The Dangerous Religion of the Corporate Space Race w/ Mary-Jane Rubenstein

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: Paris Marx and Mary Jane Rubenstein trace the “new space” economy to older imperial, Christian, and colonial logics: privatized space policy, billionaire rhetoric, and NASA’s Artemis-era ambitions all rest on ideas of ownership, extraction, and human exceptionalism. The episode argues that space colonization is less a neutral technological future than a continuation of conquest narratives now marketed as salvation and innovation.

Main Topics: What “new space” means (Priority: 5/5): Rubenstein defines new space as private companies—like SpaceX, Blue Origin, and space-mining firms—that self-identify as part of a growing commercial space sector. She distinguishes the current era from earlier public-space programs by emphasizing privatization and market logic. How U.S. policy enabled privatized space (Priority: 5/5): The conversation centers on the 2011 cancellation of the space shuttle and the 2015 Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act, which made outer-space resource extraction legally profitable and shifted NASA toward contracting with private firms. Space law, loopholes, and international backlash (Priority: 4/5): Rubenstein explains that the 1967 Outer Space Treaty forbids national appropriation of planets, but U.S. law created a workaround by allowing ownership of extracted resources. The U.S. then pushed Artemis Accords signatories toward this framework, while China and Russia reject it. Colonial and religious roots of space colonization (Priority: 5/5): A major theme is that modern claims about space rest on a long history of Christian imperialism, the Doctrine of Discovery, Manifest Destiny, and the idea that land exists for human use. Space colonization is framed as a continuation of terrestrial conquest. Von Braun, Disney, and the popularization of space destiny (Priority: 4/5): The episode details how Werner von Braun’s postwar visions, filtered through Disney’s Tomorrowland and midcentury media, helped sell space as America’s next frontier and normalized the linkage between nationalism, militarism, and public enthusiasm. Alternative futures and anti-colonial visions (Priority: 5/5): Rubenstein closes by pointing to Indigenous knowledge, Afrofuturism, Indigenous futurism, and contemporary Christian critiques—especially Pope Francis—as sources for imagining space and land relations based on kinship, reciprocity, and limits on extraction.

Key Arguments: Privatized space policy is not an inevitable technological progression; it is a political choice that shifted public assets toward private capital. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty is weakened by national laws that sidestep bans on appropriation via ownership of extracted resources. Space colonization rhetoric repeats older colonial patterns: universalizing language (“all humanity”) masks domination by powerful states and companies. Christian imperial ideas helped normalize land-as-property, human exceptionalism, and extraction, which later informed Manifest Destiny and space expansion. Billionaire space narratives work like salvation stories: they warn of planetary doom while promising deliverance through off-world expansion. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos sell space not just as a business opportunity but as a civilizational necessity, making their projects politically legible. Public enthusiasm is generated less by science itself than by stories—especially stories that convert militarism and profit into visions of human destiny. There are viable alternative frameworks for thinking about space and land based on Indigenous stewardship, reciprocity, and anti-extractive ethics.

Data Points: Year of a major policy turning point: 2011 - Obama announced cancellation of the space shuttle and began reallocating space activity toward the private sector. Year of resource-ownership law: 2015 - The Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act assured investors that resources extracted in outer space can be owned and sold for profit. Outer Space Treaty ratification year: 1967 - The only genuinely multilateral space treaty discussed, ratified by 100+ nations including the U.S., Russia, China, India, and Canada. Number of nations ratifying the Outer Space Treaty: 100 and some odd nations - Used to emphasize the broad international consensus against national appropriation of celestial bodies. NASA moon contract value: over $3 billion - Blue Origin received a NASA contract for a moon lander, illustrating public funds flowing to private space firms. Collier’s magazine publication year: 1953 - Von Braun and colleagues published “Man will conquer space soon” to promote a U.S. space program. Apollo lander flag idea: UN flag initially proposed - NASA staff initially considered a UN flag for Apollo 11 to reflect the international nature of the mission before choosing the U.S. flag. Space age milestone: 1957 - Sputnik’s launch intensified U.S. pressure to build a space program and accelerate competition with the Soviet Union. Space program origin: early 1950s - The U.S. space program began taking shape before NASA was formally established, driven by military and political goals.

Pivotal Quotes: "the God language has always been, when it comes to this kind of imperialism, a means of making people feel better about the conquest that they are about to undertake." — Mary Jane Rubenstein: Opening framing of how religious rhetoric supports empire and space colonization. "the idea that humans dominate the Earth is false. It is a false reading of scripture." — Mary Jane Rubenstein (describing Pope Francis): Used to highlight contemporary religious criticism of extractive, human-centered interpretations of Christianity. "there is a new promised land and it's in outer space." — Mary Jane Rubenstein: Summarizing how Manifest Destiny language was repurposed for the space age.

Implications: The episode reframes space colonization as a continuation of colonial extraction rather than a neutral future. Listeners are urged to question billionaire narratives, weaken extractive assumptions, and center Indigenous, ecological, and anti-imperial alternatives.