Recent news about private sector investments (SpaceX et al) and expeditions in the exploration or visitation of space - that beyond earthly matter - got me thinking. Uh Oh!
I know. It is far out - the thinking I mean. I was chatting (postprandial) with a friend of mine who is from an Asian gene pool with a spouse who arose out of the Caucasian branch of the sapiens tree. He is atheist and the wife Catholic.
The subject started out about what makes an animal a pet - why I did not see as many people walking their rooster as say people walking dogs - for that matter I had also not seen a cat on a leash. Strange I tell you. This conversation somehow morphed into what one (pet owner) does after the said entity (pet) is deceased. As in its remains. He opined that said remains usually are cremated. Some bury them in special cemeteries. From there we moved on to our species and on inquiring I learned that his side of the family has chosen cremation while the spouse tends to lean toward occupying shelf space under ground.
Well. I told him in India since living characters find it hard to park their behinds we are lucky to have been a religion that believes in firing up the barbie once all is said and done (cremation using flammable stuff like wood or energy like electricity).
But then I also got to think - hey what if space travel gets so cheap that we could simply sign up to eject our remains in a capsule out of earth's orbit. Entry into some other planet might lead to vaporization and perhaps a chance to visit another celestial body - to some it might even mean an express delivery to the creator - in an odd way. Of course just like FEDEX over snail mail there could be premium packages.
This theory then morphed on my drive home to basically include any crap we dont want (think no more landfills and stinks - Punekars and others might empathize here) and queue it up for ejection at your local blast off point. No polluting the planet with debris, fumes et al... just use a very efficient fuel source and send everything out.. Possible? or Crap?
I know. It is far out - the thinking I mean. I was chatting (postprandial) with a friend of mine who is from an Asian gene pool with a spouse who arose out of the Caucasian branch of the sapiens tree. He is atheist and the wife Catholic.
The subject started out about what makes an animal a pet - why I did not see as many people walking their rooster as say people walking dogs - for that matter I had also not seen a cat on a leash. Strange I tell you. This conversation somehow morphed into what one (pet owner) does after the said entity (pet) is deceased. As in its remains. He opined that said remains usually are cremated. Some bury them in special cemeteries. From there we moved on to our species and on inquiring I learned that his side of the family has chosen cremation while the spouse tends to lean toward occupying shelf space under ground.
Well. I told him in India since living characters find it hard to park their behinds we are lucky to have been a religion that believes in firing up the barbie once all is said and done (cremation using flammable stuff like wood or energy like electricity).
But then I also got to think - hey what if space travel gets so cheap that we could simply sign up to eject our remains in a capsule out of earth's orbit. Entry into some other planet might lead to vaporization and perhaps a chance to visit another celestial body - to some it might even mean an express delivery to the creator - in an odd way. Of course just like FEDEX over snail mail there could be premium packages.
This theory then morphed on my drive home to basically include any crap we dont want (think no more landfills and stinks - Punekars and others might empathize here) and queue it up for ejection at your local blast off point. No polluting the planet with debris, fumes et al... just use a very efficient fuel source and send everything out.. Possible? or Crap?
Thinking is bad for health. It should be offloaded to another planet, and we can live in peace..
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