Onwards and Upwards!

What I want out of the State

By Peter Banks · April 6, 2025 · Updated August 24, 2026 · Read on Substack

Summary: Peter Banks argues that America faces existential crises created by transformative computer technology, including artificial intelligence risks, and that humanity's only insurance against extinction is space colonization. He proposes that America should undergo political and civic rejuvenation oriented toward settling space with the fervor that Iberian nations pursued historical exploration, leveraging its unique political flexibility and infrastructure. Banks contends that such an endeavor requires citizens to accept material sacrifice and meaningful struggle toward honest, collective goals rather than individual comfort—a pursuit he sees as the authentic meaning of existence and the true calling of his generation.

The purpose of this second blog is for me to work through ideas I don’t feel are fully formed, but whose shape I have in my mind. Today I wanted to reflect a little on what I actually positively believe about the world. And specifically what I would like the State to pursue.

Me explaining my esoteric political beliefs to 100 subscribers

Principally, I think that America is facing many simultaneous crises as a result of the profound way computers have changed Human life - front of mind recently the reality that P(Doom) is inching up by the day. We happen to face this crisis while America, like Spain in the 17th century, is a civilization whose motivating ideological force is spent.

Given that I attach an almost unlimited moral weight to the future survival of Life - what else could possibly have moral value? The fact that these crises have the possibility of ending complex life leads me to take them extremely seriously. It also happens to be true that the obvious insurance against these risk vectors is to scatter our species into the inky void of space. If Humanity dies on Earth right now - from one of a number of disasters - it is over, making that no longer true is a moral imperative of the highest degree.1

I appreciate that how, exactly, we achieve this Human scattering is rocky and ambiguous, but this is all the more reason we should clearly set our intentions towards it. We cannot simply hope it will emerge as the natural product of other values - for example maximizing our lifetime discounted utility.

The path that I see to accomplishing this goal is one built around America. Specifically, a rejuvenated American Nation with a civic religion bent soul and purpose towards the goal of settling Space - with the same fervor the Iberians had in their quest for conquest. America, alone among the countries in the world, has the experience, the infrastructure, and the security to accomplish something on this scale. But above that, we also have a uniquely flexible political system which can be set towards any objective - in an orderly and thoughtful manner - if it is what the citizens want. Our Golden Age is already fading and we have spent the last 50 years twiddling our epicurean thumbs in search of more and more complex toys and distractions. We should get to work in this twilight before the sun sets and our species is again thrown to the winds of chance.

I’m not going to pretend this will happen, or that any political party will ever run on it, but it is what I would do if I had power and should be thought of—at least for now, we all change—as the benchmark against which I assess all policies. It is my Sharia law, so to speak. Perhaps even my GDP per capita…2

Since the purpose of this movement is not to achieve Utopia on Earth but our mere long-run survival, the facts of Human nature must be taken for granted and accepted as a part of life. Among these is the Human tendency for tribal loyalty and the Human desire for the success of our biological descendants. Since the only way we have any hope of achieving my goal is through the willing sacrifice of individuals for the success of the group properly motivating the individual is the central problem.

Success would almost certainly require the vast majority of this country accepting that our lives will be materially poorer and more difficult than they are today. Not because our productive and creative abilities are left untended but because they are focused on a goal other than material comfort, specifically, the expansion of America. I believe that Space colonization centered around American Nationalism is compatible with our instincts in a way one based around abstract ideals like Secular Humanism is not.3

But I would argue that struggle is the meaning of life and our short flash of existence - sandwiched between twin eternities of silence - can either be Lived or LARP’d. I, for one, intend to live it.

The Greatest Generation of Americans (born at the turn of the 20th century) lived through Depression and War but built the post-War utopia whose prosperity we live in today. It was their struggle and overcoming against the Nazis and the Soviets that turned our elites during that era into what they were. It has been the lack of struggle that has decayed them—on both left and right—into what they are today. All leisure aristocracies rot in the limit. Our politicians and professional yappers invent nonsense as we drift into disrepair. More and more of intellectual and political life is devoted to obvious distractions and lies. The recent Trump insanity is only the tip of the iceberg (I know 5 years is a long time, but we ought not forget Covid). With the Denial of Death eating at the heart of our society like a worm.

I think a point of basic disagreement with my most liberal friends has been my deep feeling that society is in fact in decline. I hope that we can now all agree - in light of the most recent chicanery - this is true. I see a not small amount of cope online that perhaps as we get poorer, our lives will become more difficult and in response the rot I’ve described will be reversed.

To this I would simply invite you to look at the poor in the world today and tell me if their elite classes are more virtuous than ours. No, we can sink all the way to the bottom with the Congo if we aren’t careful.

Struggle alone is insufficient. Instead, for struggle to be virtuous, it must be real, it must be towards honest goals. Of course, lies and trickery do abound; in ideologies, above all in the more advanced decaying stages of ideologies, but lies were never the originating influence. They are not the health and life of such things, but their disease, and a sign their being about to die! Lies give birth to nothing; they give death to all things. It is our sole duty as Men to sweep them out of our thoughts as out of our practice.4

I sincerely believe however that this goal - the conquest and colonization of our Universe - is not a lie. It is the principle calling of our Time, the thing that when millennia pass will be remembered, not ups and downs of the Current Thing(TM).

I don’t have specific policy recommendations beyond the stuff I yap about extensively online. But I do believe that if the purpose is to conquer Space, there are directional policy objectives. Namely, a substantial shift of our public finances away from transfers to investment in fundamental technology and space-oriented manufacturing, the sidelining of cultural issues as divisive5, and avoiding foreign entanglements as much as possible - without creating a global power vacuum which pulls us into its vortex.

More than anything though, what I would like is us as a society to see the awesome duty that stands before us. A lack of willingness to pursue the obvious meaning of our Time is different from an absence of meaning. If we, the Zoomers, can pull this off, we will go down in history as the most impressive generation of Humans to ever grace our small blue orb. We will leave the mark of our time and our values onto all eternity, and the entire Universe will be to America what the Americas are to Iberia. Onwards and Upwards!

As we look around the Galaxy, it is becoming increasingly probable we are totally alone in the Universe.

Which is another way of saying average utility

As much as a moralist may wish they were.

Heavily paragraphing Carlyle here.

Implicitly the acceptance of Human nature as basically fixed and an aversion to Utopian projects of social reform.

Frequently asked questions

Why does Peter Banks connect computer-enabled crises to the necessity of space colonization?

Banks argues that computers have created multiple simultaneous existential crises, particularly the rising probability of artificial intelligence leading to human extinction. He believes establishing civilization in space is a moral imperative because it serves as insurance against total extinction if Earth faces catastrophe from these or other disasters. The author attaches unlimited moral weight to humanity's long-term survival, making this the only goal that could possibly have higher moral value.

How does Peter Banks justify comparing American space colonization to Iberian historical exploration?

Banks argues that America should pursue space settlement with the same national fervor and purpose that the Iberians demonstrated during their age of exploration and conquest. He believes America uniquely possesses the experience, infrastructure, and security to accomplish cosmic expansion at the civilizational scale required. In his conclusion, he states explicitly that the entire Universe will bear the same relationship to America that the Americas bear to Iberia.

What does Peter Banks identify as the root cause of American elite decay?

Banks contends that the Greatest Generation endured Depression and War, which forged their virtue and produced the post-war prosperity Americans enjoy today. The lack of meaningful struggle has caused subsequent elites on both left and right to decay, leading them to invent distractions and lies while society drifts into disrepair. He argues that all leisure aristocracies inevitably rot, and that current political and intellectual life is increasingly devoted to obvious distractions rather than honest purposes.

Why does Peter Banks reject Secular Humanism in favor of American Nationalism for motivating space colonization?

Banks argues that humans are fundamentally motivated by tribal loyalty and desire for their biological descendants' success, natural instincts that space colonization centered on American Nationalism can properly harness. Secular Humanism, based on abstract ideals, lacks the deep motivational power to inspire the willing sacrifice of individuals for collective goals that space colonization would require. He states this is a point of basic disagreement with his liberal friends regarding how to motivate sustained civilizational effort.

Does Peter Banks believe economic hardship alone will restore virtue to American society?

No. Banks explicitly rejects the idea that economic decline would reverse the rot in American elites, noting that contemporary poor nations do not demonstrate more virtuous leadership than wealthy America. He argues that struggle alone is insufficient—the struggle must be directed toward honest, real goals to be virtuous and transformative. Without meaningful purpose, poverty would simply allow America to sink to the same level of dysfunction as the Congo.

What specific policy directions does Peter Banks advocate to enable space colonization?

Banks recommends substantially shifting public finances away from social transfers toward investment in fundamental technology and space-oriented manufacturing. He advocates sidelining cultural issues as divisive, implicitly accepting human nature as fixed and rejecting Utopian social reform projects. Additionally, he proposes avoiding foreign entanglements whenever possible, except when necessary to prevent global power vacuums that could pull America into unwanted conflicts.

How does Peter Banks define the philosophical meaning he assigns to human existence?

Banks argues that struggle is the essential meaning of human life, and that human existence sandwiched between eternities of silence can either be truly Lived or merely LARP'd. He emphasizes that meaning requires authentic pursuit of honest goals rather than lies and distractions, stating that lies generate only death while real purpose generates legacy. He contends that space colonization represents the true calling of his generation, a goal that will be remembered millennia from now as defining the era.

Selected quotes

Given that I attach an almost unlimited moral weight to the future survival of Life - what else could possibly have moral value?

Banks establishes the foundational moral principle that prioritizes humanity's long-term survival above all other ethical considerations.

But I would argue that struggle is the meaning of life and our short flash of existence - sandwiched between twin eternities of silence - can either be Lived or LARP'd.

The author articulates his philosophical conviction that authentic existence requires genuine struggle toward real goals rather than performance of meaning.

Success would almost certainly require the vast majority of this country accepting that our lives will be materially poorer and more difficult than they are today.

Banks describes the sacrifice that space colonization would demand from the American population.

We will leave the mark of our time and our values onto all eternity, and the entire Universe will be to America what the Americas are to Iberia.

In his conclusion, Banks articulates the historical legacy and scope that his generation could achieve through space colonization.

Frequently asked questions

Selected quotes

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