SPACE meets
CONSCIOUS CAPITAL meets
the
OVERVIEW PERSPECTIVE
“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
“[From space] I saw things in their separateness, but experienced them in their unity.”
— Apollo 14 astronaut and 6th man to walk on the moon, Captain Edgar Mitchell, describing the Overview Perspective
“With the privatization of space, as the goal of space exploration shifts from humanitarian toward more commercial ambitions, the business of space can’t be left to ‘business as usual,’ where social and environmental costs are externalized to society. What do the concepts of ‘external’ and ‘society’ even mean in space?”
Claudia Welss, Founder of Conscious Space Economy
Our vision for the future
We envision a space economy that prioritizes Prosperity over Profit, the positive evolution of human culture and Life on Earth, and respect for space. As we continue expanding off planet, we envision prioritizing a conscious awareness of humanity that can match our growing technological power and that can guide choices of unprecedented magnitude — an awareness characterized by a recognition of the Oneness of all Life, of the mandate of inclusion and interdependence, and of the universal organizing power of Love that connects us all to the natural flow of universal intelligence and resilient life force. We see organizing for a universal culture that balances the vitality of humanity — personal and collective, subtle and material — with a reverence for the natural environments of Earth and space.
We stand for Stewardship, Coherence and a Conscious Evolution.
Economic behavior that prioritizes the vitality of Life on Earth and in the natural space environment.
A coherence that enables the whole to be greater than the sum of the parts.
A recognition that evolution is a contingency, not a guarantee: at this point in human history, owning the powers of both creation and destruction, our evolution will proceed by choice, not by chance.
Building a space economy consciously AND building a space economy that promotes more conscious behavior on Earth.
Our approach
Calling into being a new field of inquiry and endeavor.
We want to learn from our past and be brave enough to create a conscious economy in space, guided by an economic system appropriate for a space-faring civilization in the 21st century. By getting out ahead of perpetuating a “business as usual” perspective driven by profit, competition, and fear-based values, we have an opportunity to become stewards rather than conquerors and co-creators rather than colonizers.
We’re activating some of the best thought leaders in their fields to help call this new field of inquiry and endeavor into being by contemplating and sharing the “whats, whys, hows and whens” of building a conscious space economy. We hope that through establishing this new field we can create a grassroots swell of interest and help organize a movement that can create societal change even without changing a single law. By questioning the appropriateness of the beliefs, values and assumptions that the old economic paradigm is based on, we can invite the emergence of the new.
Together, we are envisioning and co-creating a foundation for a Conscious Space Economy. EVERYONE IS A STAKEHOLDER in what happens next in space.
“Agape Love is the organizing principle of the entire universe.”
— Apollo 14 Captain Edgar Mitchell
“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
Conscious Space Economy
Conscious.
Our understanding of humanity 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?
Photo by Alexander Andrews on Unsplash
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 we change space?
Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash
Economy.
Our economic systems must evolve, too. Social systems reflect the awareness held by those creating and perpetuating them. There’s a growing recognition that 20th century social systems must be radically reimagined to meet the demands of 21st century realities. How will our expansion into space change “the nature and causes of wealth” — even the definition of wealth — both on and off planet?
“.. 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
Explore
Curated and original resources to help us envision and co-create a Conscious Space Economy.
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People and organizations behind CSE
Conveners
Our collective journeys have inspired us to catalyze and hold space for a Conscious Space Economy movement.
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 is a citizen scientist, funder and pioneer in bridging practical consciousness research with social and technological innovations to accelerate humanity's evolution. She contributes to a brain trust supporting the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) on space and the UN Sustainability Goals (SDGs), is on the board of Space for Humanity, and is a NEXUS Global leader. Claudia serves as Chairman of the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) and contributes on the core teams of some of the world’s most influential and innovative movements for raising consciousness and coherence. She first heard of the emerging space economy while representing the Foundation for Conscious Evolution at the 100-Year Starship Launch study in 2011 convened by NASA. Previously Claudia was director of executive development programs at University of California, Berkeley working to bring CSR curriculum to global corporations. 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 hum as “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.
Rachel Lyons, Space for Humanity.
