Allen Steele is a science fiction author and journalist. He has written novels, short stories, and essays and been awarded a number of Hugos, Asimov's Readers, and Locus Awards. He’s known for his Coyote Trilogy and Arkwright. He is a former member of the Board of Directors and Board of Advisors for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He has also served as an advisor for the Space Frontier Foundation. In 2001, he testified before the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics of the U.S. House of Representatives in hearings regarding space exploration in the 21st century.

ALLEN STEELE

I'm really very glad. I was happy to see that within my lifetime that the prospects of not just Mars, but in fact interstellar space is being taken seriously. I've been at two conferences where we were talking about building the first starship within this century. One of my later books, Arkwright, is about such a project. I saw that Elon Musk is building Starship One, I wish him all the best. And I envy anybody who goes.

I wish I were a younger person and in better health. Somebody asked me some time ago, would you go to Mars? And I said, "I can't do it now. I've got a bum pancreas, and I'm 65 years old, and I'm not exactly the prime prospect for doing this. If you asked me 40 years ago would I go, I would have said: in a heartbeat!” I would gladly leave behind almost everything. I don't think I'd be glad about leaving my wife and family behind, but I'd be glad to go live on another planet, perhaps for the rest of my life, just for the chance to explore a new world, to be one of the settlers in a new world.

And I think this is something that's being taken seriously. And I think, yes, it is very possible. And this is what I was pointing out in Coyote, and tried to point out, is that we've got to be careful about how we do this. And we've got to be careful, particularly about the rationale of the people who are doing this. Coyote, the Project Starflight in that novel is the offshoot of an extreme right-wing government, and they're doing it for all the wrong reasons, for sheer imperial colonialism. They're going out there, initially in this spirit of conquest, almost like the old Spanish in the new world.

And then telling a little bit about what the novel is about for people who haven't read it. In the story, the starship The Alabama is hijacked by political dissidents who take the ship with its passengers, some of whom are going unwittingly, not knowing what's actually happened here. And many of them were completely unprepared for this. Instead of highly trained passengers, they've got other political dissidents, some of whom had no idea where they were going until they were actually aboard the ship. And these are the people who have to do this, but their motives at least are better or more sound than the motives of the people who planned the mission.

And I think that's going to be sort of a tightrope walk. I want very much for humankind to explore space. And I think we can do this, but I don't want us to be going there as conquerors. I wanted to go in there in a very responsible way. In fact, to learn the lessons that we should have learned from the exploration of our own world, and certainly not do some of the exploitive things that have been done.

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It bothers me that Elon Musk has lately taken a shift to the Far Right. I don't know why that is. But I'd love to be able to sit down and talk with him about these things and try to understand why he has done such a right thing, but for what seems to be wrong reasons. And why that's come about. Elon, if you're out there, give me a call.

Photo from a field trip to Pease Air Force Base in Portsmouth NH, now closed. Photo credit: Chuck Peterson

This interview was conducted by Mia Funk and Melannie Munoz with the participation of collaborating universities and students. Associate Interviews Producers on this episode were Sam Myers and Melannie Munoz.

The Creative Process is produced by Mia Funk. Additional production support by Sophie Garnier. Mia Funk is an artist, interviewer and founder of The Creative Process & One Planet Podcast (Conversations about Climate Change & Environmental Solutions).