Sparking the Movement for a Conscious Economy in Space.
“I saw things in their separateness, but experienced them in their unity.”
Captain Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 astronaut and 6th man to walk on the moon
~ describing the Overview Perspective as he returned to Earth ~
Our Vision
Space and the Overview Perspective meet Conscious Capital and Evolutionary Economics
We envision a space economy that prioritizes shared prosperity over maximized profitability, contributing to the regeneration of Life on Earth and respecting space beyond how it can serve us. As we continue expanding off planet, we envision cultivating an awareness of humanity’s responsibility for stewardship that matches our growing technological power and that can guide choices of unprecedented magnitude — one characterized by the embrace of ever-increasing inclusion and interdependence and based on a recognition of the causal nature of consciousness, where our individual consciousness is seen as part of a larger, shared information field connecting us to the rest of Life, providing opportunity for humanity to be in coherent communication with the intelligence of natural systems.
We see organizing for a space economy that optimizes the vitality of human creativity — personal and collective, subtle and material — with a growing reverence for the natural environments of Earth and space.
“With the privatization of space, as the goals of space exploration shift from humanitarian toward more commercial ambitions, the business of space can’t be left to ‘business as usual’, where the social and environmental costs of commercial activities are externalized to society. What do the concepts of ‘external’ and ‘society’ even mean in this context? Expanding responsibly into space will require an evolution of human systems linked to an expansion of human consciousness.” Claudia Welss, Founder of Conscious Space Economy
We stand for Stewardship, Coherence and the Conscious Evolution of the Earth/Space Ecosystem.
Economic behavior that prioritizes and protects the vitality of Life on Earth and in space.
An awareness of Earth as part of the innate coherence of the Universe, promoting activity that enables the whole to be greater than the sum of the parts.
A recognition that evolution is a contingency, not a guarantee, and that at this point in human history, owning unprecedented powers of both creation and destruction means our evolution will proceed by choice, not by chance.
Building a conscious space economy that will foster a more conscious economy on Earth.
Our Approach
Field Formation and Foundation Building to call this new field of inquiry and endeavor into being.
We want to learn from our collective past and be brave enough to create something NEW — a conscious space economy, guided by a new economic paradigm appropriate for a space-faring civilization in the 21st century. By getting out ahead of the extension of unconscious “business as usual” practices driven by prioritizing profit, competition and fear-based values, we have an opportunity to become stewards rather than “conquerors” and co-creators rather than “colonizers.”
We’re starting by activating some of the best thought leaders in related fields to help call in this new field of inquiry and endeavor. Through the synergy of individual expertise, group intelligence and evolutionary methods, we’ll identify key ways to help the emergent space community and others recognize and act on the need for building a conscious space economy. We’ll form the field by:
Mining diverse thought to surface new patterns of shared meaning at the edges of the known and unknown.
Structuring new knowledge that’s useful, accessible, broadly transmissible and easily actionable to support a field of practice.
Partnering with The Human Space Program and others to coordinate efforts in cultivating new economic paradigms to support the vitality and sustainability of a space migration blueprint.
Inspiring a movement, attracting a grassroots swell of interest and commitment that’s capable of having impact before a single law is written.
By questioning the appropriateness of (often unconscious) beliefs, values, assumptions and practices that the old economic paradigm is based on — and considering the benefits of not exporting that old paradigm into space — we can invite the emergence of the evolutionary.
Together, we’re envisioning the field and co-creating the foundation for a Conscious Space Economy. EVERYONE IS A STAKEHOLDER in what happens next in space.
“Wealth is our organized capability to cope effectively with the environment in sustaining our healthy regeneration and decreasing both the physical and metaphysical restrictions of the forward days of our lives.”
Buckminster Fuller, Spaceship Earth
Conscious. Space. Economy.
Conscious
Our understanding of being human is evolving. As we expand into space, the Overview Perspective — named for the shift in awareness from one based on fundamental separation to fundamental unity that’s experienced by 2/3’s of astronauts when they see Earth from the lens of space — is a bellweather for our species. How will going to space change us?
Space
Our understanding of space is evolving. While we seek to understand the fabric of the universe and become a multi-planetary species, what will guide how we perceive and behave toward all we encounter? How will we resolve the tensions between preservation and creation, exploration and exploitation? How will going to space change space?
Economy
Our understanding of economic systems is evolving. Social systems reflect the awareness held by those creating and perpetuating them. There’s a growing recognition that to meet the demands of 21st century potential realities, we need to radically reimagine the social systems that have held sway from centuries past. How will going to space change “the nature and causes of wealth” — and our economic behavior — both on and off planet?
“Essentially what we see in human evolution is that as the self-identity boundary expands, then the love itself … expands with the boundary.”
Integral Philosopher, Ken Wilber
“Agape Love is the organizing principle of the entire universe.”
Apollo 14 Captain, Edgar Mitchell
Explore
Curated and original resources to help us envision and co-create a Conscious Space Economy.
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People & organizations behind CSE
Founding Conveners
Our collective journeys have inspired us to catalyze and
hold space for a Conscious Space Economy movement.
“When we have this very high energy of coherence, it might bring us beyond just being a group that could solve social problems. Possibly it could make a new change in the individual and a change in the relation to the cosmic.”
— Physicist David Bohm, On Dialogue
Ari Eisenstat, Space Policy Ari is a serial social entrepreneur, investor, and creative who has led innovation across hedge funds, think tanks, nonprofits, sustainable agriculture, creative incubators, educational organizations, venture capital funds, and art technology. He is a founding member of several philanthropic initiatives that support creative technology, social innovation, and sustainable development. His presentations on Sustainable Development, Venture Capital, Impact Investing, and Social Entrepreneurship have been featured around the world. At 29 years old, Ari became the Co-Executive Director of the UN Global Sustainability Index Institute, an independent foundation mandated to measure and accelerate capital for the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Through education, investment, and a comprehensive index, UNGSII, empowers stakeholders from all sectors to achieve the global goals. Ari is co-founder of a brain trust supporting the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA).
Andy Ayrey, CSE Design and Tech Andy is a designer and technology strategist working to multiply the impact of purpose driven ventures. Bringing a life-long obsession for space, community, and complex systems and over a decade of experience in early-stage ventures, Andy is helping build out the website, brand and online systems that hold our community. Learn more.
Claudia Welss, CSE Founder Claudia’s a pioneer in bridging practical consciousness research with social and technological innovations to accelerate paradigmatic change. She serves as Chairman of the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), a scientific research nonprofit founded by Apollo 14 astronaut Captain Ed Mitchell, where she explores the transformational potential of the Overview Effect and collective consciousness, and is lead citizen scientist for the emerging Global Consciousness Project2.0/Global Coherence Initiative. Claudia first conceived of a conscious space economy while attending the 2011 100-Year Starship launch study convened by NASA. She’s on the board of Space for Humanity, an advisor to The Human Space Program, and contributes to a brain trust supporting the UN Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) as a NEXUS Global network leader. Claudia is a founding member of Future Capital and was director of a University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business development center to bring CSR (ESG) curriculum into strategy programs for global corporations. She’s contributing author to the 2020 award-winning anthology, Our Moment of Choice. Learn more.
David Sloan Wilson, New Economy. David has made fundamental contributions to evolutionary theory and its applications to human affairs. He spent his academic career as SUNY Distinguished Professor of Biology and Anthropology at Binghamton University and now presides over Prosocial World, whose mission is highly consilient with CSE. David is at the vanguard of rethinking economics from a conscious cultural evolution perspective, including a collaboration with the Nobel laureate Elinor Ostrom, who showed how groups on Earth can self-manage their resources and avoid the "tragedy of the commons". The same principles are highly relevant to the whole Earth and Space as a commons. In addition to his academic work, David writes for a general audience in books such as This View of Life: Completing the Darwinian Revolution and his first novel, Atlas Hugged. He is proud to join the CSE team at an early stage of its development.
Frank White, Space Philosophy Frank White’s Theory of the Overview Effect has helped provide astronauts with concepts and language to articulate the profound cognitive shift they experience when viewing Earth from space. His book, The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution is considered to be a seminal work in the field of space philosophy and exploration, making him one of the most influential space philosophers of our time.
Jared Angaza, CSE Strategist Over the past 20 years, Jared has leveraged the studies of behavioral economics, cognitive science, consciousness, and culture to help people understand their greatest value and authentic identity. He is a founding contributor to the Human Space Program and a longtime advocate of Frank White’s Theory of The Overview Effect. He serves as the Strategist for some of the most influential commercial and nonprofit space ventures in the conscious space exploration movement. Learn more.
Lawrence Ford, Conscious Capital Lawrence Ford is the Founder and CEO of Conscious Capital Wealth Management, the Founder and Chairman of Future Capital in partnership with the United Nations, a fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science, and the Author of The Secrets of the Seasons. He was dubbed the “Shaman of Wall Street” by the Washington Post and The Economist Magazine referred to Lawrence as a “Man of Two Worlds.” NPR named him “The Finance Guru” and the Retirement Income Journal dubbed him “The Spiritual Advisor”. He has dedicated much of his life to being a bridge between the modern world of business and the ancient world of wisdom and the nexus of consciousness and capital. Learn more
MaryLiz Bender, Cosmic Perspective MaryLiz is a Futurist Composer and Experiential Storyteller, passionate about designing transformative experiences on Earth and in space. Driven by bright visions of the future and inspired by the fact that we “protect what we love,” she uses her art to help humans fall in love with life and the pursuit of meaning. Having persevered through poverty, homelessness, addiction, and depression, MaryLiz has directly experienced the powerful healing of the Cosmic Perspective. This is her personal mission to pay it forward and heal the world.
Myrna James, Space Media Myrna James is a Champion for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence (AI), connecting experts with important projects so we can be future-ready. She is a biz dev and communications consultant for geospatial and weather data, primarily as they relate to AI. She interprets complex innovations for broader audiences, in effect democratizing the understanding of emerging technologies such as quantum computing, blockchain, and AI. In addition to publishing nine books, for 18 years her company has owned and published Apogeo Spatial, a magazine about using data from space to study Earth for the sake of humanity. Myrna is fascinated with consciousness and how the health of humans is directly related to and dependent upon our connection to Earth as a sacred living system. She is a Strategic Advisor for Geoversity, a nonprofit nature preserve in Panama, and Co-founder of the Geoversity School for Biocultural Leadership, launching Geo2030, a 10-year conscious leadership campaign for global climate action and the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals. The inaugural project is the building of a Bamboo Ark at COP 26, the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in Nov. 2021.
Partners
Organizational Partners supporting the vision for a Conscious Space Economy
