The overview effect is a phenomenon seen among astronauts when they witness the raw beauty of the world from space.
This experience often makes them feel a deep need for peace, unity, and cooperation among all people-Edgar Mitchell(Apollo 14) once said:
“You develop an instant global consciousness…a people orientation…an intense dissatisfaction with the current state of the world.”
Astronauts don’t come back from space and automatically get the keys to the white house – but just seeing the Earth from space changes how they think. So why does it take a billion dollar trip to realise we’re all in this together?
Why do people feel more loyal to a flag than to the planet we all share?
We don’t need a rocket to see what astronauts see. Every time we scroll past a photo of Earth from space, or look at our planet from google maps, were reminded that its one big, shared world. There are no dotted lines or walls spanning thousands of miles visible. These borders, passports, flags – not to mention visas, could be called “useful” but their also powerful enough to divide us.
You hear it all the time “Go back to where you came from.” ,”You don’t belong here.” ,”Dirt doesn’t mix with snow.” But if you took all of humanity and placed it on the international space station, staring down at Earth, would those imaginary lines seem important?
Maybe its because its what we’ve always been taught, national pride, independence, patriotism – and with no doubt, nothing is wrong with them, but when it becomes a reason to divide, to declare superiority, to ignore peoples struggles just because they’re from the other side of the border, something feels wrong.
If countries like the United States, Germany, or France can secure the title of “World superpowers” they should act like superheros.
Instead they deport, they blame their own mistakes on struggling immigrants, they force already traumatized people to immigrate illegally, they put firm bans on the beliefs of minorities, calling them “immoral” while they themselves continue to support and fund atrocities around the world – it’s a never ending cycle of tyranny.
What if we started asking different questions?
What if the “world superpowers” started to act like superheros? What if school taught more about shared humanity than our national history? What if we valued being from Earth more than being from a country?
We may never get to see the world from up there, but what we can do, is change the way we think, beyond flags, nationalities, “us vs them”, because bad people can be found everywhere.
Borders may exist on maps. But in the sky, theres only one Earth. Maybe it’s time we started acting like it.
