Starset Society Mission

-Carl Sagan

Technology is changing the way our world works. Changing how we see ourselves. Uprooting our belief systems. Disrupting our economies. Muddying our understanding of purpose and existence. Altering the fabric of our own genetic makeup.

And doing it all at an exponentially increasing rate.

And as the change accelerates, our own lives seem to be winding up as well—our screens filling our heads with sensational clutter and buzz, yet providing very little substance or reflection.

• “Where are we headed?”
• “What are we building towards?”
• “What sort of future do we want?”
• “What is our purpose?” “What are the pending benefits and consequences of this technological world we live in?”

As the world increases in complexity, the analysis and discussion of such questions seem only more diluted. Almost as if it were intended that way.

Thomas Jefferson once said, “An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people.” This fact is only more important in the ever-complicated present.

We believe that we are at a hypercritical point in history. There are far too many important questions being left unanswered with far too little conversation surrounding them. Like Thomas Jefferson, we firmly believe that the first step towards a rationally guided future is an informed public.

Therein lies the primary objective of The Starset Society—to shed light upon various emerging near-future technologies, investigating the potential and inevitable social, economic, political, and philosophical impacts thereof.

Currently, our focus is upon those technologies with the potential for the greatest shift in paradigm. These have been broadly organized into four categories—space, automation, brain, and body.

By implementing various public outreach programs, we intend to reach as many people as possible, presenting them with information about technology of both the present and future in a manner that is both entertaining and informative—the ultimate goal being to provide a launching pad for greater inquisition and conversation.

And if we don’t understand it—by we I mean the general public—then who is making all of the decisions about science and technology that are going to determine what kind of future our children live in? Just some members of congress? But there’s no more than a handful of members of congress with any background in science at all.

Carl Sagan

The Starset Society is always accepting new members to assist us in our mission.

thestarsetsociety@gmail.com