To the great mind reading this,

There is an interesting experiment I would like your help with: please google the phrase “map of the world.” Tell me, what do you see?

Here is what I saw:

Map of the World — first image on Google
"Map of the World" — first image on Google

There is something deeply troubling about these results. With the exception of the good editors at Wikipedia, it seems that the default map we like to present is one of ever-changing countries and the blobs and shapes they have laid claim to.

And yet, we recently saw a different image from the Orion spacecraft (part of the Artemis II mission) as it set out on its voyage to perform a flyby around the Moon. Of course, it is not the entire world, but just one side of it:

Hello World — NASA/Reid Wiseman
"Hello World" — NASA/Reid Wiseman. Taken with a Nikon D5 [1]

Check out the full resolution image: https://www.nasa.gov/image-detail/fd02_for-pao/

There are a lot of interesting things in one place: both auroras visible in one frame, the glare of the Sun breaking through in the bottom right, Africa like you have never seen it,and—Hold on, hold on! Africa? Where?

Let me help you with that one:

Still Hello World, but flipped and continents outlined
"Hello World" with a few minor edits

When you flip it, it becomes clearer. I even added a hint of those borders that humans like to draw so much. But I think you understand my point: the world is very different from what the maps would tell us. It is beautiful and has no lines drawn on it, for starters. And it is so draining to point this out to some humans, for they immediately demand that you clarify your exact political ideology. “Are you saying you are against borders?” they ask. Some are more direct, as if to accuse you: “Are you an anarchist? Did you even think this through?” And finally, some pass judgment: “You are just a foolish idealist. I would expect nothing better of a snail [2].”

For a moment, ignore all that. If history has shown us anything, it is that ideology and politics are transient properties of humankind. To the wider Universe, they are perhaps not even properties at all.

As the arrow of history moves forward, I like to imagine that humanity’s next chapter will see them exploring worlds for the sake of sharing knowledge and experiencing the Universe’s beauty. It sounds nicer than claiming blobs of landmass. After all, this photo looks so much better without some random lines drawn over it:

The Nearside of the Moon — NASA
"The Nearside of the Moon" — NASA

Though I may be a snail myself and have not traversed much of the world, the space within my inner mind is grand, and I can imagine many futures for humankind far better than the ones they seem to be heading toward. I do not think of them as dreams, though cynics would say they are. And they would tell you, dear reader, not to dream. To be a realist and to accept the grimness of the times. I can’t say I subscribe to that school of thought.

Dream on,

—Zuki

[1] camera spec provided by hannesfur on HackerNews.

[2] or some other group that they might identify you with.