Over the last decade or so, my husband and I have adopted the saying “we’ll never get to Alpha Centauri that way.” We pull it out in situations where we observe people being petty, distracted, mean, or otherwise acting against their own collective potential.
It wasn’t until recently, however, that I noticed that the idea of getting to Alpha Centauri had become an important theme in my life. It permeates my leadership philosophy, colors my interest in technology, and helps me to break big dreams into attainable goals over (sometimes large amounts of) time.
Getting to Alpha Centauri:
An Optimist’s Guide
Let me back up in case you have no idea what I’m talking about — Alpha Centauri is the nearest star system to our solar system. It’s actually made up of 3 stars. One of which, Proxima Centauri, is currently believed to have an Earth-like planet in orbit around it. When people say “Alpha Centauri” (or when I say it), unless they are astrophysicists or something, they’re referring to either the star system or Proxima Centauri. …And that’s about as much as you need to understand to make it through this piece, but the internet abounds with more information.
Generally, people like me feel it’s important to get to Alpha Centauri for a couple of high-level reasons:
- for scientific advancement and/or
- to expand the habitat of the human species.
Since those reasons are equally compelling to me, I also take the next logical leap so as to believe we (humans) have a lot of things to invent, design, and build so that we’re able to travel the 4+ light years to the Alpha Centauri system. Once we’re there, we’ll have more work to do — we’ll need to observe what the star system is like, build lives, and thrive as an outpost of humanity.
Given that challenge, and to simply sum up my philosophy — we get to Alpha Centauri by aiming high and including everyone… because we will need everyone to figure this out and make it happen.
What do you mean everyone?
I mean everyone.
Students. Adults. People with disabilities. Rural Creoles. People with criminal records. Annoying people. Sweet grandmas that can’t cook.
We need everyone to participate to the best of their abilities, in a way that makes them happy, keeps them healthy, and financially rewarded.
Experience is key.
As a psychologist in the technology industry, I’ve seen how intentional, inclusive, and (even) aspirational designs invite engagement. (That’s important because, don’t forget, we need to get everyone involved.) And the super AIs and cool gadgets from science fiction won’t just magically appear. Some of those engaged people will need to do the work of optimizing the usability and utility of the tools that facilitate everyday interactions, even when we’re underway.
The technology that we create and refine, needs to be inclusive of all types of people in all types of scenarios if it will support pushing us forward as a collective, as a society. We have to push the boundaries of what is comfortable, experiment with ideas, explore relationships, and apply scientific discoveries to build technology that’s in service of humanity realizing its dreams.
A philosophy as big as…
One of the things that makes this philosophy tough to live with and tough to explain is that it’s difficult to pin down. It makes me (and hopefully you) care about a lot of things…
- diversity
- technology
- usability
- reliability
- serviceability
- desirability
- accessibility
- affordability
…but as a Technologist, I can’t see any other way to be. Rarely is a technology built for it’s own sake. As such, I see this “Radically Inclusive” way of thinking as something that goes hand in hand with building good technology — the complexity and challenges of one can’t be solved without the other.
Guess what? It doesn’t matter if we make it to Alpha Centauri.
The idea is to aim VERY high and invent usable things to move us all forward. I am here to help others explicitly consider how to build technology rich experiences that contribute to our collective advancement versus exclusion, obliviousness, and/or acrimony.
And even though I grounded this idea in interstellar travel, something I’d personally like to happen, the core of this philosophy is not about me or the things I list. It’s about being audacious in pursuing the big dreams of humanity wherever they may lead. It’s about keeping people interested and motivated to work along the meandering path to technology that feels natural (and maybe magical). It’s about leaving the world better than you found it – and there are many many ways to do that.
Getting to Alpha Centauri is about being brave and determined enough to persevere as you meaningfully contribute to whatever future you can dream up that is inclusive of humanity.