Not only are we celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 flight but we also have just passed a major milestone on the current shuttle flight: the 500th human being has now flown into space.

Now, 500 people in nearly 50 years is not a great record: it's about 10 a year, on average. But consider how much impact space exploration in general and the view of the Earth from space and in space in particular have had on our understanding of ourselves and our place in the cosmos. Consider the impact of the technological "Overview Effect" in the form of satellites, which are knitting our world together in a near-seamless whole.

If the promise of commercial spaceflight proves itself to be real, and we begin to see hundreds and then thousands of people experiencing the Overview Effect directly, that will be a quantitative change that will eventually lead to a qualitative change, a revolution in consciousness, essentially.

Our colleague, Barbara Marx Hubbard, is beginning to focus her energies on the concept of a universal birthing process in which humanity begins to be a universal species. I think we're on the verge of seeing that happen.

What do you think?

Frank White