#extrastellar

The calculus of large organizations, while complicated in practice, is fairly simple in theory. Basically, it comes down to what incentives the organization must follow in order to survive. For a government organization in a country where voting is a thing (and the cheating is kept friendly-like), the incentives for its membership are to keep being voted into office. If they are not voted into office, then pretty quickly, there is no government organization. For a business in a capitalist system, the incentive for the organization to survive is to make money. If it does not make money, then the people who pay for the organization to exist are going to pretty quickly lost interest in doing so, and the organization will cease to be. For the members paying for the organization, making money is the incentive. For those inside the organization, the incentive is to keep getting paid, and to do whatever is necessary for that to happen. Ideally, a symbiotic relationship is formed.

Realistically, for business organizations, it's almost always a two-way parasitic relationship. Those doing the paying would like those being paid to make money for those doing the paying, and preferably without making something else, like a fuss over unreasonable things like 'living standards'. Those being paid, in the meanwhile, have an incentive to do as little as possible to get paid, preferably staying above the crimson line labelled 'layoffs'.

In all of these systems, of course, there are ways to manipulate it to the outcome that one wants. And perhaps that is why history took the path it did to humanity's historic first flight into deep space. Perhaps a half century earlier, the shape of this tale may have looked different. More heroic, perhaps. Government organizations, having the incentives that they do, have a certain requirement to at least try to be popular. Failing that, they have to at least appear competent when they do daring things. To that end, early space programs by many countries sent men and women into space who were viewed as no less than heroes. Large of heart, tall in stature, steely in eye, they were plastered on posters, spoke to school children, and looked good in a space suit. Their training was second to none, and what accidents did occur in space were often the result of hardware failures, and what accidents were averted were almost always due to said training.

But unfortunately, space was only popular so far as it was exciting, and it was exciting only so long as various space agencies were able to cry 'first!' in their pursuit of objectives. The first man on the moon was celebrated. The last, barely recognized. The first women in space was a household name. The fifth, an anecdote in her hometown newspaper. Each country celebrated its firsts, and then quickly and quietly scaled back their space programs to more interesting and pressing concerns, like spreading communications satellites to connect humanity, and spying on thier neighbors to connect humanity to an analysts' report. As the excitement of men in space wore off through the general populace, so did the governments' interest in sending people into space, until eventually there was a quiet, long gap in which no human flew into the void.

So much for the incentives of government for advancing mankind. Into this vacuum stepped corporations and private organizations, which had quite different incentives. Space had the possibility to be ridiculously lucrative. There were rocks up there, full of ores, ripe for the taking. Where government could not help but make space boring, of course private affairs had no such restriction. An exciting space meant the possibility of a multi-billion dollar entertainment complex in space, adding a nice kickback on top of whatever other activities could bring profit from space. Space! The void frontier! Full of potential! And so it was that after nearly a half-century of humanity having abandoned the idea of humans in space, that the idea began to be picked up again. This time it was with a keen interest in profits and entertainment, and perhaps with less of a thought towards ideas such as 'safety' and 'regulations'.

Organizations have a simple calculus, at least in theory, if not in practice. And in practice, there are a few who look at this calculus, and find the edges and loopholes in it, and find a place for themselves.

Hello friends! I'm happy to announce that I'm finally ready to start selling my first comic, Extra-Stellar Vol. 1!

It's a silly little thing that I spent a lot of time on, and it's about me and my friends and a cat as space explorers who encounter mystery, evil, and magical apples on their journey through the universe.

I’ve already started on my second issue and these silly comics are my passion so I hope you’ll check it out!

It's a 12 page magazine sized comic printed on very nice glossy paper (shout out to ka-blam.com for printing these for me!)