In his lecture, Dr. Valentine will seek to open up both sets of assumptions. He will show that the short-term profit horizons of finance capitalism are actually incompatible with the long-term visions and goals of NewSpace entrepreneurs. But he will also argue against the critical assessment that NewSpace visions should be dismissed as mere fantasies. Drawing on anthropological theories that see narratives as material and consequential, Dr. Valentine will show that we should take seriously the idea that human settlement of space is not only a possibility, but that from it may develop radically different forms of economic, social, and political life than those that have emerged, so far, on Earth.
