Here’s the full video recording of the Terasem Colloquium on July 20, 2026, themed “The early days of a better Spaceflight Revolution.”
This video is also on YouTube.
“As William Sims Bainbridge pointed out in his 1976 book, The Spaceflight Revolution: A Sociological Study,” said Arthur Clarke, “space travel is a technological mutation that should not really have arrived until the 21st century.”
Bainbridge’s book, written 50 years ago, is worth reading again. “Somewhere soon after the turn of the century there is the real possibility of a Second Spaceflight Revolution,” said Bainbridge in the last chapter.
July 20 is the anniversary of the first human landing on the surface of the Moon. All seems to indicate that we could see astronauts on the Moon again soon, perhaps before the end of this decade. Are we living in the early days of a new and perhaps better Spaceflight Revolution?
Two of the speakers were not able to join. Having only 5 speakers left more time for discussion, which makes me think that perhaps the best number of speakers for the 3-hours Terasem event is 4/5.
I opened the Colloquium with a short introduction, then gave the floor to Bill Bainbridge, who covered what is happening in spaceflight today as well as various science fictional expectations of our future in space as portrayed in today’s computer games.
Rebecca Lowe (who recently co-launched a Substack newsletter called Space Jam), gave a talk about cultural, philosophical, and policy-related aspects of spaceflight. She also covered property rights in space and, in reply to questions, the prospect of a militarization of space. Too bad there wasn’t time to discuss in more detail some of the points she raised about aliens, AIs, and Mind, but I hope to talk to Rebecca again soon.
Namrata Goswami gave a talk about Space Security and Defense. After a roundup of existing military applications of space technology, she zoomed on the defense value of the Moon and cislunar space, which she has covered in a recent article.
Angela Meyers focused on societies in space. What kind of social and governance systems are likely to follow us into space? What bad things should we leave behind? And what good things should we bring with us out there?
Robert Geraci presented his new book “Futureproofing Humanity” and talked about the transhumanist technologies that are beginning to shape our future, existential risks, the spiritual impulses that keep pushing us toward the stars, and spaceflight as a confluence of all that. He leans toward optimism, but with some caveats: we should do all that, he says, but better.
The Colloquium was a good celebration of July 20 - the Moon Day. We look forward to seeing new astronauts walking on the Moon soon!
We also published Terasem’s Journal of Personal Cyberconsciousness, Volume 14, Issue 1 – 2026. This issues includes articles by Bill Bainbridge, Angela Meyers, and myself. One of my articles is a review of Robert Geraci’s new book.
See here for a list of previous Terasem Colloquia, with full video recordings.
