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Guest Spot: Jason Phillips

Guest Spot is a recurring post on Natetheworld. In it, I provide a guest writer a piece of media and ask them to write a response. This month, I am featuring a fraternity brother of mine. His ability to passionately question the world around us has always been an inspiration. 

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These are my ramblings.

-The technology used to acquire some of the images in the Wanderers Short Film, or at least images these renderings were based on, is amazing.  Many of the space suits (some including wings) and spacecrafts seem fantastical if not unattainable.  However, the Wright brothers’ first flight was at the turn of the last century and since then we have walked on the moon and landed a rover on Mars.

-Full pantries have allowed us to spend time on periphery subjects ranging from social media to space exploration. Wanderers are what we have become.  Curiosity and the cold war have fueled most of our space exploration to this point.  This short film speaks to the wanderer in us all; to our “grass is always greener” selves. The frightening juxtaposition to this is when we suddenly are exploring not for fun or financial gain, but out of necessity of life.

-I recently watched Interstellar with my wife and it sparked some discussion. 1st, it inspired us to take some Tylenol to relieve our brains from the headache the incredibly loud Nolan film gave us. 2nd, it started conversations about worm holes, black holes, the number of galaxies, the possibility we(humans) would live on another planet. It inspired us to look up to the sky.  If you haven’t had the pleasure to look up at night in rural Oklahoma during a new moon, you are really missing out. It is one of the most humbling experiences you can imagine. It helps me realize how little I know and how much we have to learn.       

-Another serious question, or line of questions, these works have brought up in me is – should we? Are humans responsible enough with our own planet to search for others to invade/discover/explore/colonize? Will population growth continue until we use up all of our resources? Or like a fish in a tank will we only grow to the point our habitat/habitats will allow?

-I am incredibly excited about the prospect of space exploration. I even follow @HubbleTelescope on Twitter. Nathan Box asked me to share my musings on this short film without that knowledge. I was humbled by the request. Then after watching the three minute film was incredibly humbled by my place in this universe. Nathan once said to me “Do what you can with your little piece of the planet and move on. “ I completely agree, no matter what planet he was referring to.