In a Vimeo video by Planetary Collective called “Overview,” David Beaver, co-founder of the Overview Institute, recounts the sentiments from one of the astronauts on the Apollo mission: “When we originally went to the moon, our total focus was on the moon. We weren’t thinking about looking back at the Earth. But now that we’ve done it, that may well have been the most important reason we went.”
Seeing cameras turn around in a live feed of Earth for the first time — even for viewers at home — was absolutely life-changing. The iconic “Earthrise” image was snapped by astronaut Bill Anders.
Until that point, no human eyes had ever seen our blue marble from space.
“It was quite a shock, I don’t think any of us had any expectations about how it would give us such a different perspective. I think the focus had been: we’re going to the stars, we’re going to other planets,” author and philosopher David Loy said in the Planetary Collective video. “And suddenly we look back at ourselves and it seems to imply a new kind of self-awareness.”
predictingzepast: True story, the farther I am away from people, the more I like them too..
mwm424: Totally no selection bias… it’s not like they would take highly stable, self-actualized individuals or anything…
AUWarEagle82: I’ve never been much higher than 35,000 feet but I too have a strong desire for world peace.
I hope the club is bigger than the relatively few people who have orbited the earth.
dddcorpThai: Can we send all the world leaders in one batch over there?
AJ7861: In other words, people who see Earth from space realise countries are bullshit, borders aren’t real and we’re all from the same damn rock.
black_flag_4ever: But when I look at Google Earth I feel nothing.
Ammund: DMT and acid have a similar effect lol
GelatinousCubed: This is the origin for the philosophy of The Boss from Metal Gear Solid 3.
whiteyfresh: This is really cool 👍
BaronBifford: This is simply a result of awe. Psychologists have observed people feeling this sense of universal connection when looking at the Grand Canyon, skeletons of dinosaurs, mountain ranges, and tornadoes. Anything that inspires awe will inspire this feeling.
xaera: My name is earth,
and wen I see,
all the peeple
look bak at me,
I get them feelz,
like we all one –
we all go rownd.
Orbit the Sun.
4PianoOrchestra: Everyone says it’s similar to LSD, but of course it is, since once you get that high the government drugs you when you see the earth is flat
/s
BrokenEye3: *”Kinda makes you wanna…”*
*”… break into song?”*
IronicMetamodernism: I think the pale blue dot photo gives a similar effect, reminding us of our utter insignificance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_Blue_Dot
mfb-: We should get more people to space.
tiparium: Or just a desire to piss all over it.
torrim1: Sounds like we should send our politicians up there.
bizmarc85: Hopefully non get the ‘conquerer effect’. Seeing the whole world as a land to be brought under the rule of the mighty emperor of mankind.
TwisterWTF: My wife asked me what I would do if I hit the lottery.
The moon. I would go to fucking moon.
MrMo1: Good now let’s send every world leader in space.
haamfish: It should be mandatory for all world leaders to spend some time in space
imaginary_num6er: Object Class: Euclid, Cognitive hazard
verysadpuppys: Where is the gofundme page to send all world leaders to the ISS for a meeting?
Ramiel001: How about simply endeavoring to not being a selfish asshole? That’s how I did it.
NotA_PrettyGirl: TIL we need to shoot out politicians into outer space.
trkassmark: Can every world leader be forced to go to space upon taking office then
jholla_albologne: Hell, just closing your eyes and imagining it kind of does it.
masiakasaurus: Those who ever get the chance to see Earth (i.e. astronauts) are intelligent and educated to a point where they are no longer representative of the average human.
EggMcFlurry: you also get the same effect after watching star trek TNG.
dominusUmbrae: We should send all world leaders to space
peewypeabody: That’s why every world leader should do this at the start of their time.
Ms_Wibblington: There’s a good collection of quotes on the subject on [this](http://www.spacequotations.com/earth.html) page.
Outlander007: So basically the only option for world peace is shoot every human being on earth to space?
obiwan1134: My wife asked me what I would go to space.
Ehderr: I get this when I’m on the bus on a rainy day
soloroll: So, how do we get trump, theresa may and the like up there?
Teftell: So, we build a space station and move UN where?
MyNSFWside: *For here am I sitting in a tin can*
*Far above the world ….*
Blastoid84: I wish everyone could get this perspective, no where near possible but the outcome could potentially be world changing. That said getting everyone to see earth from space would be world changing.
Drakairious: Then it should be mandatory that everyone does so.
monkey2546: Maybe the next world leaders event needs to be held in space…
bob_mcd: This is a brilliant album inspired by the Overview Effect – https://open.spotify.com/album/4CeivFEUw7taWnsukO9HfD
kksmash3: So that’s what Elon Musk is trying to do, Universal Peace.
healthbearcare: Maybe the people who are in space are exceptional people that just want the best by risking their lives for research for the future of mankind?
I_just_hate_you_all: I feel like this is kind of a stretch, I know very very few people have ever gone to space and have seen earth from that view but how can you make that statement if it’s such a minuscule number of people have ever even been in space? Suddenly everyone will feel the same way they will if they went to space?
Omega_Haxors: I’m sure a fair bit of them would go “Wait, it’s NOT flat!?”
Then they would go home and make theories about how it’s still flat despite seeing the earth because no standard of evidence is enough for them and you need to PROVE that it’s not flat. (you can’t)
lostindanet: Drop acid, similar effect
stefantalpalaru: > human race
Today you’ll learn that it’s the human species and there are no races in it, due to genetic reasons: https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueReddit/comments/6f8w25/who_segregated_housing_the_federal_government/digsm0f/
JUNGL15T: MDMA is a much cheaper way to the same experience. Take some LSD with it and you’ll be able to see as well as experience the view.
supadupanerd: I will help pay for this Revelation to happen upon Donald Trump.
Keep in mind that the guy is a billionaire
eshemuta: On the other hand, most of the people who go to space are very well educated, well traveled and exposed to a wide variety of cultural experiences. So I would expect them to be rather open minded and lean towards this sort of feeling to begin with.
Never_Been_Missed: Let’s hope this also applies to any alien visitors we might have… 🙂
xxUsernameMichael: From the article:
>A company called World View is slated to start floating people to stratospheric heights in a balloon in 2016. And Virgin Galactic, despite recent road blocks, may eventually zip wealthy customers 62 miles above Earth for a view of a lifetime.
If I were wealthy enough to experience this, I would not go unless I also paid for another willing traveler who was unable to afford the trip. Not chosen by me, but at random, from the pool of humanity. It somehow seems like the right thing to do.
And, I’d hope that the “bring a stranger” thing became a tradition among all of those that went to experience the overview.
memclean: I get that when I do international travel over middle east
allertousapoil: Hope this work on aliens
spectrumero: However, this isn’t really a significant finding. You’re already selecting from people who will be generally exceptionally thoughtful – you’re not just sending random gangstas into space. I’m sure if you sent Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump for a trip to the ISS, they would be just as odious when they got back as when they went up.
Stoppabell: Kidnap Putin, Kim jong, Trump and the rest of the warmongers and blast them to the skies! We want worldpeace!
Ragan_aron123: Maybe we should send certain world leaders into orbit…and leave them there
kortvarsel: The first intergalactic war is already lost.
realclearmews: I wonder if it’s due to low oxygen.
Ignite-athon: Everything looks more peaceful from above. Especially at such a height as from space. When I would fly over Afghanistan, in a Blackhawk, everything seemed calm and serene. Landing always brought me back to reality.
OhTheHueManatee: Once space travel becomes somewhat common this effect will only be in people who everyone else refers to as “puts to much thought into stupid things.”
YossarianRex: TIL being elected president should come with a free trip to space
brik_haus1: It should be mandatory that every world leader see the Earth from space before taking a position of power.
Octosphere: Send the one percent up there indefinitely.
dankoreeeee: Just looking at a picture works
TeslaMust: Is there a way to replicate this experience in VR? maybe Universe sandbox or a similiar title that allows you to have an HD realistic image?
Lutheritus: What if you get a sense of “This should be mine to rule!” is that bad?
FapstoNat5s: James May from Top Gear represents this effect perfectly.
Subushie: Maybe we need to shoot Trump into a rocket out there.