The Real C.E.O. of “Space”

How thinking like God is the only way to use space

I almost stumbled and fell on the pavement before I reached the coffee shop, yards away from home. Despite being on familiar grounds, a pothole had materialised from nowhere, and tripped me up breathless.

“No space is sacred,” I tell my masked, but vaccinated, friend Vincent, who was meeting me after a long time, thanks to Covid-19 restrictions.

“Are you referring to Bezos and his famous quote?” he asked.

“That, and more.”

“Now, come on. I’m sure you had something else to say,” Vincent wisened up.

“Well, you know I’d like to think that space is not owned by anybody, and it should remain that way.”

“That’s being idealistic. People have become billionaires by selling precious real estate. Without space, they would not have reached such zany heights,” my pal reasoned.

“That’s the problem. They should not reach the stratosphere, and here they are going beyond that. Half the world’s wealth is owned by only 1% of the population,” I reasoned.

“So how would you solve this problem? Make space a free-for-all? Banish the billionaires, sell off their wealth and give it to the poor, and bridge the gap between the rich and the poor? Make Universal Basic Income a reality for everyone, income no bar?”

“Hmmm, I am trying to think like God, by not thinking, and just observing the world around me,” I begin, cryptically.

“That’s what Einstein said. How does it correlate to this space issue?”

I was impressed that my chartered accountant buddy had a scientific bent of mind and kept tabs on physicists too.

“By not reacting, and just listening to you.” I motion to the waiter to get us some mineral water, and two Cafe Lattes. “Look at what I ordered. Water is to quench our thirst, and coffee to give us a high five. Everything is based on the choices we make. The same logic works for what I am about to say.”

“I still don’t get it. Can you please explain,” my friend kicked back his chair, and stretched his legs. Curiosity would kill him if he didn’t hear my point of view. Being a number cruncher, his mind was numbed. That’s why he loved talking about things that took him far away from finance.

“We know that space is personal. Either you have it, or you don’t.” I began.

“Right, and the Bezos and Bransons of the world are going to inherit outer space as well,” my friend chimed in.

“Space is God. Imagine if God was protective of his space. Then we would not exist.”

“So what is god thinking?” my friend asked.

“He’s just observing his creations do their number. He is curious about how we exercise ‘free will’ and create our own reality. We embed our thoughts into our subconscious and decide to either be deprived or affluent. Or a mix of both. The cosmos listens and delivers.”

“But why,” asks my friend.

“Because God listens. If God were to control the space he governs, he would have shut us down many centuries ago for our unthinkable acts.”

“Are you saying that we should become God?”

“Yes, we should stop playing God and instead become God.”

“I still don’t get it, bro,” my friend was becoming restless now.

“We should give freedom a chance and not have physical boundaries, because space is freedom.”

“So what are you saying?”

“That God is the medium,” I said, sipping my Latte. “The medium is Planet Earth. And we are his message to the cosmos. That we have the free will to do what we want, and are responsible for the choices we make.”

“Okay, I get it. So you are saying that we should choose our path carefully,” my friend appeared pleased with his answer.

“Bang on! If we continue to usurp spaces, the entire cosmos will not be enough for human greed. Sharing is living. Live and let live.”

“I can only think of Mahatma Gandhi‘s famous quote: The future depends on what you do today,” my friend had his ‘eureka’ moment.

“But how will that happen?” asked my buddy, still puzzled.

“By thinking like God.”