The Big Picture

The other Moynihan, that is Dr. Thomas Moynihan, the philosopher with a specialty in extinction (Upcoming book: X-Risk, ‘How Humanity Discovered Its Extinction.’ Past article: a piece for Vice on megastructures in space) laid out the Big Picture at Parsons: Since the Enlightenment humanity has gradually awakened to the range of immense goodness and badness in possible outcomes for its future. This high-stakes worldview was borne out of the realization that value is made and therefore can be augmented or destroyed. Coupled with the growing belief that life in the universe is the exception and not an inevitability, as was once believed, this internalization of existential risk, argued Moynihan, makes the occupation of Earth by humanity one of the most consequential events in cosmic history and imbues all of humanity’s future actions with incalculable significance. Why the focus on space at a design school? To quote the about page of his host, the ‘New School Policy and Design for Outer Space’ (NS-PDOS), “because it’s fucking cool.”