Why is This Research Important

Archived GoFundMe update from IEEPI study

It’s perfectly reasonable to ask why this project is worth investing in. For this post, I’m going to put aside any interest you may have in me personally, and focus purely on two things: journeys in space, and the role of social sciences in space research.

It’s no secret that a second space race is happening. In July 2021, Richard Branson made headlines by making a commercial flight into space. Scarcely more than a week later, Jeffery Bezos did the same. These publicity stunts were meant to tell us two things: 1) that journeys into space are now firmly in the hands of private companies rather than government entities, and 2) that space tourism is on the horizon. Meanwhile, the governments of Japan, South Korea, Russia, India, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States are all looking to fly humans into space this year alone. Yet somehow, we don’t have much research at all on how these flights, short or long, change people’s perceptions of themselves and their relations to the world (and solar system) around them.

That brings me to my second point: the social sciences. It’s not entirely fair to say that the social sciences as a whole have been uninvolved with space travel. Astronauts are rigorously stress tested and psychologically challenged, their environments are constructed by ecologists, and numerous articles have been published on what materials make their way up to the International Space Station (such as religious icons, a curated library, a Christmas tree, and guerilla suit). We have well-documented interviews with astronauts describing the “overview effect”, that shift in perspective when an astronaut sees the entire planet at once from outer space. We also have accounts from cosmonauts that talk about a real feeling of alienation, of no longer being an earthling at all. There are even reams of journals dedicated to conceptualizing what humans will be like when they colonize other planets or space stations. Yet, there has never been an anthropological study of how journeys into space change how astronauts understand themselves. There is no scientific data on the impacts of these experiences on self-conceptualization or reconstruction.

Let me put this another way. Conceptually, an emergency is an event where normal rules and cultural norms are set aside in the wake of a bigger issue. When someone has a heart attack, passersby will form a queue to perform CPR, which involves aggressively compressing the patient’s chest, sealing their lips to the patient’s, and to breathing air into their lungs. Taboos about personal space, the eroticism of the kiss, and fear of airborne illnesses go out the window–this patient needs to be saved. When the COVID pandemic struck, the rules about showing up to work were quickly suspended, and we decided to work from home to keep each other and ourselves safe. In the aftermath of an emergency, we also tend to re-evaluate the rules that we have suspended, i.e. did we really need to be in a crowded office 40 hours a week? This, in turn, leads to a crisis, when we question what we prioritize and where we place our beliefs and value. You have likely heard of a crisis of faith, or an identity crisis. It is a pivotal turning point where what is real and what is known is called into question.

Now, imagine you are experiencing the extreme circumstances of leaving Earth. You are literally being alienated, not just from your friends, family, community, or even species, but your whole planet! How does that experience change you? How do you relate to other astronauts vs the people at home? How do you view the social structures of your home culture after experiencing that?

That is why this research is important–because we have no idea what that does to a person or to a group of people–and in the coming years, we will be sending exponentially more humans into space. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that this research is vital.