INSIGHTS
India’s Moon Lander and the Superpower Game
Recently, India landed its first rover on the surface of the moon. It’s called Chandrayaan-3. Which means “moon craft” in Sanskrit.
Fourteen hours later, the Chandrayaan-3’s rover rolled out and, said India’s space agency, “took a walk around.” But, unlike America’s rovers on Mars, which keep on trucking for up to 15 years, Chandrayaan-3’s rover is only built to explore for two weeks. That’s one lunar day. Then, when lunar night comes, the rover will run out of batteries and shut down.
The success of the Chandrayaan-3 makes India only the fourth country to successfully land on the moon—behind the USA, Russia, and China. What’s more, India developed and built this lander for only $73 million dollars. NASA’s upcoming VIPER rover won’t reach the moon until 2024 or later and will cost nearly half a billion dollars. Which means for the price of one American lunar lander, India can build six.
More important, the Chandrayaan-3 is the first spacecraft ever to land on a strategic sweet spot, the moon’s south pole. Why is the moon’s south pole coveted by China, Russia, and by the United States?
Because it has water. And India was the first country to detect that water. Water it spotted with its first vehicle to orbit the moon, Chandrayaan 1, way back in 2008.
Water is the gold of space. It can be mined and broken down to drinkable water, to breathable oxygen, and to rocket fuel. That’s why NASA administrator Bill Nelson says that we are in a space race with China for the lunar south pole’s resources.
Nelson says he fears that if China can establish a presence on the moon’s south pole before we do, Beijing could repeat what it pulled off in the South China Sea.
Ten years ago, China began building islands and expanding reefs in the South China Sea, a body of water whose segments were claimed by five other nations. Beijing swore that these new islands were for peaceful purposes.
Then China built military bases with runways for bombers and fighter jets on the islands and claimed the South China Sea as its own. All 1.16 million square miles of it. Complete with the oil beneath the surface.
Now NASA’s Nelson is afraid that China will attempt to do the same thing with the south pole of the moon.
India’s landing at the moon’s south pole may complicate that Chinese aim. After all, one of the main purposes of this audacious Indian mission is not just to do science. It’s to advance India’s claim to world leadership. Or, as CNN put it, it’s to “cement India’s status as a global superpower in space.”
That use of the Chandrayaan-3 moon landing became clear at a global summit conference in South Africa Wednesday morning. That summit was a meeting of heads of state of the BRICS nations—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—in Johannesburg. The BRICS formation is designed to sap strength from the United States and the Western Alliance and to increase the power of an alliance that includes Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, and Cuba. An alliance of autocrats. An alliance that despises “Western liberal values.”
Vladimir Putin, one of the two top BRICS leaders along with China’s Xi Jinping, was faced with a humiliation. He was not able to attend in person. He is a fugitive from the International Criminal Court for committing war crimes. Because South Africa is a member of the International Criminal Court, it would be forced to arrest Putin and send him to the Hague in Holland for trial if he showed up. So the Russian leader was forced to appear on videotape.
But Putin had an ace up his sleeve. A way to demonstrate his power. Russia’s Luna 25 was due to land on the moon four days ago, Monday, August 21st, the day before the start of the summit. It would have been Russia’s first lunar landing in 47 years. And it would have been a coup.
But last Saturday, the rockets positioning the Russian lunar lander for descent misfired and Russia’s Luna 25 crashed into the moon’s surface. Then this morning, India’s Chandrayaan-3 pulled off a perfect landing. Thus one-upping Putin.
The landing was broadcast live on TV in India. That landing allowed India’s prime minister Narendra Modi to ostentatiously take time off from the summit and to go on a TV link back to India saying, “I’m confident that all countries in the world, including those from the global south, are capable of achieving such feats. We can all aspire to the moon and beyond.”
Thus showing off Modi’s prominence in the BRIC partnership and making a play for leadership of the global south—the 78 underdog countries who are not major powers.
References:
https://twitter.com/isro/status/1694545322251571687
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/chandrayaan-3-makes-historic-touchdown-on-the-moon/
https://www.space.com/india-chandrayaan-3-moon-landing-success
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/23/science/chandrayaan-3-india-moon-landing.html
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/08/23/science/india-moon-landing-chandrayaan-3
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/24/world/asia/india-chandrayaan-3-moon-landing-space.html
https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/23/world/chandrayaan-3-lunar-landing-attempt-scn
https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/mission/overview/
https://spacenews.com/viper-lunar-rover-mission-cost-increases/
https://www.planetary.org/articles/water-on-the-moon-guide
https://www.reuters.com/world/key-facts-about-brics-2023-summit-2023-08-07/
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Howard Bloom of the Howard Bloom Institute has been called the Einstein, Newton, and Freud of the 21st century by Britain’s Channel 4 TV. One of his seven books–Global Brain—was the subject of a symposium thrown by the Office of the Secretary of Defense including representatives from the State Department, the Energy Department, DARPA, IBM, and MIT. His work has been published in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, Psychology Today, and the Scientific American. He does news commentary at 1:06 am Eastern Time every Wednesday night on 545 radio stations on Coast to Coast AM. For more, see http://howardbloom.institute.
As the U.S. approaches the 250th anniversary of “Declaration of Independence” only 61 days away, it’s past time we consider the most damaging word in American history. It has led to more deaths, environmental destruction, and hate than any other. The word is independence.
By Chuck Woolery, Rockville, Md.
A careful reading of the 1776 Declaration reveals something transformative. The noun “independence” appears nowhere in its text or original title “The unanimous Declaration of thirteen United States of America”, the world’s most profound document. It rightfully and justly declared the colonies desire to be “Free and Independent States,” and used the adjective “independent”, not the noun “independence” a thing. A thing that Albert Einstein later called a “delusion”.
This distinction is the difference between true freedom (the Declaration’s original intent) and the mass murdering chaos that both the U.S. Constitution and the U.N. Charter unleashed globally.
An independent state (or states) can possess political autonomy existing within a web of relationships, responsibilities, and be mutual dependent on other states (or nations). Unfortunately, the word “Independence” has evolved in our mind’s imagination as something absolute: self-sufficiency, exceptionalism, immunity from consequences beyond our borders, and worth mass killing and dying for, as well as ignoring nature, the basis of all human health, wealth, and other life on earth.
This could have – should have stopped immediately after the invention and use of nuclear weapons. Einstein warned about it, yet the UN Charter was founded on the same delusional concept as the U.S. Constitution. Both ignored the wisdoms offered in the 1776 Declaration based on “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” (in common speak, ‘take care of nature and each other’ because everything is interdependent and vulnerable).
Ironically, we annually celebrate our illusion of independence every July 4th using explosives and eating nitrate loaded meats that cause cancer. Then over 250 years of repetition, celebration, and civic mythology, that single word blunder has hardened into our minds a global worldview that has shaped our perception of reality and killed hundreds of millions of people. Because independence exists nowhere in known universe except as a word on paper, in sound, or as a delusional concept in our mind.
No human being is independent of oxygen, food systems, ecosystems, microbes, gravity, family, trade, or civilization itself. No nation is independent of climate systems, oceans, pandemics, financial networks, or global stability. Even stars depend upon relationships with gravity and matter. Interdependence is not a political opinion; it is the architecture of reality.
And yet our governing systems still behave as if independence were achievable. Ironically, both the U.S. constitutional framework and the United Nations Charter are rooted in sovereign independence as their organizing principle. We continue attempting to solve planetary-scale crises — climate disruption, pandemics, cyberwarfare, nuclear risks, migration, and ecological collapse — with governance structures designed around fragmented and delusional sovereignty.
Then wonder why the systems fail and things are getting worse.
Perhaps the deepest challenge of our species is to accept our irreversible interconnectedness and interdependence. And learn to govern everyone and nature wisely, fairly, and ethically. Thus, the most important word in America’s founding document may be the one that was never actually written into law.
Every tool can be used for good–or bad.
- A hammer can build a house.
- A hammer could kill a person.
We should not be afraid of AI.
We should be afraid of unaccountable power using AI without ethics, oversight, or public understanding.
By Steven Jay
AI is a tool.
Like fire, electricity, television, money, medicine, or the internet — it can help people heal, learn, organize, create, solve problems, and see patterns.
It can also be used to manipulate, exploit, surveil, replace, divide, and control.
The question is not whether AI is good or bad.
The question is:
- Who controls it?
- Who benefits from it?
- Who is harmed by it?
- And how do we make sure it serves life — not power alone?
The Big Question
Should we be afraid of AI?
- Not exactly.
- Fear alone does not help us understand change.
- But blind excitement is dangerous too.
AI is moving into every part of life:
- Media.
- Education.
- Health care.
- Finance.
- Transportation.
- Government.
- War.
- Work.
- Art.
- Search.
- Science.
- Everyday decision-making.
That means AI is not just a technology story.
It is a systems story.
- It affects how we know what is true.
- How we make decisions.
- How we organize society.
- How power moves.
- How people work.
- How communities respond to crisis.
- How the future is designed.
Why It Matters
AI can help humanity do things we badly need.
- It can detect patterns humans miss.
- It can help doctors diagnose disease earlier.
- It can help farmers use less water.
- It can help communities prepare for floods, fires, and storms.
- It can translate languages.
- It can help small organizations produce media, maps, research, and learning tools.
- It can make knowledge more accessible.
But AI can also make existing problems worse.
- It can spread false information faster.
- It can deepen surveillance.
- It can automate discrimination.
- It can replace workers without a plan for human dignity.
- It can concentrate power in the hands of a few companies and governments.
- It can make people dependent on systems they do not understand.
AI reflects the values of the systems that build and deploy it.
That is the real issue.
The Mobilized View
- AI is not magic.
- AI is not a god.
- AI is not a replacement for human wisdom.
- AI is a tool created by people, trained on human information, shaped by human choices, and deployed inside human systems.
So, the future of AI depends on the same thing every major tool depends on:
- Governance.
- Ethics.
- Transparency.
- Education.
- Accountability.
- Public participation.
- Human purpose.
The danger is not intelligence itself.
The danger is intelligence without wisdom.
The Better Question
Instead of asking:
“Will AI destroy us?”
We should ask:
“How do we design AI so it helps us restore health, dignity, democracy, and well-being?”
- That changes the conversation.
- It moves us from fear to responsibility.
It asks whether AI can help us:
- Spot risks earlier.
- Strengthen local communities.
- Improve public health.
- Support teachers and students.
- Expose corruption.
- Translate complex issues into clear action.
- Help people understand systems.
- Connect solutions across the world.
- Make better decisions faster.
Used wisely, AI can help people see the whole picture.
Used recklessly, it can distort the picture completely.
What AI Can Help Us Do
1. Make Complexity Easier to Understand
- The world is overloaded with information.
- Most people are not lacking data.
- They are lacking clarity.
- AI can help organize complex information into patterns people can understand.
- That matters for climate, health, energy, food, democracy, economics, and crisis response.
Signal → System → Solution → Action.
- That is where AI can be useful.
- Not as the source of truth.
- As a tool to help people ask better questions.
2. Help Communities Act Faster
- AI can support local problem-solving.
A community group could use AI to:
- Map local food needs.
- Find clean energy options.
- Translate public documents.
- Create emergency plans.
- Compare policy models.
- Build public education campaigns.
- Identify partners and funding opportunities.
- Summarize public meetings.
- Turn expert knowledge into action guides.
This is where AI becomes useful.
Not as a replacement for people.
As a support system for people trying to get things done.
3. Expand Access to Knowledge
- For too long, useful knowledge has been locked behind institutions, paywalls, jargon, and professional gatekeeping.
- AI can help translate expert knowledge into plain language.
- That can help students, workers, organizers, journalists, small businesses, local governments, and citizens understand what is happening and what they can do.
- But access must be paired with accuracy.
- A fast answer is not always a true answer.
That is why human verification still matters.
4. Improve Public Interest Media
AI can help journalists and media makers:
- Track signals.
- Summarize reports.
- Compare claims.
- Organize research.
- Find patterns across sectors.
- Translate stories into multiple languages.
- Build explainers.
- Create accessible formats for different audiences.
But AI should not replace journalism.
It should strengthen journalism.
The public still needs editors, reporters, investigators, community voices, source verification, and moral judgment.
AI can support the work.
It should not become the newsroom’s conscience.
Where the Risks Are Real
Misinformation
- AI can produce convincing falsehoods at scale.
- That means people need stronger media literacy, better verification tools, and trusted public-interest information systems.
Surveillance
- AI can be used to monitor people, predict behavior, and control populations.
- This is especially dangerous when used by governments, employers, platforms, or private firms without transparency.
Bias
- AI systems can repeat and amplify the biases built into their data.
- Bad data creates bad decisions.
- That can harm people in hiring, housing, policing, lending, health care, and education.
Job Disruption
- AI will change work.
- Some jobs will disappear.
- Some will change.
- Some new ones will emerge.
The issue is not whether work changes.
The issue is whether people are protected, trained, included, and respected during the transition.
Power Concentration
- If only a handful of corporations control the most powerful AI systems, the public loses leverage over the future.
- AI must not become another tool for extracting wealth, attention, and control from people.
The Bottom Line
We should not fear AI as a machine.
We should question the systems around it.
- Who owns it?
- Who trains it?
- Who audits it?
- Who profits from it?
- Who gets access?
- Who is left out?
- Who decides the rules?
AI can help us build a healthier world.
But only if we build the guardrails first.
Technology does not create a better future by itself.
People do.
What We Can Do Now
For Citizens
- Learn how AI works.
- Question what it produces.
- Check sources.
- Use it to learn, organize, and create.
- Do not outsource your judgment.
For Journalists
- Use AI as a research assistant, not a truth machine.
- Disclose when it is used.
- Verify everything.
- Protect human sources and editorial independence.
For Educators
- Teach AI literacy early.
- Help students understand bias, evidence, authorship, and ethics.
- Use AI to expand learning, not replace thinking.
For Policymakers
- Require transparency.
- Protect privacy.
- Regulate high-risk uses.
- Support public-interest AI.
- Prevent monopoly control.
- Defend human rights.
For Communities
- Use AI to strengthen local resilience.
- Map needs.
- Share knowledge.
- Connect solutions.
- Make participation easier.
Mobilized Takeaway
- AI is not the future.
- The future is what people decide to do with AI.
- It can become another system of control.
- Or it can become a tool for collective intelligence.
- It can deepen confusion.
- Or it can help create clarity.
- It can serve extraction.
- Or it can serve life.
- The choice is not automatic.
- The choice is ours.
Final Word
We do not need to be afraid of AI.
We need to become informed enough to shape it.
Because a well-informed public is still the most powerful and valuable natural resource of all.
We are entering a new era of healthcare based on a categorically different kind of medicine whose purpose isn’t just to save us from illness, but to help us be the best version of ourselves.
Discover Mobilized’s interview with RethinkX Co-founder, James Arbib
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About Rethink X
RethinkX is an independent not-for-profit research organization that analyzes and forecasts technology-driven disruptions and their implications. We produce impartial, data-driven analyses that identify pivotal choices to be made by investors, policymakers, civic leaders, and other decision-makers.
Our research team uses the Seba Technology Disruption Framework( TM) to understand the dynamics of disruption and their associated interactions among technology, business models, and market forces.
We then leverage this understanding to forecast the scope, speed, and scale of a disruption’s impacts across social, economic, geopolitical, environmental, and other dimensions, and their implications for market sectors, industries, and geographic regions.
RethinkX aims to facilitate a robust global conversation about the threats and opportunities of technology-driven disruptions, and highlight choices that could lead to a more equitable, healthy, resilient, and stable future for all of humanity
