I always wonder what happens to you psychologically when you see something like this. As one of the astronauts I mean.
Surely, once you've returned, nothing will be as it used to.
Surely, once you've returned, nothing will be as it used to.
You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, "Look at that, you son of a bitch."
I was toying with an idea of a site called "Get Some Perspective" where you'd start off with a FPS view and as you scroll you gradually zoom out, eventually to the whole observable universe. You could send this link to people if they're being short-sighted, callous, etc and hopefully instill a bit of the Overview effect in them...
The Vortex is now used as a torture and (in effect) killing device on the planet Frogstar B. The prospective victim of the TPV is placed within a small chamber wherein is displayed a model of the entire universe - together with a microscopic dot on a microscopic dot bearing the legend "you are here." The sense of perspective thereby conveyed destroys the victim's mind; it was stated that the TPV is the only known means of crushing a man's soul.
[0] https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Total_Perspective_Vortex
The entire universe is ENORMOUS and we are but tiny specks. But the same God who made all of that, made us, too. And that same God knows us by name and wants to have a relationship with us.
Be God's friend.