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The Overview Group
Presents:
The
Overview Institute Declaration Of Vision and Principles
At the National Space Society's International Space
Development Conference
Washington D.C., 3:00PM, Saturday May 31st
This
event is being produced by The World Space Center, a
public service project of MindSpace Multimedia, Inc.
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Astronauts,
scientists, cultural thought leaders to announce formation
of the Overview Institute
Experts Believe a View from Space May be Key
to Solving Problems Here on Earth
More than 20 renowned experts in the fields
of space, science, media, and humanitarian services have joined
forces to raise public awareness of the Overview Effect, a
term used to describe the experience astronauts have when
seeing Earth firsthand from outer space, and the resulting
sense of unification that is brought on by this unique perspective.
On May 31st, at the National Space Society’s annual conference
in Washington, D.C., these individuals, formally known as
The Overview Group, will issue a joint declaration calling
for the formation of an Overview Institute to promote awareness
of the Overview Effect. The potential cultural impact of the
Overview Effect is expected to become increasingly significant
as space tourism begins.
The presentation will take place at the Capital Hilton Hotel,
1001 16th Street NW, Washington, DC, in the Presidential Ballroom
at 3:00 PM. The media is invited to attend this pivotal event.
Contact Ian Murphy at ian.murphy@nss.org or (310) 689-6397
for media credentials for the conference.
The Overview Group includes: Dr. Edgar Mitchell (Apollo Astronaut,
sixth man on the moon), Dr. Barbara Marx Hubbard (author and
President of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution), Frank
White (author of the Overview Effect), Douglas Trumbull (Oscar
Award winning Special Effects Supervisor of 2001: A Space
Odyssey), Dan Curry (Emmy Award winning Visual Effects Supervisor
for Star Trek), and George Whitesides (Executive Director
of the National Space Society). A panel composed of several
Group members will make the presentation. The moderator will
be Keith Ferrell, former Editor of Omni Magazine.
Interviews with the Overview Group can be scheduled immediately
after the announcement. The media contact for this presentation
is David Beaver, 919-271-6605.
The Overview Effect is a phrase coined in the book of the
same name by space philosopher Frank White. In his book, White
conducted numerous interviews with astronauts who said that
from space the boundaries that divide nations on Earth cease
to exist, the frailty of the Earth’s atmosphere becomes evident,
and they experience a clear sense of the need for all of us
to come together to resolve our interpersonal conflicts and
protect the Earth’s environment.
Until now, astronauts have been the only people to gain this
illuminating perspective. The Overview Group sites two recent
advances in technology that will communicate this experience
to a greater number of people. The first is the advent of
space tourism, which will soon begin taking tens of thousands
of people into space giving them the opportunity to experience
the Overview Effect firsthand.
The second is the rapid maturation of HD digital media, 3-D
simulations and virtual reality. These new technologies will
soon give Earthbound audiences a taste of the space experience
and bring the Overview Effect to millions. The Overview Group
intends to promote the use of all forms of media and simulations
to foster a perceptual change in the public to that of a global
perspective. Their hope is that this will bring about positive
changes for the entire planet.
In his book, White writes, “The experience of the Earth as
a unified whole is a powerful one...not [just] to space fliers
alone, but to all of humanity. Now the question is, ‘How can
larger numbers of people get that message?’ There are two
ways...One is the transportation-oriented approach of taking
more people into space, which is what...the embryonic space
tourism industry propose[s] to do. The other is the communication-oriented
approach of replicating the experience in various forms, and
diffusing it around the planet.”
The event will feature an HD Earth and Space visualization
and a Q&A session with members of The Overview Group. The
Group is issuing an invitation to leaders in the areas of
Space, Cognitive Science, Media, and Humanitarian Services
to join the Overview Institute.
For more information, visit www.overviewinstitute.org
For conference information, visit www.isdc2008.org
| This
event is being produced by The World Space Center, a
public service project of MindSpace Multimedia, Inc.,
which
serves as a communication and resource portal for citizen
interest and involvement in space travel, with special
emphasis on how the expansion of society into space
will bring much needed global perspective and insight
into our Earth-based lives and culture. |
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The
Overview Institute
Declaration of Vision and Principles
A
Critical Time
We live at a critical moment in human history.
The challenges of climate change, food, water
and energy shortages as well as the increasing disparity
between the developed and developing nations are
testing our will to unite, while differences in
religions, cultures, and politics continue to keep
us apart. The creation of a “global village” through satellite
TV and the Internet is still struggling to connect
the world into one community.
At this critical moment, our greatest need
is for a global vision of planetary unity and purpose
for humanity as a whole.
The
Overview Effect
For more than four decades, astronauts from many cultures
and backgrounds have been telling us that, from
the perspective of Earth orbit and the Moon, they
have gained such a vision. There is even a common term for this experience:
“The Overview
Effect,” a phrase coined in the book of the same
name by space philosopher and writer Frank White.
It refers to the experience of seeing firsthand
the reality of the Earth in space, which is immediately
understood to be a tiny, fragile ball of life, hanging
in the void, shielded and nourished by a paper-thin
atmosphere. From space, the astronauts tell us, national
boundaries vanish, the conflicts that divide us
become less important and the need to create a planetary
society with the united will to protect this “pale
blue dot” becomes both obvious and imperative.
Even more so, many of them tell us that from
the Overview perspective, all of this seems imminently
achievable, if
only more people could have the experience!
Communicating
the Overview Effect
Thus far, this unifying Overview Effect has been experienced
by only a handful of space explorers, some 500 to
date. Moreover, it has proven quite difficult
for them to communicate more than just a portion
of this potentially revolutionary experience to
their listeners, despite their best efforts.
Recent advances in cognitive science strongly suggest
that these difficulties are directly related to
the limitations of conventional media in communicating
the rich and perspective altering experience of
space. We will work with leading researchers
as guides to the best media tools and strategies
to overcome this challenge to communicating the
Overview Effect.
Two
Recent Advances
Two recent advances are about to dramatically change
this limitation. The first is the advent of a commercial
space industry that will soon begin taking tens
of thousands of people into the near-space environment,
far enough to grasp some aspects of the Overview
Effect. Zero-gravity flights
will make this effect of space travel available
to many more. This is only the beginning of the historic
human evolution into space, and the resulting transformations
of human culture and consciousness as we become
a space-faring culture.
The second major advance is the rapid maturation of high-definition
digital media, from the internet-connected desktop
to three-dimensional simulation media and virtual
reality. These
new technologies, together with other forms of art,
media, entertainment and education will soon provide
new and more powerful tools to immerse Earthbound
audiences in a close approximation of the space
environment and potentially bring the Overview Effect
to many millions around the globe.
The
Current Marginalization of The Overview Effect
However, at this critical moment, the reality, significance,
and relevance of the Overview Effect to the current
problems facing humanity is seldom mentioned, and
its potential contribution is largely underestimated
and seldom promoted.
Because of this marginalization of the space
experience in world affairs:
•
The new commercial space access industry is largely
seen as the sole province of wealthy entrepreneurs
and space enthusiast millionaires.
• The
Overview Effect, while intuitively valid to many,
is often marginalized as a philosophical, metaphysical
or aesthetic epiphany, not the fundamental perspective-altering
experience that both astronauts and scientists suggest
that it is.
• Space
simulation art, media and entertainment are often
seen, even by some leaders of the new space movement,
to be merely marketing tools or entertainments rather
than necessary forms of pubic space awareness.
• Those
social leaders who are deeply concerned with the
critical issues of our time, such as the environment,
energy, international relations and many more, often
see the new space movement as a diversion of attention,
resources, and energy from solving those very problems,
rather than potentially one of the greatest tools
for galvanizing world support and the will for solving
them.
The Intention of the Overview Institute
For these reasons, the undersigned individuals, formally
known as The Overview Group, have come together
to create The Overview Institute with the purpose
of both researching and informing the world of the
reality, nature, and potential of the Overview Effect. We will also promote and support widespread
experience of it, through direct space travel, and
newer, more powerful and more publicly available
space art, multi-media and education. We will encourage artists, educators, entertainment
creators, and simulation media designers and technologists
to consider the rich potential of integrating the
Overview Effect into their work as well as the opportunity
to play a role in bringing space experiences to
the world. And, just as important, we will network with
world social leaders in all those areas most likely
to benefit from the Overview Effect, both directly
experienced and through space media.
An Announcement and an Invitation
We are making both an announcement and an invitation.
First, we are announcing today our intent
to form The Overview Institute as a nonprofit organization
(and that we will be seeking 501(C) (3) status)
in order to receive grants from foundations and
corporations. We
would ask for the support of members of both of
these sectors as we grow and develop The Institute.
We would also like to extend an invitation to leaders
in our four agenda areas of Space, Science, Media,
and the Humanitarian Services to join with us to
strengthen our expertise, global reach, and positive
effect in each of these fields.
Through these efforts, we declare our interdependence with one another, the planet as a whole, and the cosmos.
We close with a quote from the
philosopher Socrates, often repeated by supporters
of the Overview Effect:
“Humanity must
rise above the earth, to the top of the atmosphere
and beyond.
For only then
will we understand the world in which we live.”
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Authored and signed by the Overview Group
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Anousheh
Ansari
David Beaver
Dan Curry
Carter Emmart
Keith Ferrell
Roger Harris
Alex Howerton
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Barbara
Marx Hubbard
Ray Idaszak
Kevin Kelley
Jeff Krukin
Alan Ladwig
David McConville
Edgar Mitchell
Andrew Newberg |
Lonnie
Schorer
Mike Simmons
Doug Trumbull
Rick Tumlinson
Frank White
George Whitesides
Loretta Whitesides |
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For
a printable copy of the Declaration...
please click here
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POWERED BY
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A
view that many people will soon be seeing
firsthand! |
The
World Space Center
Citizen
access to space travel is soon to be a reality.
Although it may sound like pure science fiction,
a new space age is just around the corner. Commercial
space companies will begin offering space travel
to the general public soon - with the first commercial
hotel in orbit planned to open by 2010!
Despite major media coverage, though, few in the
general public are yet considering, let alone
preparing for, the dramatic changes private space
travel will have on our Earth-bound culture and
minds. Such changes will soon appear in business,
politics, jobs, entertainment and much more.
The World Space Center therefore announces its
formation in order to serve as a communication
and resource portal for citizen interest and involvement
in space travel. The Center will especially help
to explain how this epochal revolution will alter
life on Earth, with special emphasis on how the
expansion of society into space will bring much
needed global perspective and insight into our
Earth-based lives and culture. Many of these changes
will come from physical sources such as space-related
industry and jobs, and their effects on the economy,
media, fashion, and culture generally.
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“Humanity
must rise above the Earth, to the
top of the atmosphere and beyond,
for only then will we fully understand
the world in which we live ”
S
o c r a t e s
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However,
just possibly, the most powerful and immediate effect
will come from the kind of internal psychological,
intellectual, spiritual and even interpersonal effects
of the space experience as described by many of
the astronauts. Writer Frank White interviewed dozens
of astronauts, and in his book, The Overview Effect,
described the surprisingly profound effect of simply
seeing the whole Earth hanging in space while you
hang weightless in mid air.
Modern cognitive science suggests perceptual reasons
for this “overview” effect. Today, many leading
perception researchers see the imagery of vision
as internally created by the brain/mind by applying
models and paradigms, drawn from our sensory experience,
to the otherwise inherently ambiguous data of the
senses.
Without the appropriate underlying
mental models and paradigms, we might not see at
all. Significantly, the experience of space - weightlessness,
the enormous Earth hanging in the vastness of space,
and all the rest - have no precedent in our lives.
Thus, pictures and words of space, do not have internal
memory images to draw upon and thus do not communicate
as much as do images of things that we have actually
experienced. This creates “cognitive barriers” to
perception of the space experience through conventional
media. Not surprisingly, then, conventional space
"reporting” is lacking in substantial information
and presence. The overview effect, thus, is describing
the result of suddenly experiencing the reality
of that which we thought we had already learned
through words and pictures; that is, the reality
of the fact that we live on a gigantic ball hanging
in an infinite space.
The
World Space Center will act as a hub for the
emerging age of personal space travel. And,
specifically, the center will focus on the
use of advanced cognitively based simulation
media technologies and techniques (3-D, interactive
and VR media), to communicate something of
the reality of the astronauts” actual descriptions
and experiences.
| Our
goal is to connect the general public
with the imminent beginning of the second
space age, the age of personal space
travel and its effects on all our lives!
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Our
end goal is to overcome the “cognitive barriers”
and to convey much more of the space-based
overview effect to the majority of the population
(especially those who may never go
into space themselves) and to whet the appetite
of many who might otherwise never consider
going into space. That is, until they discover
space”s powerful cognitive effects. These
effects include the way that the intense and
positive impact of seeing the world from the
perspective of space will benefit the entire
culture through this new personal space age.
The World Space Center’s intent is to communicate
this message, not just to existing space enthusiasts,
but to the many thoughtful, intelligent people
who now see space travel as merely a challenging
diversion from "real world,” Earth-based,
issues. |
We
invite all those interested in this new space age
to join us!
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involved with the World Space Center 
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