• Question: How do you think humans’ psychology would change if humans endeavoured on interplanetary/galactic adventures away from earth?

    Asked by RyanM on 13 Jun 2023.
    • Photo: Steph Acaster

      Steph Acaster answered on 13 Jun 2023:

      This sounds like it could be the start of “astropsychology” – an interesting area I’ve not really thought / read about yet.

      I think there’s a lot of factors to consider, and I think I should phrase my ideas about what could change as questions (because I don’t know for sure!)

      Identity – Would our understanding of ourselves as humans change?

      Social – Would we meet other species out in the universe to interact with? How would we communicate with those “back home”?

      Cognitive – How would we perceive time and space differently?

      Biological – How could being in space affect the brain and body, and what impact would that have on our thinking and behaviours? How would we survive long-distance travel, and would that (e.g. possible cryo/hyper sleep) impact how we understand consciousness?

      Mental health – Would space travellers feel isolated from their families on Earth? Would the scale of the universe make us feel less significant?

      Some things, like personality for example, might stay stable…but experience can affect how we develop….

      I really enjoyed this question Ryan, thanks for asking it!

    • Photo: Ashleigh Johnstone

      Ashleigh Johnstone answered on 13 Jun 2023:

      Oooh, this is a fascinating question! Steph’s provided some really cool ideas to think about.
      I’ve always thought it’d be fun to work at the European Space Agency to see how space travel could affect the way our brain functions. Imagine if you could do experiments looking at how your brain may change on a moon mission vs a mars mission vs somewhere even further away! And how would we cope with isolation or only being able to see the same crewmembers for (potentially) decades… so many questions! Really great to think about 🌌

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