{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Belitopia S1E0 - Welcome to Belitopia\u2026","description":"This is the world of \u201cwhat if\u201d. What if we had continued the space race, what would our space footprint look like? What if we had invested heavily in a transportation infrastructure around the globe, how would that change how we get from point A to point B today? What if we decided as a species that world hunger was not acceptable, how would we have solved it with technology? What if we had solved the autonomous car problem 50 years ago, how would that have changed how we worked and played today? What if sustainable energy was standard practice for a generation, how would that change how we interacted in our world today? How would our world be better? How would it be worse? How would it be, just different? Belitopia is this world, this world where the what if\u2019s come true, and the world is a better place, a worse place, a different place. In season one of Belitopia, we look at the space program. What if the space race had continued after Apollo? What if we continued to invest in the space program at the same or greater levels than we did previously? Many experts believe that every dollar we invest in the space program, returns 8-10 dollars in improved technologies to our world. What if we truly recognized that and invested significantly greater amounts of money in the space program? What if we discovered that there are natural resources in space that are worth pursuing. Resources that can solve our energy problems, our food problems. Resources that were economically viable to pursue. It\u2019s not utopia, it\u2019s not dystopia. It\u2019s believable science fiction. This is Belitopia. Transcript What if\u2026things were different\u2026 What if\u2026different decisions were made, important decisions, in our world\u2026 What if\u2026our leaders made different choices? What if\u2026different political and social climates existed in our world, with different priorities and different expectations? What would be changed and what would be the same? Welcome to the world of what if\u2026 Much of science fiction is based either on a utopian view of the world, or, as happens in much of modern science fiction, on a dystopian view of the world: a natural disaster the zombie apocalypse disease, suffering The world is either unbelievably great\u2026or unbelievably bad. There doesn\u2019t seem to be much in the middle. But what if we looked at science fiction with neither a negative nor a positive bias? What if we instead looked at\u2026a realistic world. ...a believable world. This is that world\u2026the world of Belitopia. In season one of Belitopia, we look at the space program. What if the space race had continued after Apollo? What if we continued to invest in the space program at the same or greater levels than we did previously? Many experts believe that every dollar we invest in the space program, returns 8-10 dollars in improved technologies to our world. What if we truly recognized that and invested significantly greater amounts of money in the space program? What if we discovered that there are natural resources in space that are worth pursuing. Resources that can solve our energy problems, our food problems. Resources that were economically viable to pursue. Bottom line, what if we believed it was worth our while investing in space and space technology? We\u2019ll explore what happens to the Apollo space program with continued funding. What happens to our long term plans for exploring the lunar surface? What about space stations? Skylab? And what about the space station Freedom? We\u2019ll talk about the Apollo Applications Program, an ill-fated and under funded program with vast plans for continued space exploration. In this new world, these programs are carried thru, fully funded, enhanced, and expanded. What is this Venus Flyby mission? How does that change the excitement of space? How did that bring back the energy and vibrancy that the world felt after we landed on the moon? How did this mission provide additional fuel towards an accelerated space program? And what about our long desired journey to Mars? What about permanent settlements in space? Research stations? Transit centers? Lunar bases? An L5 transportation hub? What about greatly accelerated electronics, computers, and even greater miniaturization technologies? But this isn\u2019t regular science fiction. This isn\u2019t a pure imagination world. It\u2019s a world that could have happened, perhaps should have happened, if only a few things had been different. It\u2019s the dream of a space age that meets its promise and exceeds its expectations. Our story will be presented in the form of a mock documentary series, taking place in the future, that looks back at the history of our modified world. Looking back at it\u2019s presence in outer space. This is the world of Belitopia. Welcome to the world of what if\u2026         ","author_name":"Belitopia","author_url":"https:\/\/belitopia.com","html":"