Quality of Life, on Earth and Beyond
Space Renaissance International (SRI) is preparing for the 4th World Congress, scheduled for the first week of July 2026. We recognize the critical juncture in human history at which our congress will occur. A significant portion of the space community is waiting to hear our perspective on the current situation, and we feel the weight of that responsibility.
The present circumstances confirm our worst fears about a potential collapse of civilization and an irreversible global catastrophe[[1]]. SRI offers a viable alternative: Civilian Space Development. The challenge lies in effectively communicating this vision to the broader public and our decision-makers. Our voice remains insufficient for the task, but we are determined not to yield to criminal warmongers and anti-human sentiments.
Younger generations are particularly affected by the global crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic confined them to their homes, depriving them of vital social interactions and direct emotional experiences. Many students were forced to rely solely on online schooling, severely hindering their education and socialization. Rising nationalism and conflicts worldwide further complicate their ability to explore and develop their paths. Today, human culture often takes a backseat to the necessity of survival, as young people are encouraged to align with the most dominant figures within their national or ethnic groups.
SRI opposes the trend towards fragmentation. We believe that Human Intelligence (HI) exists across all borders and in all places, and it is the determining factor, far more important than Artificial Intelligence (AI). Our mission is to seek out and support the collective HI intelligence everywhere.
In our previous congresses, we analyzed civilization’s status regarding its survival and potential for development. However, mere survival isn’t enough. As Dante Alighieri wrote, “You were not made to live like brutes but to follow virtue and knowledge.”[[2]] A cultural dimension and quality of life are crucial for civilization’s survival. Yet, the ongoing global crisis, highlighted by wars in Ukraine and Gaza, is rapidly diminishing our quality of life, escalating the themes of militarization, and eroding civil rights, leading to a dangerous cultural decline. Honest, open-minded, and humanity-loving people cannot live peacefully and enjoy their lives, regardless of their social status and well-being, when thousands of human beings are being killed every day and their economies are being destroyed worldwide. Such a degraded status of our civilization is heavy depressing and hinders creativity and genuine entrepreneurship. I.e. the current pre-world-war-three status is causing an immanent halt to cultural evolution, if not a deep throw-back of culture tout-court. To summarize current circumstances in a single expression which synthesizes all the social, economic and environmental conditions: our quality of life is worsening, along with our perspectives of progress.
To reverse this trend, we must expand into outer space through collaborative and equitable segues. This shift in outlook could create new opportunities for sustainable development and eventually make resource wars obsolete. As articulated in our Space Renaissance Philosophical Manifesto[[3]], space offers viable solutions: it can create jobs, provide essential resources, foster global cooperation, enhance our understanding of the cosmos, and ultimately save humanity from extinction through the establishment of self-sufficient colonies on/around the Moon, Mars, and asteroids.
The legacy of the Gerard K. O’Neill’s space settlement concepts is of great relevance. The major benefits of large space habitats and vast construction programs in space were identified 50 years ago.
Such propositions offered to bring all of humanity up to a living standard now enjoyed only by the most fortunate, with the provision of high quality space habitats at a time when the world population is doubling every 35 years. We envision moving much of our manufacturing and energy technology off the surface of the Earth, using materials sourced from the Moon and asteroids, rather than continually mining the Earth and depleting her innate resources. The effects would be in protecting the biosphere from industrial pollution, and preventing overload of Earth’s heat balance. These process were described 30 years before we started worrying about global warming! And the search for clean, practical energy sources continues.
Also, in a long term view – as the material resources available from the Moon and asteroids can far outweigh those on the Earth, and the living space gained from the construction of large habitats can outstrip the global population increase – the expansionist space paradigm means that we will never run out of room. As a result, there will be no need for any nation to try claiming resources from others. The expansion of humanity into space can also prevent us from a new Middle-Age caused by the revival of religious or ideological radicalism, which tend to add fuel to the fire of economic and ethnic conflicts. Certainly in such a collaborative global scenario the threat of warfare should be greatly reduced.
At the SRI 2026 congress, our primary mission is to raise public awareness about the risks to our quality of life and advocate for accelerated civilian space development. We urge all sincere space humanists to contribute to this crucial goal.
This Call for Papers serves as both a conceptual framework and a call to action. We invite our friends, supporters, and partners to contemplate current challenges and propose ways to help humanity transcending its limits and start growing into outer space. While we welcome detailed technical projects and business plans, we aim to emphasize the political and philosophical aspects: What priorities should we promote? Why will these make a difference? How can we build grand coalitions to realize these projects?
While we will continue to support space exploration, we want to focus this congress on space development—industrialization and settlement—discussing solutions within the realms of space policy, science and philosophy.
Some statements proposed for this congress:
QUALITY OF LIFE NEEDS SPACE!
Quality of life is worsening, due to conflicts for survival in the closed world. In order to restart progressing, quality of life needs civilian development in outer space!
SUPPORT “HI” EVERYWHERE!
Rather than attempting to build a superhuman or an artificial brain to replace human brains, we prefer to travel the world in search of new Einsteins and Mozarts, knowing that poor children mey be genius, even though they could live in a slum and play soccer with a ball made of rags. We support innate Human Intelligence (HI). And we prefer to continue using AI software as a valuable tool to assist us in our work, rather than a method of replacing human acumen.
STOP DISTURBING GAIA WHILE SHE’S GIVING BIRTH, WITH ALL OF THESE BOMBS!
Will Gaia, the living planet, give birth under drones and bombs? A third world war would put at risk the possibility of a infant solar civilization. Though our priority is to open the high frontier in any way, we are speaking loud and clear: STOP ALL WARS! IMMEDIATE CEASE FIRE EVERYWHERE! Our mother Earth is giving birth: STOP DISTURBING HER, NOW!
MAKE SPACE AND LOVE, NOT WAR!
Let’s kick-off civilian space development before 2030! All peoples of planet Earth can unite their efforts, producing a clear and sound sign of hope and love for humanity: although imperfect, civilization is not to be trashed, it remains to be debugged and evolved, rapidly expanding into space!
WE SPEAK FOR THE SETTLERS!
Focus on principles/projects that would support a permanent, and ultimately autonomous / independent human presence in outer space.
LET’S MOVE FROM MERE SURVIVAL TO A TRUE RENAISSANCE!
The time has come to shift focus from mere survival to fast expansion, progress, and a renaissance of human civilization in space.
ver. 3.80 16.09.2025
[1] See the SRI 3rd World Congress 2021 Thesis “Thesis 1 – Status of Civilization and perspective of expansion into outer space”https://2021.spacerenaissance.space/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/PAPER-SRIC3-SCT-4.1.01-007.pdf
[2] “Fatti non foste a viver come bruti ma per seguir virtute e canoscenza” was written by Dante Alighieri in the Canto XXVI of the Divina Commedia
[3] https://spacerenaissance.space/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/The_Space_Renaissance_Manifesto.pdf
[4] Also referring to Maslow needs classification
[5] “Space: the Answer”, in the Space Renaissance Philosophical Manifesto, page 10 https://spacerenaissance.space/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/The_Space_Renaissance_Manifesto.pdf
[6] https://2021.spacerenaissance.space/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Final-Resolution-Final-approved.pdf