Alexander MacDonald: How centuries of sci-fi sparked spaceflight
アレクサンダー・マクドナルド: 空想科学小説は何世紀にもわたって私たちを月にいざなった
TED Senior Fellow Alexander MacDonald develops strategies to advance space exploration and encourage private-sector space activities. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
because I think we need to remember
私たちが互いに語る物語がときに
we tell each other
or entertainment or narratives.
知っておくべきだと思うからです
and ideas across our societies
着想やアイデアの種を届けるための
technological achievements
ある技術的成果において
transformations yet to come might also.
いかに物語が起源になりえるかです
of the recent Dutch invention
オランダの新発明のことを知りました
and put them in a long tube
2つ取り付けた道具を使うと
farther than ever before.
his new telescope to the heavens
"Sidereus Nuncius," published in 1610.
ガリレオの著作『星界の報告』の一部です
what he had discovered.
世界に向けて明らかにしました
was not just a celestial object
月は夜空をさまようだけの
暗く広がる世界だったのです
and the Moon had been discovered,
to think about how to travel there.
即座に考え始めました
was actually the Bishop of Hereford,
ヘレフォードの司教
about a Spanish explorer,
ドミンゴ・ゴンザレスという
on the island of St. Helena
セントヘレナ島に
of the local wild geese
on a voyage to the Moon.
or a Discourse of a Voyage Thither,"
and anonymously in 1638,
of controversial ideas that it contained,
多く盛り込まれていたからでしょう
of the Copernican view of the universe
of the Solar System,
concept of gravity
that the weight of an object
distance from Earth.
提示したりしたのです
of his idea of a goose machine
装置という彼のアイデアも
to the Moon by goose machine
月への宇宙旅行のアイデアは
or technically creative to us today,
現代では言えないかもしれませんが
getting to the Moon not by a dream
ヨハネス・ケプラーの著作とは違って
had written about,
人類の発明によって
that we could build machines
in minds across the generations.
種として蒔かれたのでした
by his contemporary, John Wilkins,
このアイデアを引き継ぎました
of the Royal Society.
in Godwin's text seriously
宇宙旅行のアイデアを真剣に捉え
of the New World in the Moon,
『月での新世界の発見 あるいは
Another Habitable World in that Planet."
that word "habitable."
注目すると
been a powerful incentive
人々にその場所に行ける装置を
machines that could go there.
なったかもしれません
a number of technical methods
宇宙飛行に対するいくつもの技法を
the earliest known nonfiction account
最初のノンフィクションとして
most notably by Cyrano de Bergerac,
特筆すべきはシラノ・ド・ベルジュラックの
the idea of people building machines
天まで旅行できる機械を
and technical nuance.
effectively ceased.
about getting to the Moon,
of the laws of gravity by Newton
万有引力の法則が発見され
by Robert Hooke and Robert Boyle
真空ポンプが発明されたことで
existed between the planets,
そしてそれは
between the Earth and the Moon.
理解したのです
made very little intellectual progress
知的な進展はわずかでした
the Industrial Revolution
産業革命が生じた後で
of steam engines and boilers
さらに何よりも圧力容器が
about how they could build a capsule
耐えられるカプセルをどう作るかを
人々は手にしたのです
次の素晴らしい宇宙飛行の物語が
of spaceflight was written,
in terms of gothic poems
『告げ口心臓』『大鴉』などの
a technical thinker.
自認していました
with gas street lighting,
ボルチモアで育ち
by the technological revolution
not to be one of his gothic tales
ゴシック調の物語ではなく
his own personal view
天地万有の宇宙構造論について
of the universe.
in fantastical technical detail
装置や奇妙な仕掛けなどの
in this than in his short story,
影響力を示したのは短編小説
of One Hans Pfaall."
bellows maker in Rotterdam,
失業したフイゴ職人が
this is Poe, after all --
まさにそれはポーそのもので―
enclosed balloon-borne carriage
密閉された気球の籠を
through the vacuum of space
月面まで真空の宇宙空間を
develop this story alone,
この物語を作ったわけではなく
"A Man in the Moone"
明確に注記し
ingenious little book."
評しています
voyage to the Moon may seem
ガチョウの飛行装置に比べて
than the goose machine,
大差がないようにも見えますが
of the construction of the device
宇宙旅行の軌道力学を
dynamics of the voyage
in the very first spaceflight encyclopedia
世界初の宇宙飛行百科事典に
図が採録されたほどです
or to "verisimilitude," as he called it,
彼の言うところの「事実らしさ」が
to the Moon," written in 1865.
『地球から月へ』です
a remarkable legacy
to the real voyages to the Moon
over a hundred years later.
to the Moon takes place from Florida,
最初の月旅行は 起点がフロリダで
during the Apollo program itself.
採用されたものでした
to Poe's influence on him,
この本の中でヴェルヌは
for this feat in the book in Baltimore,
ボルチモア大砲クラブと設定し
"Cheers for Edgar Poe!"
for their conquest of the Moon.
叫んだのでした
go on to influence and inspire
初期のロケット科学者たちに
rocketry in Russia and in Germany,
パイオニアであった
ヘルマン・オーベルトは
to the field of spaceflight
to the Moon" as teenagers,
committing themselves
the only one in the 19th century
19世紀の偉業は
directly inspired
大西洋の対岸 マサチューセッツの若者
Robert Goddard.
直接的な着想を与えました
"War of the Worlds"
a cherry tree on his family's farm
剪定の合間に休んでいる時
taking off from the valley below
そのまま月に向かって高度を上げていく
that he would commit the rest of his life
開発することに一生をささげようと
that he saw in his mind's eye.
記しました
he would celebrate that day
さくらんぼの木の出来事の日を
his cherry tree day,
the works of Verne and of Wells
ヴェルヌとウェルズの作品を読み返しては
and his commitment
決意を固めたりして
and effort that would be required
必要な第一歩目とされる
to the Moon" and "The War of the Worlds"
読んだことによって
were inspired to dedicate their lives
宇宙飛行の問題を解決するために
and their works in turn
technical communities
刺激を与えました
communities of spaceflight.
脈々と息づいているのです
weirdly fascinated by stories
いるからでしょうか?
that these stories remind us
読み取ることのできる―
driving spaceflight
宇宙旅行を推し進めただけでなく
innovation more broadly.
適用できると思います
the economic origins
経済的起源についての
of billionaire tech entrepreneurs
in liquid fuel rocketry,
軍が投資するよりも前に目を向けると
are found in stories and in ideas.
物語やアイデアにあるのです
concepts for spaceflight were articulated.
それらの物語の中でした
for humanity in space
intellectual community
知的コミュニティーを形成し
on the ideas for spacecraft
何度も試行して
as they could finally be built.
実際のものにしたのです
for over 300 years,
継続してきたものであり
a culture of spaceflight.
形作られました
thousands of people
some of us have looked at the stars
星々を見上げて
概念とシステムの開発に
of the concepts and systems
about Godwin, Poe and Verne
語りたかったのは
also tell us of the importance
語り合う物語の重要性を
about the future more generally.
思うからです
transmit information or ideas.
伝えるだけではありません
to dedicate our lives
実現に向けて
未来に向かって世紀を超えて
影響を与えられるし
and remember it when we tell our stories.
思い出す必要があると思うのです
dystopian paths we may take
物語を語るのは止めましょう
stories we tell each other,
語れば語るほど
for possible dystopian futures.
恐れがあるからです
that plant the seeds,
物語が必要です
of technological, societal
進めるプロジェクトの種となる
that the stories we tell each other
未来の変革につながるという
the example of this,
実現されるまでに
文化として伝搬した―
for over 300 years
思いおこす必要があると思います
必要があるのです
to look back upon and remark
新しい高みや新しい陸地に向かったのか
to new heights and to new shores,
and new possibilities,
言い表せるように
our world for the better.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Alexander MacDonald - EconomistTED Senior Fellow Alexander MacDonald develops strategies to advance space exploration and encourage private-sector space activities.
Why you should listen
Alexander MacDonald founded NASA's Emerging Space Office, helps build small satellite programs around the world, and is the author of The Long Space Age. He is an economist with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and is currently assigned to serve as the Senior Economic Advisor at NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
MacDonald is the author and editor of a number of NASA reports including "Emerging Space: The Evolving Landscape of 21st Century American Spaceflight," "Public-Private Partnerships for Space Capability Development" and "Economic Development of Low-Earth Orbit." He also led the development of "A Strategy for Human Spaceflight in Low Earth Orbit and Economic Growth in Space," submitted to the National Space Council in 2018 by NASA, the Department of State and the Department of Commerce. And he helped develop the NASA strategy for the 2016 Presidential Transition. He is an advocate for the use of small satellites -- cubesats -- for technical and capacity development throughout the world, having helped initiate cubesat projects in Lithuania and Kyrgyzstan and having helped establish nationwide cubesat initiatives in the US and Canada.
MacDonald was a research faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University and worked for the Universities Space Research Association while at NASA's Ames Research Center where he worked on small satellite mission designs and served as the center's first research economist on staff. He received his undergraduate degree in economics from Queen's University in Canada, his master's degree in economics from the University of British Columbia and was a Clarendon Scholar at the University of Oxford, where he obtained his doctorate on the long-run economic history of American space exploration. He was also an inaugural TED Senior Fellow and received the History Manuscript of the Year Award in 2016 from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Alexander MacDonald | Speaker | TED.com