Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Join us on our quest for the extraordinary!
Sam McKee (@polymath_sam) has 9 university qualifications across 4 subjects including doctorates in history and philosophy of science and molecular biology. He researches both at two British universities and contributes to both space science and cancer research. Meet fellow polymaths and discipline leaders working on the frontiers of research from all over the world. Be inspired to pursue knowledge and drive the world forwards.
Watch and share interviews with professors, lecturers, researchers, engineers, scientists and astronauts, right here! We talk to the most extraordinary people working on the frontiers for humanity, driving research forwards and changing the world that we live in. We dive deep with thinkers, academics and true icons - many of whom you won't yet have heard of.
Listen to us here and on podcast whilst you drive, exercise, do chores, and be inspired to pursue extraordinary in your own life.
www.sam-mckee.co.uk
Polymath World (00:01.28)
Hello and welcome to the Polymath channel and we are back for another space session of course with one of my new favorite friends. So I had the pleasure working with very recently with SpaceX astronaut Chris Sambrosky and her new book is hot off the press and I'm so excited to dig into a really fascinating story here with Samantha Taubar also known as Vinci. Thank you so much for joining me today.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (00:25.186)
Thank you for having me, Sam. And I also love the name of your show. It feels so relevant to the name of my character, Vinci.
Polymath World (00:32.492)
Absolutely. Yeah, that's there's a lot of connections and crossover here. How are you doing? I mean your book has just come out and it's very exciting with I mean and the best is yet to come We'll get into that but you holding up. Okay?
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (00:46.144)
Yeah, no, it's been like a mission, right? As I was saying to Frank Wyatt, who wrote the foreword for the book, as an author, it's like when you commit to being an author, you're crossing the Rubicon and it's just like, you're doing this, you're doing this thing and then you're having it published. So here it is, I'm holding it in my hand. Vinci, The Awakening of a Divine Warrior. And it's so lovely touring with Chris and you, Sam, to the schools in the UK and sharing the love.
Polymath World (01:03.211)
There it is.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (01:16.138)
storytelling in space, so it was a real honor having me.
Polymath World (01:18.558)
Yeah, there is a distinct similarity between you and your character on the front of the book. People always write themselves into the world, you really went to town with it,
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (01:26.52)
Right.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (01:34.516)
Yeah, I mean, how much information should we we share? But yeah, no, it's it's like George Lucas.
Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, but I have taken it to a whole new level because the book is written in first-person perspective and my background is I'm a musician and my character for my stage Persona is Vinci. So I was just extending that into then deciding to be an author and build this science I say science futures rather than fiction because anything's possible but science features franchise and
Polymath World (02:01.9)
Yeah.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (02:10.4)
The easiest, lowest hanging fruit was to write from her perspective because it was just an extension, I feel, of my consciousness or essence but in a fictionalized context.
Polymath World (02:23.914)
Yeah, we've not had any science fiction authors, we've not really gotten to literature on this channel. It's not really what the channel is geared for, but you are no ordinary science fiction writer and this is no ordinary book. Your book is being flown to the moon in July as part of the NASA astrobotics mission.
and part of the first ever Galactic Library initiative and that is amazing, that is absolutely incredible and I can't wait for you to tell us all about it. But what an honour first of all, how does that make you feel that your book is going to be preserved for a million years on the moon by NASA?
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (03:03.534)
There's no words for it. No words at all. And every time I now look at the moon, I'm just thinking...
My story will be there, hopefully, cross fingers, but it's, mean, when I, when I found out the news that it was chosen, it was selected, I cried, but it was like tears of joy. And it was tears of affirmation that every intention I put into this book in terms of the why, the big question why has meaning and has power. And really the story is about the overview effect, which is why Frank White wrote the forward for the story. It's really about.
realizing we're one human family on as Nicole Scott would say Spaceship Earth and it's having that realization that we're all interconnected. It's just we're following in this context Vinci's hero's journey classic Joseph Campbell style in a space opera context but I hope when future ancestors read this story and how they will read it well we'll get into the science of that but it will be on NanoFish but they'll read it under a microscope because it's
micro laser etched onto the material. But I hope that they will feel the pulse of humanity and that was why I believe it was selected. Well that's what Bruce Ha said and he's the inventor of Nanofish. He said it was selected because it showcases the pulse of humanity not just our knowledge.
Polymath World (04:33.236)
Yeah I love that. Now you've already mentioned a couple of terms I want to get into. Let's start with the overview effect because space nerds like you I will be very familiar with that but could you explain what the overview effect is for the general audience?
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (04:37.282)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (04:43.248)
Mm-hmm.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (04:48.792)
course. So it was a term coined by space philosopher Frank White, who wrote a book called The Overview Effect, Space Exploration and Human Evolution. And his job was interviewing all the astronauts and he would cut that he would realize that they would all have this profound realization when they would see the earth from that perspective, from that vantage point. so being a philosopher and being a media, he coined the term and it's still very relevant today. In fact, even more so now than ever. And it's
That term is circulated a lot in the space industry, but I'm trying to bring it into pop culture as well for people that might not see themselves in space. I think that's the role of an artist is to see themselves in the story of space. And as Frank would say, the overview effect, you don't have to go to space to have that profound realization. You can look within and have an imploration journey to have that same realization and love for the planet and love for the human family.
family.
Polymath World (05:50.221)
Yeah, you and I are both close to Chris Sambroski, the SpaceX astronaut who flew on Inspiration4 and we've had him on this channel, had a great chat with him and yeah, he's very well acquainted with the overview effect. He talks about it a lot, particularly the altitude they went to. What can you outline in your best words, how you believe the overview effect can change us as people and why it's so beneficial for people to?
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (06:07.49)
Mm-hmm.
Polymath World (06:19.018)
to have that experience.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (06:22.178)
I mean, that's kind of that question is everything and it's like, do I condense it and synthesize it? I just believe it's our birthright as a human being on this planet to fundamentally understand this perspective. I'll just start there. Like it is our inherent birthright. And I feel like even in the school systems or any sort of system, it's not...
Polymath World (06:40.812)
Okay.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (06:50.811)
shared that widely this perspective. And there's several reasons potentially why, but of course, it's the opposite of conflict.
the overview effect. The overview effect is the opposite of division. The overview effect is synonymous with harmony. And I think the overview effect represents celebration of diversity and celebration of harmony. And the reason why it's so important is obviously we don't want world wars and we don't want conflict. But beyond that, let's think longer scale horizon. We have so much potential as a human species and having that
perspective you're thinking more from a higher dimensional framework rather than getting stuck in the nitty-gritty of the day-to-day which is also important the bread and butter but sometimes we lose that that spark and that sense of inspirational
you know, why. In fact, I'll give another plug for my friend's book, Rick Tumlinson. He just put out a book last year, Why Space? The Purpose of the People. And I really recommend that book too, because it aligns with what Frank is saying with the overview effect. It's like, why are we all drawn to this space thing to begin with? Well, obviously, we believe in ourselves as a human species, we want to be space bearing. But in order to do that, we need to resolve all these issues that we have.
we're kind of in the kindergarten phase, if that makes sense, from a civilizational scale type. As advanced as we are, we still, I think, we should still have that sense of humbleness.
Polymath World (08:32.2)
Yeah, absolutely. So tell us a bit about NanoFish. What does it do and how do they get your entire book onto a chip? If you could show it for us again. That's your entire book ingrained on one chip. That's amazing. Tell us a bit about this and about Bruce Haar and about the process.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (08:49.966)
Crazy.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (08:53.654)
Yeah, I'll talk about this first and then how I connect with Bruce Hub. Nanofiche is a superior space age archival storage material that
is nano nickel gold backed material and so all 444 pages of my book that you saw earlier is micro laser etched onto the analog materials surface and it's super high resolution when you scale it up you can read it under a microscope and in fact there's a know a qr code here so you can scan it and see it on a web page and how bruce has laid it out it's really beautiful in a circle formation but
Yeah, this will be, I think it's melted into the canister and it's part of the Griffin Lander 1 mission. And so it's heading for the Nobel crater region. It's scheduled for July this year. So Bruce Ha, he's the founder and inventor of NanoFish and he's building this project called Glyph inspired by a hieroglyph, which stands for the Galactic Library Preservation for Humanity. And how I met him was a
series of serendipitous events. So I was, I was reached out to by the Interstellar Foundation in 2023, November 2023, which then went into 2024. And they're a registered nonprofit inspired by Carl Sagan's work with the original Golden Record to Space and The Voyager. And they were looking for artists and creatives to contribute to the community. So I joined and it was beautiful. I was meeting so many cool people like Frank White. And one of those other
was Bruce Ha and we were both selected as speakers for one of their community calls. It was just us two for speakers for that day, but it was just funny. We ended up in a different Zoom room and everyone else was waiting for the two speakers, but for some reason we were in another Zoom room, not sure why, but we had that chance to connect and I shared with him my mission and purpose and it was very aligned with what he does as well. He's really into the return of inspiration and thinking
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (11:05.072)
thinking longer term and that civilization doesn't just inherit our spreadsheets, it inherits our values. And there were just way too many synergies like my project called Vinci and it's my, my book's now on the same payload as the Medici Foundation. So they're part of the mission too. And the Library of Alexandria reimagined project is also part of it. What else is going? Some sacred texts as well as a miracle on 34th street.
Polymath World (11:11.777)
Yeah.
Polymath World (11:27.852)
That's amazing.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (11:34.992)
musical. Sorry. Yeah.
Polymath World (11:35.085)
Okay. This is... Carl Sagan is such an icon in terms of space communication, science communication and just the whole vision of humanity unbound. And Voyager is every bit as iconic to me as the moon landings.
fact that Voyager 1, Voyager 2 are still out there traveling in interstellar space and the golden record, I mean people don't always associate art with space which is a shame or they might think of Nicole Stott who you mentioned or Sian Proctor from Inspiration4 doing watercolor painting in space or in the arts they might think of Chris Hadfield playing guitar you know on the International Space Station perhaps but this is
This is deeply meaningful to put civilization out there and be a part of it. So how did the Galactic Library itself, that vision, come together?
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (12:39.374)
Yeah, well, it's Bruce's life mission and purpose and
he called his daughter, this is part of the synergies, his daughter's name's Sophie, huh? And inspired as well by the Da Vinci Code. And there was just way too many synergies, because my projects inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci and Vinci. And so the Library of Alexandria got burnt down. So all of these like moments in history where we have this risk of losing knowledge, right? That was the starting point was what inspired him to go, well, this can't be because
thinking about our future ancestors from a place of love going this is who we are, this represents the human species but it started there but then it evolved the project as I mentioned earlier to sharing not just knowledge but also today's time and zeitgeist and the pulse of today's zeitgeist and I think what my story captures I wrote it during the global lockdown.
And that was a profound time where humanity hadn't experienced something like that in quite a while. And from that I alchemized that time into something hopeful for humanity.
That's why this project is really special because the future ancestors will be able to read, know, the light, you know, these words that are made with love and no AI, by the way, because we didn't have any AI applications during lockdown that I was aware of that I was using. So all human written with love and intention. And the reason it's been preserved as well is to go, we were here and despite all the fear, despite it all,
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (14:25.32)
we chose love and this is really who we are as a human species.
Polymath World (14:32.15)
terrific. Very inspirational. The golden record really will live forever and this will survive for at least a million years on the moon. Incredible to think about because the materials it's made of and how it's been done. Could you tell us more about astrobiotics? I'm sorry NASA astrobotics and the Gryphon lander. Yeah give us the details on this mission because it's flying under the radar a little bit I think because of Artemis.
people are thinking about the moon again, which is great, but they may be missing what's going on here. I know it's been delayed several times, but give us the details of the launch, hopefully in July.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (14:59.539)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (15:12.118)
Yeah, it was, as you said, the delays, was meant to be December last year. So I'm just hearing about it just before everyone else hears about it, just to share that. Cause I heard about it before it went public in the media at one day before that it was delayed from December to now July. you know, astrobotics are incredible. They're based in Pittsburgh and they have a contract with NASA and yeah, and Bruce is in charge of the project. so.
That's how it's all happening. That's as much as I'm aware of at this point.
Polymath World (15:46.216)
It's being launched by SpaceX, is it?
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (15:49.58)
Yes, that's right. Yeah. I'll connect.
Polymath World (15:51.038)
Okay, terrific. Wow, exciting, very, very exciting. How does...
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (15:56.111)
Yeah, and I've never seen a rocket launch before. So for me, it's going to be a really life changing experience and one I will not want to miss. And I'm hoping to bring my parents from Australia with me to Cape Canaveral to watch it. So.
Polymath World (16:11.372)
Yeah.
Gosh, so you'll be there in Florida in July watching your book get launched on a rocket? Yeah.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (16:22.05)
who's hosting it, it's surreal, yeah. And I'm really grateful and I take it with a sense of responsibility. And my responsibility is actually to keep passing forward generosity and inspiration, which is what Chris Zembrowski gave before we did the school tour, which I really loved that, because he had the seat of generosity.
Polymath World (16:25.311)
Yeah.
Polymath World (16:31.852)
Yeah.
Polymath World (16:37.643)
Yeah.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (16:45.9)
for inspiration. And this is how I feel. This is the connection I have with Bruce Ha. He was being generous by bringing my book on board with the mission, but you know, I believe it has its place there. And this is a great launch pad, no pun intended, for me to pass on then the generosity and inspiration going forward.
Polymath World (17:05.556)
Yeah, yeah and this is a big part of who you are and what you're about. I'd love to dig into your story a little bit more. How does a girl growing up in Australia without any real contact with the space sector end up a science fiction author whose book is going to the moon? Can you lay that out for us?
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (17:22.328)
Yeah.
Quite right. by extension now a parallel career path of space diplomacy, because I'm starting my master's in the fall with Thunderbird School of Management for space diplomacy, policy and business. Never thought I would end up here. I'll just start there because I pursued, I did a marketing degree. I pursued my music career path. Then the global lockdown happened. The music gigs dried up. And that's kind of when I had my awakening experience of let's build
Polymath World (17:31.744)
Yeah.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (17:55.905)
Let's build a science futures franchise. And I've always been a storyteller growing up. I've done a lot of creative writing and they put me on the charts of like the Outlier Dot there. Like these ideas, like obviously nothing's original. If you think of like Nikola Tesla saying the brain antenna picking up from the ether, which I do believe I get ideas from the ether, but.
the way you come up with it is original in terms of you bring your own unique essence and experience and perspective and artistic tone to it. But yeah, in terms of the space industry, it never felt tangible that I could bridge
storytelling world with real people working in the real space sector. And it really did start with the Interstellar Foundation actually in terms of that bridge. That's what opened the door for me because then I met Frank White and then from there I joined his weekly overview roundtable on Zoom which was another thing that was birthed from lockdown for Frank. He created the overview roundtable every Wednesday on a Zoom and that's where
I met a lot of really interesting characters in the space industry. And then what happened after that? Bruce Ha. And then from there, I was contacted by Fernando Garabay, who is a Grammy Award winning musician that is also very much connected to the space industry. And he gave me this title, Space Diplomacy Envoy, the Garabay Institute. I just had this revelation that there's some work that I could contribute from being a communicator.
professional and sharing my love for steam and advocating for that because I feel like stories create movements and you know when you use it wisely it can be done in a really positive way and so that's what's that's what's guided me to this point and to be honest the space industry have ended up being my family and favorite people like yourself in the world.
Polymath World (19:54.731)
Yeah.
Polymath World (20:03.904)
Yeah, and we rely on the storytellers a great deal. Where would we be without them? It would just be another branch of STEM, but it means so much more than that. When did space first enter the picture for you personally? Because I know that if they were to cut you open, just art and creativity is going to come pouring out. with space, you weren't a massive space nut as a kid.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (20:14.68)
Mm-hmm.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (20:27.01)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Polymath World (20:33.344)
were used. So was it just incidental or was there a spark moment?
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (20:40.014)
I think they're like breadcrumbs or like ginger, ginger crumbs, know, gingerbread crumbs. I was always obsessed with archaeology and ancient Egypt as a kid, you know, I did like history extension and I was apparently operating at PhD level in high school for history because I was such a history buff, but I was not.
technical at all, just because I didn't flex that muscle and didn't understand until I got into the whole Vinci project that understanding everything allows you to understand the nature of being in the universe. And so, no, I didn't have any like, I think it was when I saw like the James Webb telescope images that really like blew my mind, but that was
later in my life and so it was around the time I started the Vinci project which was 2018 which is crazy yeah but like my first song I ever sung was Twinkle Twinkle Little Star as a three-year-old but I can't claim that was to the space industry that was just my love of music.
Polymath World (21:42.476)
you
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (21:43.247)
But you know, music, history, performing, and then something, something guided me to create the Vinci project and call it that. I think I was interested in artificial intelligence and I was reading The Singularities by Ray Kurzweil and I was introduced to the movement of transhumanism around 2018 and I thought, gosh, is this the future of humanity? And I was really asking deep philosophical questions.
about what a future human could look like. And then I saw this meme on the internet of the Vitruvian man, half man, half cyborg. And the first thought I was thinking was, I hope...
We don't become cyborgs. that was the first thought I had. The second thought I had was, that's great that it's a man, but how about the woman? So, and I also loved super heroines and superheroes growing up. And I just saw there was a gap in the market for, you know, a current zeitgeist of a super heroine in a space opera sort of context. all of these thoughts guided me and the more and more I learned about Leonardo da Vinci and being a polymath,
which is the nature of your show, the more I understood what it means to be human and the more I understood the purpose of being a human on the planet and the nature of the universe and it led to my curiosity in quantum physics and just reading widely and I just think that's a really beautiful thing and I wish I started that younger but you know it's never too late.
Polymath World (23:20.684)
Yeah, and we often come to it later. We go on a journey. I went back to school 11 years ago and that was everything that changed my life really. would the journey have been the same if I'd got into it straight at 18? Well, probably not, hard to say. So you've been on a journey, sorry?
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (23:24.259)
Yeah.
Mm.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (23:37.772)
Exactly.
How about you Sam? When was space a spark for you?
Polymath World (23:47.757)
Oh, I was definitely a space shuttle kid. I vividly remember Helen Sharman going to space when I was seven and at primary school, you know, was waving Julian Jacks and just like everyone did again for Tim Peake in 2015. But Michael Fowle definitely when I was eight years old, flying on the space shuttle, a British NASA astronaut. And I've got to know them all now. Helen Sharman's been on this channel and
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (23:50.53)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (24:07.394)
Mm.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (24:11.341)
Yeah.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (24:16.398)
Mm.
Polymath World (24:16.564)
Michael Fowle worked in many times, spent in many times, it's incredible how these things come around. But there was a gap. I mean, I really was not really locked in on space for a long time, which is weird. Looking back.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (24:22.25)
Yeah, I remember.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (24:33.346)
Yeah, it comes to you at the right time, I think. Because I also did a lot of speech and drama and communications growing up and I studied the great speeches throughout history like Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy and we're going to the moon speech. it like I was admiring the storytelling and the speech level writing, but I wasn't processing the greater picture until I started the Vinci project and I thought about the word polymath.
and what it means to understand the holistic picture, the greater whole, the unified being. So it's been a journey.
Polymath World (25:10.59)
Yeah, interdisciplinary is particularly powerful and it is particularly hot. I work a lot with the humanities and the sciences in terms of philosophy as science and things like that, but you are bridging the arts and sciences, which is a different thing, a different language. mean, space is kind of a universal language, I think it doesn't matter.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (25:13.934)
Mm-hmm.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (25:21.613)
Mm.
Polymath World (25:34.732)
what background you are, what nationality you are, what language you speak. You can all think space is cool and awesome. It brings people together. But you...
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (25:43.137)
Well, yeah, I had the NASA merch growing up for sure and the SpaceX merch because I had cool friends, you know, that actually currently work in the space industry, like on the Mars Rover. Like I have some really cool friends and so they were the ones kind of inspiring me, know, but they would, you know, for my birthday buy me some NASA merchandise and or a SpaceX cap or something or one friend gifted me the book Abundance by Peter Diamandis. But yeah, I never thought, hey, I'd end up, I'd end up here.
Yeah, you never know when life will take you.
Polymath World (26:12.214)
Yeah.
Well, I hope, just like Sian Proctor did on Inspiration4 and Nicole Stott as well, who's really done an amazing job with the science communication side of space advocacy, that your work inspires more people to express themselves from the arts into the space world. You mentioned, I want to ask you about something you said earlier about transhumanism. We've had Martin Rees on this channel.
who has written about using gene editing on astronauts to help them live on Mars and the moon, you know, for life and colonize the solar system, which is, he believes is very important and Robert Zubrin believes that as well. So what's your take on this in terms of the future human that you've talked about? What's the vision there from your perspective?
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (26:42.894)
Mm-hmm.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (27:05.454)
Mm-hmm.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (27:10.542)
Great question. And it's evolved over time as I've evolved. So I'll start there. Interestingly, a side note, Cliff Notes, I had a podcast show called Future Humans that I launched during lockdown as well. And I interviewed Chris Bushausen from Blue Origin, full circle moment there. But yeah, I believe in longevity for sure. And I believe we need that to have self-sustaining colonies and things like that.
In terms of humans altering genes, I understand that, but I'm also cautious that we don't lose our organic, authentic source code. But I'm not a scientist, so I'm just speaking from a very artistic, philosophical lens.
I believe there's a place in the middle, there's a happy synergy in the middle and that's kind of what I'm advocating for. There's a healthy symbiosis between technology and our original blueprint as a human species. And that's the vision.
Polymath World (28:16.608)
Yeah, the arguments are very strong on both sides in terms of extending humanity's reach beyond the earth and how important that is. But also, if climate change gets out of control, how are people going to be able to live in environments which are extremely hot, extremely dry? We do gene editing on crops to help them adapt. Can we use it to help us adapt? Yeah, there's powerful arguments.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (28:29.208)
Mm-hmm.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (28:33.698)
Mm-hmm. Of course.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (28:44.266)
Of course, in the future human, can imagine of course, would look and be different to who we are today. It's just the natural laws of evolution. It's just whether it's natural or artificial, but I do think we need help by technology for sure. We have the tools, we have AI, we have this for a reason. It's a gift. It's just what is the intention? Why are we doing it? You know, I think it will always go back to the why.
Polymath World (29:05.26)
Mmm.
Polymath World (29:10.9)
You can uniquely speak into this because of your book and your advocacy and your particular perspective, but when you think about humans, the engineered human, the future human living off world on other planets, when you're making changes, you said a phrase earlier, you know, don't want us to be cyborgs. What is the, there's two parts to this, what is the essence of humanity for you?
And at what point does that line become very grey or fuzzy when we are thinking about this?
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (29:45.487)
Well, you're asking a very difficult question that is going to cause different opinions, of course. And I am limited and biased from my own worldview. And I am, I'm a very spiritual person and I, I, I believe there's something more out there. I don't know what it is, but I can, you know, it's like in Star Wars, The Force or something.
Polymath World (29:46.944)
Tough question.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (30:13.994)
And we have history and our ancestors to learn from with that. I just because we're here with technology, I come from a place of humbleness, you know, that we can learn from the past just as much as what we can be in the future. So yeah, the essence of humanity, I do think it does evolve. And I don't think we should be like fixated on.
This is it forever. It's more, it's about.
Self-realization and it's about connection. And so obviously I'm coming from a very philosophical, spiritual, artistic lens with this answer. Yeah, of course. And so for me, like...
Polymath World (30:57.568)
Yeah, I wanted your perspective, definitely.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (31:04.758)
I'll speak from my personal experience. feel like I'm evolving and I'm growing and I'm evolving with the planet and I feel a connection to Mother Earth, right? And nature intelligence. But I'm also fascinated by AI and I see it as a tool and as a mirror for human consciousness. So I don't see it as evil at all. I just see it as a mirror for you as a human, me as a human. And I also think that the
human essence is one where we realize that we're not separate from each other. We're actually very interconnected in a very, very delicate ecosystem. And obviously, science is trying to prove this, or maybe not. But I'm going from a place of intuition. And so the future of human, I would hope this is my biased vision would be that they can maintain.
It's that sense of interconnection with other beings and not just other beings being humans, but other sentient living things like plants and the water.
Yeah, you know what mean? And the earth. so that's why I advocate for longevity, but I advocate for a future human not to lose that sense of connection because with that sense of interconnectedness comes the overview effect because it comes with morals and ethics and that place of treating others as you want to be treated. I think that's really important for a civilization to be sustainable and to have longevity as well.
So it sounds really basic, I know, and it might not be the answer you're looking for, that's my honest view.
Polymath World (32:51.222)
No, there's something interesting about you which I don't see all that often, which is when people think of AI and art, they're normally quite concerned or bothered. They don't like the fact that AI can make really, really attractive art because it's not human or some of that. But you've talked about AI as a mirror in a very positive sense with the arts as AI being part of an extension of us in expression.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (33:05.262)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (33:15.245)
Mm-hmm.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (33:20.088)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Polymath World (33:21.676)
And you've mentioned the connectedness with Earth, but I think your story and your writing shows that you've had that powerful sense of connectedness with space. So in line with the overview effect, what are you hoping for with your project in terms of people finding that renewed, almost spiritual connection with space?
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (33:35.374)
Mm-hmm.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (33:48.815)
Well, yeah, technology is a large part of it for sure. This is my neurodivergent brain answering the question, but growing up, I was really into interested in the concept of being an Imagineer, which is imagination and engineering combined. Imagineering and they had Walt Disney Imagineering and Epcot, experimental prototype community of tomorrow.
All of these were, you know, sources of inspiration for me, for my greater why, capital W, for writing the book. so space, right? I want like, I want a positive Star Trek future, not the expanse. You know? And so that's the power of storytelling. You know, it is programming in the sense because it's through the media, but if it's done with a pure heart and an intention to
show humanity their sense of self in this grand story that we're all living in and they can see their role in place and feel like they have agency. That is my ultimate mission and goal. Rather than just watching it passively, if you know what I mean. It's giving people a sense of active co-creation with the universe.
writing their future literally. So that's the goal and in terms of space I would like us to advance even further than we are with technology and I would like there to be no cancers in the world, I would like no illnesses, no diseases, I'm sure you'd agree with me, you know and
solving all these problems that we should have already solved by now and when we have that and we have no world wars and we just like literally and we've solved the monetary systems and people operate from a place of generosity and giving rather than greed. They're profound paradigm shifts and it's not just like a personal paradigm shift. This is a
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (35:54.735)
a global paradigm shift. And the power of space is with like the ISS, you see different countries working together. And so it's a great prototype community of tomorrow, as Rick Tomlinson would say, you know, getting along on a lunar colony or a Mars colony. And we have those hero stories of seeing people work together in extremely hard conditions.
Polymath World (36:17.9)
I
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (36:20.172)
you know, but it's still a source of inspiration and their prototypes for what we should have been doing all along here already on a spaceship, Spaceship Earth. So it's a huge mission and it's going to take a village, being everybody on the planet to see themselves in this grand cosmic play that we're all living in.
Polymath World (36:40.172)
Yeah, it's great. It easily comes across how much space advocacy and science communication means to you. On that note, could you tell us a bit more about the Interstellar Foundation?
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (36:55.118)
Yeah, sure. So it's a registered nonprofit founded by Nick Sierra and they were inspired by Carl Sagan's work. We're all huge fans of Carl Sagan. And so they've done a few missions to date. They had the Aspire One mission and they worked with an amazing artist called Amy Carl. You should definitely have her on your show. And they had the Golden Archive inspired by the Golden Record. And so they worked with different astrophysicists and SETI and things like that. And so they're currently now working on Aspire.
to mission, then I was brought into the fold as artist in residence and I'm working on a different lane which is called the Inspire, not Aspire, Inspire 1.0 mission which is more about the work here on earth inspiring but then also curating and collecting archives of humanities diverse stories I'm specifically focusing on in the music and sound group and what we want to share and that will be for future partnerships that we do with different companies like LifeShare
or other opportunities that emerge where we get sponsorship because it's a non-profit.
Polymath World (38:01.175)
Awesome. Now your book is hot off the press. If people want to find out more about your book, about your work, about the Galactic Library, where should they go to find out more?
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (38:13.592)
Thank you. Great question. So the book, Vinci, The Awakening of a Divine Warrior is available in all bookstores around the world. So you can just order it in or ask your local book retailer, but it's also obviously on Amazon. And it's also on my website for limited edition signed copies. And my website is galactayascence.world. And I will spell that.
Polymath World (38:39.03)
Yeah, you might have to spell it.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (38:41.122)
G-A-L-A-C-T-A-I-S-S-A-N-C-E dot world. And that stands for Galaxy Artistic Intelligence and Renaissance. And so I made up a word just like they were doing Disney, like supercalifragilisticexpialidocious because words are energy and I'm creating a sacred container for the dreamers, the believers and the doers for this new space Renaissance era.
Polymath World (39:09.416)
Excellent and how about you, your movements, your music, all of that? Where can they find you?
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (39:17.718)
Right, yeah, so vinci.com, V-N-C-C-I-I.com, and I'm also on Spotify if you like to listen to my music. And and the book comes with a companion debut album as well. That's kind of cool, course.
Polymath World (39:31.66)
Because you had so much free time.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (39:36.704)
Yeah, lockdown.
Polymath World (39:39.404)
Amazing. I just before we go I'd love the floor is yours. We're inspiring all the budding young science fiction writers or people who've got that pent up creativity. What's your advice for people who want to get into science fiction or want to try and write a story like you've done?
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (39:47.982)
Mm-hmm.
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (40:00.974)
Write from your heart and find your unique voice because there's no one else out there on this planet that we know of, unless it's a clone, but I don't think so, like you. Like you're one of one. You are unique. Celebrate your uniqueness. Be authentic and don't be afraid to dream big and don't be afraid...
to envision a positive future because with everything we're seeing in the media it can feel really scary and really fearful but it it's a choice it's a creative choice to go against the current and to think beyond and to think longer term scale horizons and to think about what gift you want to leave for your future self but also the future of humanity.
Polymath World (40:55.944)
Amazing great words. Thank you so much for joining us today It's been wonderful to have you on to talk about your your amazing journey and and this fantastic mission happening With the galactic library and I hope people keep an eye out for it and it gets more press But thanks a million. It's always a pleasure catching up with you Sam
Samantha Tauber (VNCCII) (41:13.624)
Thank you. Honored to be on your show, Sam.