I am truly awed with the announcement that the European Space Agency has finessed a washing machine sized lander on the ubiquitous Comet 67P/C.

Philae on Comet (retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30034060)

Philae on Comet (retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30034060)

 

That’s like driving a hole-in-one to a comet not much larger than an earth-sized 4 km golf course – but with a drive that is 6.4 billion km long and that takes 10 years to land on the green and roll into the hole.

Amazing!!

And it raises the bar (and lowers the par) for every survival “game” on Earth. The accomplishment takes me back to the last chapter of Integral City: Evolutionary Intelligences for the Human Hive. I said:

 The potential for expanding and exploring Integral City land-based lessons as they apply to human systems in … outer-atmosphere-based geographies remains largely untapped. What would happen if we brought together the … aerospace academies with the academies of city management

[and the sea]? What would happen if city CAOs, COOs and CFOs sat down with captains, chief engineers and cruise ship hotel managers (and even their equivalents in military or space commands)? What could we learn about solving the dilemmas of cities by appreciating solutions that have been developed under much less forgiving conditions for the sea and cosmosphere? (p. 261-262)

 The landing of Philae on Comet 67P/C in search of the origins of life in the universe and on this planet,  highlights the intelligence maps of Integral City and reminds us of these lessons:

  • Seeing the city [or system of interest like the comet] as a whole interconnected to other wholes reveals the emergent, evolving system.
  • Seeing systems reveals interconnections and non-linearity.
  • Non-linearity helps us to live with, prepare for and anticipate the unexpected.
  • Having muscles for the unexpected creates resilience.
  • Resilience means greater adaptability.
  • Greater adaptability means greater survivability.
  • Greater survivability means more joy, expansion, creativity, potential.

Landing Philae on the comet inspires us with what is possible when we keep in mind the whole universe is our cosmic and Kosmic guide to the future. Thank you European Space Agency for potentiating and potentizing the future!