Astrotopia: The Dangerous Religion of the Corporate Space Race
(eBook)

Grouping Information

Book Cover Information

Hoopla Extract Information

stdClass Object
(
    [year] => 2022
    [artist] => Mary-Jane Rubenstein
    [fiction] => 
    [coverImageUrl] => https://cover.hoopladigital.com/opr_9780226823171_270.jpeg
    [titleId] => 16971653
    [isbn] => 9780226823171
    [abridged] => 
    [language] => ENGLISH
    [profanity] => 
    [title] => Astrotopia
    [demo] => 
    [segments] => Array
        (
        )

    [children] => 
    [artists] => Array
        (
            [0] => stdClass Object
                (
                    [name] => Mary-Jane Rubenstein
                    [artistFormal] => Rubenstein, Mary-Jane
                    [relationship] => AUTHOR
                )

        )

    [genres] => Array
        (
            [0] => Philosophy
            [1] => Religion
            [2] => Religion & Science
            [3] => Religious
        )

    [price] => 2.35
    [id] => 16971653
    [edited] => 
    [kind] => EBOOK
    [active] => 1
    [upc] => 
    [synopsis] => A revealing look at the parallel mythologies behind the colonization of Earth and space-and a bold vision for a more equitable, responsible future both on and beyond our planet.

  

 As environmental, political, and public health crises multiply on Earth, we are also at the dawn of a new space race in which governments team up with celebrity billionaires to exploit the cosmos for human gain. The best-known of these pioneers are selling different visions of the future: while Elon Musk and SpaceX seek to establish a human presence on Mars, Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin work toward moving millions of earthlings into rotating near-Earth habitats. Despite these distinctions, these two billionaires share a core utopian project: the salvation of humanity through the exploitation of space.

  

 In Astrotopia, philosopher of science and religion Mary-Jane Rubenstein pulls back the curtain on the not-so-new myths these space barons are peddling, like growth without limit, energy without guilt, and salvation in a brand-new world. As Rubenstein reveals, we have already seen the destructive effects of this frontier zealotry in the centuries-long history of European colonialism. Much like the imperial project on Earth, this renewed effort to conquer space is presented as a religious calling: in the face of a coming apocalypse, some very wealthy messiahs are offering an other-worldly escape to a chosen few. But Rubenstein does more than expose the values of capitalist technoscience as the product of bad mythologies. She offers a vision of exploring space without reproducing the atrocities of earthly colonialism, encouraging us to find and even make stories that put cosmic caretaking over profiteering.
    [url] => https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/16971653
    [pa] => 
    [subtitle] => The Dangerous Religion of the Corporate Space Race
    [publisher] => The University of Chicago Press
    [purchaseModel] => INSTANT
)