• Apocalyptic – linear jump forward since this film depicts what many think space exploration will lead us to. This film could be considered pre or post apocalyptic depending on one’s own perception of the apocalypse (is it the end of the world as we know it or the necessity to learn to live in a different environment because of curiosity or need (i.e.: using up Earth’s natural resources).
• Evolutionary – could be a circle if we use the premise that the Earth’s resources are used up and we go another planets to harvest there. Could also be subtle, where our present systems adapt to living in space (alternative environment).
• Alternative –forked path (we could go in a number of directions in space exploration)

• Dimension of the future:

• Near future if we are not careful with our resources—most of the research points to the near future.

• Other relevant course objectives:

• Is the future written or being written?
• Is this movie designed to make us think about the present?

• Films, TV shows & books that depict life in space in the future: Jetsons: The Movie, The Flintstones Meet the Jetsons (time machine), Star Wars movie series, Star Trek movie and TV series, Lost in Space movie & series

• View film clip of Jetsons: The Movie –the Jetson family lives on the planet Earth in the 21^st Century. Things have certainly changed from the planet that we know.

• Projections of future technology – time scale is short in galactic terms. Colonization seems almost inevitable. It was only 100 years ago that people had never flown in an airplane. Now 500 million people fly each year.
• Need for colonization & research – O’Neill believes that our biosphere will not hold out, especially in light of the fact that we have nuclear weapons in large quantities.
• Using natural resources on Earth and in space

• 500 times the Earth’s surface can be used by merely breaking up the largest asteroid. People will live in gigantic cylinders, tori, spheres, etc., not on the surface. Settlements will produce "psuedo-gravity" by rotating. They will orbit, not be on a planet or moon.
• Earth and colonization would co-exist according to most of what I have read.

• Recap

• Space colonization is one alternative for life as we know it to survive. Man can adapt the alternatives of tomorrow to follow the path of today.
• We need to do something to assure our future.
• Do you think Space Colonization is a viable alternative to living on the Earth? Do you think we could develop or evolve into beings that could survive in a different environment?

Conway, McKinley. 1999. "The Great Cities of the Future." The Futurist (June-

July). Discusses urban cities of the future. Discusses optimum efficiency of water, transportation, social events, waste disposal, etc.

Knight, David C. 1977. Colonies in Orbit: The Coming Age of Human

Settlements in Space. New York: William Morrow and Co. A children’s book that asks "why" and answers that as well as how, who, and when.

Muir, Colette, ed. 1992. Ripley’s Believe It or Not!: Space Travel &

Colonies. Toronto: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, Inc. Children’s book

about space travel. Includes just a couple of pages about space colonies.

Oberg, Alcestis R. Spacefarers of the ’80’s and ‘90’s: The Next

Thousand People in Space. New York: Columbia University Press.

Describes many aspects of space travel and exploration including "The Astronaut Job" and "Living on Space Stations."

Oberg, James E. and Alcestis. 1986. Pioneering Space: Living on the Next

Frontier. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company. Chapters include information on Earth’s life cycle and how to survive on Space Stations.

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