202501151828 Without the Earth we are all finished

Think a new thought, they sometimes tell themselves. The thoughts you have in orbit are so grandiose and old. Think a new one, a completely fresh unthought one.

But there are no new thoughts. They're just old thoughts born into new moments - and in these moments is the thought: without that earth we are all finished. We couldn't survive a second without its grace, we are sailors on a ship on a deep, dark unswimmable sea.¹

There is a strong environmentalist message among the ideas in Orbital. The obvious meaning of this quote is that we should care for our environment, our planet, mother Gaia because we can't survive as a species without it. We have a veritable Eden in the incomprehensibly immense sea of inhospitable space and we should recognize that and not squander it.

There is more to this quote though. It also touches on the desire of humanity to create novel, beautiful ideas, thoughts, creations. We have this desire, and the — possibly unique — ability to act on it. However, Harvey argues that there are no truly new thoughts or creations. I don't agree with this. These thoughts that she proclaims are "just old thoughts born into new moments" had to originate somewhere. Even if we agree that they just describe the underlying nature of reality, someone somewhere had to first articulate them. There are also obvious ways to think something entirely new by being hyper specific. I'm fairly certain no one else on earth has thought about writing the words I'm writing now at the exact date, time, and place that I'm writing them. I don't believe these are the kind of "grandiose and old" thoughts that Harvey is talking about though. The problem then becomes if it's possible to think new mundane thoughts, why would we not be able to think new grandiose thoughts; who decides whether thoughts are mundane or grandiose; what kinds of new thoughts are impossible to create? We see that the concept breaks down entirely.

On the other side in defense of Harvey's writing, I do believe that humanity has been concerned with similar concepts of truth, justice, art, beauty, etc. since time immemorial and that history repeats itself. I think that we do often find new ways to think about the same thoughts that people did in every age of history. I just don't think that this means we can't think new thoughts. In fact, I think each age should think the same thoughts and contribute in some small way to the passing of the age so that humanity can continue to exist and grow.