Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1493016
48 I-CONNECT007 I REAL TIME WITH... IPC APEX EXPO 2023 SHOW & TELL MAGAZINE certain technologies like fusion technology will become more realistic. Once we create a more sustainable human presence on the moon, we will see more technologies pop up simply because it's a new location with more available resources. We'll see gas stations on the moon, which I think will be really excit- ing, because then you can stop at the moon, gas up, and go even farther out into the solar system, which will make new planetary sci- ence missions possible. We'll see a lot more once NASA starts investing in the moon. Te: Will space tourism really happen? Yes, I think it will, and the more they do it, the more the price will come down, and the more people will want to do it. It's like computers. When they first came out, they were as large as a room, and could only be afforded by the ultra- wealthy. Right now, that's where space tourism is. The ultra-wealthy are the first customers, but as they do it more and more, they'll make the business model more efficient and bring the cost down for the rest of us. I'm hopeful it will happen, because I do hope to be able to afford a ticket into space one day. From what I've seen, there is enough interest in this industry to keep it going for a while. Not just about becoming an astronaut, but about seeing the view of our planet from beyond our atmosphere. From what I'm told, it's a life-changing experience. Nguyen: It's interesting to think about how much things can change in a lifetime. In the earlier 20th century, there were those who had lived long enough to see everything from the Wild West to computers. What are your thoughts on what our lifetimes could look like? I think we'll be able to see the first human on Mars. I think we will discover life outside of our planet. I don't know if that will be intel- ligent life, but I suspect we will find microbial life somewhere and that, in itself, will be such a philosophical game changer, because as soon as you discover microbial life or any life somewhere else, you have an n of two, you have one more data point, you know that life exists everywhere. A discovery like that would tell us we are no longer this special, unique case where every- thing went perfectly. Life would no longer be so uncommon, and if life can exist in multiple places here in our own solar system, it must exist in many places throughout the universe. What a weird mental shift that will be, to realize that we are no longer alone in the uni- verse. How will that impact cul- ture and religion and your own mental wellbeing? I don't know, but it's exciting. That's the biggest thing we will see in our lifetimes. Te: Is there a fear that not all life is friendly? That could be a big change as well. Whether we should signal our existence into the universe is a controver- sial question. Do we want other people to know our exact location? If there is life out there—intelligent life—why haven't they contacted us yet? Maybe they looked at our planet before intelligent life had evolved and then they moved on. When you're search- ing for life in the universe, you can't search everywhere all at once. You search one small portion of the universe; if you don't find any- thing, you move on. That's how we search, at least. A more humbling scenario is that they did look at us and saw the current life that exists here but came to the same conclusion: No intelligent life exists on the planet, so let's I do hope to be able to afford a ticket into space one day.