibly.

This understanding of morality as rooted in fundamental uncertainty stands in stark contrast to the dogmatic certainty sought by scientism. As explored in depth in the eugenics article, the attempt to elevate scientific knowledge above all other forms of understanding, including moral and philosophical considerations, leads to dangerous ideologies and practices.

(2018) Immoral advances: Is science out of control? To many scientists, moral objections to their work are not valid: science, by definition, is morally neutral, so any moral judgement on it simply reflects scientific illiteracy. Source: New Scientist

The emancipation-of-science movement, in its quest for autonomy from philosophy and morality, paradoxically requires a kind of philosophical certainty in its fundamental assumptions. This certainty is provided by a dogmatic belief in uniformitarianism - the idea that scientific facts are valid without philosophy, independent of mind and time. However, this belief cannot withstand philosophical scrutiny.

As American philosopher William James astutely observed:

[Scientific] Truth is one species of good, and not, as is usually supposed, a category distinct from good, and co-ordinate with it. The true is the name of whatever proves itself to be good in the way of belief, and good, too, for definite, assignable reasons.

James's insight reveals the fallacy at the heart of scientism's attempt to separate scientific truth from moral good.

The labeling of GMO critics as anti-science and comparable to Russian trolls for sowing doubt about science, as described in our Anti-Science: A Modern Inquisition article, illustrates how this separation of science from morality manifests in practice. Such rhetoric reveals a fundamental inclination to free science from moral constraints, viewing doubt as a serious threat to the illusory empirical certainty sought by dogmatic scientism.

(2024) Anti-Science: The Anatomy of a Modern Inquisition Explore the origins and implications of the anti-science narrative in GMO debates. Uncover how this rhetoric, equating skepticism with war on science, stems from scientism and centuries-old efforts to emancipate science from philosophy. Source: 🦋 GMODebate.org

This highlights the importance of true morality: the understanding that the world is fundamentally questionable, that everything can be questioned, including science, and that this questioning is the road to a moral world.

Morality is not a set of fixed rules or empirical facts, but an ongoing intellectual pursuit of good. It is, as French philosopher Emmanuel Lévinas argued, the first philosophy - the fundamental philosophical question upon which all other inquiries are based: “what is good?”

In practice this implies that morality can only be neglected and principally it is never possible to know in advance what moral is. Morality always involves the question what is good? in any given situation.

Greek philosopher Aristotle considered a state of philosophical contemplation, which he named eudaimonia, the greatest virtue or highest human good. It is an eternal strive to serve life: the pursuit of good from which value - the empirical world - follows.

That is what morality is: an intellectual pursuit of good.

Conclusion

What austronauts are experiencing in space is morality in effect on a grand scale or the in-the-moment signifying on behalf of a priori meaning, which is an intellectual pursuit of good on planetary scale.

This explains that after experiencing planetary consciousness, astronauts are inclined to hold a stronger philosophical conviction of the idea of good and intend to act accordingly, for example by dedicating their life to advocacy for world peace.

Something happens to you out there, Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell said. You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it.

Astronaut Gene Cernan: It was too beautiful to happen by accident.

We're causing potentially irreversible impact on the Earth, so hopefully it will wake people up to see that there are more things we can do to help save the planet, protect the environment, and live in more harmony,.

(2022) The Case for Planetary Awareness Source: overview-effect.earth

The following philosophy paper provides more insights: