> Purpose of the flag 1. To be used while representing planet Earth.
Whoever you are, you do not represent the planet Earth. At most perhaps you represent some fraction of one species on the planet. To claim otherwise is a kind of colonialism. It is no more justified when you do it than when a queen or pope does it.
And if in some bizarre scifi scenario you come to represent the planet Earth in some sense ... wouldn't it be better to just use a picture of Earth? It's quite distinctive.
I think the point isn't to lay claim to representing planet earth, the point is to unite people on earth to stop the tribalism and bickering over trivial crap. We are a pale blue dot in a sea of blackness and the world would be a better place if everyone thought we were on the same team.
“People on earth” is a pretty huge group, but I think given the right kind of publicity, a fraction of them could find themselves united in their dislike of the purveyors of that flag.
I would assume tribalism comes from conflict over limited resources, and not because everyone failed to agree on a logo. I would also assume that there are forces that benefit and profit from fomenting and hosting this "bickering" and simply draping some new bunting over the whole mess isn't going to change much.
Maybe some of the tribalism is due to fighting over limited resources but I don't think it can solely be blamed in a society of plenty like the United States and other places.
I don't believe the overview effect is made up. Simply doing nothing and letting it continue seems like a shit option. Anything that attempts to give people better context to unite instead of divide seems worth while to me.
So then I suppose the Earth flag will be for the people who are willing to share the Earth, and the non-Earth flags can be for those who do not wish to share.
Yep, until there is a planet threatening asteroid or an alien invasion or a clusterfuck of a climate crisis. It is easy to see coming together for an immediate crisis but I don't understand why a slow moving trainwreck crisis doesn't convince everyone that we're all human beings in this together and that we as a species would be better off in the long run to be on the same team.
Can I just legally claim the Earth? Under the Outer Space Treaty no nation can claim a heavenly body, but it doesn't discount a person from doing so: thus the selling of Moon land was born.
So, I'm laying my stake right now. Right here. I am your new Galactic Overlord.
I will give you all 14 days to pack your belongings and leave. I have sold the Earth and a new hyperspace bypass is being built and your continued presence is an inconvenience. I will leave the plans posted at Alpha Centauri for you to read at your leisure. I also put them online here:
Site claims to be non-profit, but links to a site selling the flag they're advertising. Hmm...
In the FAQ:
"The creator and chief designer, Oskar Pernefeldt, holds the copyrights to the proposed The International Flag of Planet Earth. The reason for this is simple; to protect the integrity of the flag as it is introduced to the public domain. Just as a national flag of any kind is protected by the government agencies behind its creation, we have chosen to keep it this way for the same purpose."
IANAL, so I can't say it works "everywhere", but CC0 was created to give up as many restrictions in as many jurisdictions as possible:
> CC0 helps solve this problem by giving creators a way to waive all their copyright and related rights in their works to the fullest extent allowed by law. CC0 is a universal instrument that is not adapted to the laws of any particular legal jurisdiction, similar to many open source software licenses. And while no tool, not even CC0, can guarantee a complete relinquishment of all copyright and database rights in every jurisdiction, we believe it provides the best and most complete alternative for contributing a work to the public domain given the many complex and diverse copyright and database systems around the world.
B) This one is aiming to be a 501(c)(4), which is very different than a 501(c)(3), making its sells even less potentially controversial
C) Its not even selling the flags anyway, so A) and B) are not relevant, it states that they don't sell the flags but distributors do.
D) A for-profit can sell a product advertised by a non-profit
E) None of these distinctions matter even if it wasn't true, because of A) a non-profit can sell products if it wanted to. Profit has nothing to do with being a non-profit.
The flag of planet earth should be like the flag of planet earth in sci-fi and comic strips... a white silhouette of the globe against a medium blue background
Nahhhh. Just looks like they ran out of ideas and remixed the Olympics logo
I like the one in Seveneves more
> Selecting the color scheme had consumed resources equivalent to the gross domestic product of a medium-sized country. They had settled on a thin red line down the center, symbolizing the bloodline of the human race, flanked by bands of white, symbolizing starlight, flanked by bands of green, symbolizing the ecosystem that would keep the Arkies alive, flanked by bands of blue, symbolizing water, and, finally, edged by bands of black, symbolizing space. The discussion had been as lively as the results were complicated. Black symbolized death to Westerners, white symbolized it to Chinese, and so on. This design offended everybody.
I immediately thought of the Flower of Life [1]. The symbol on the flag is a rotated, stylized version of the 7-circle rosette seen on that page. Lots of spiritual connotations.
...looks like some fusion of Gaiam Inc. logo and Olympic rings.
International flag to display where? Everywhere on Earth? Or only in places/countries which recognize to be part of ... Earth? On the orbit, least being confused to be interlopers?
I get it, the creators may be trying to be pro-active for the time Mars or/and Moon get colonized, or the worst case - Aliens drop by and refuse to stay quiet, thus we won't get confused who's who in the parking lot.
Here we go again: 'God-fearing Earthlings, unite under the flag to purge the unfaithful heteroplanetarians!"
Isn’t the flag of the UN the current flag of the Earth?
Almost every country has at least observer status (except for Taiwan, Kosovo, Western Sahara, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and North Cyprus).
Much like any other organization, the UN does not represent the values of many people around the world. In the same way, I don’t feel like my government completely represents my values. At the same time, I’m able to appreciate my country’s flag because, to me, it doesn’t just stand for my country’s government, but also my country’s culture and my fellow countrypeople. I think the same thing goes for the UN - to me, it represents everyone on Earth.
Save for Taiwan and Kosovo, these are all territories which are still disputed, not just rhetorically, but practically. For example, while the PRC claims Taiwan as a territory, they’re not currently trying to exert any control over it. In contrast, Turkish troops in North Cyprus are in a standoff with Greece.
> We should just adopt Star Trek’s Federation flag.
The Federation flag is itself an adaptation of the UN flag to represent a union of planets in space instead of nations on Earth (and the Federation is basically a Space UN where the unified military command actually was implemented), so...just use the UN flag for Earth?
The UN is not a great example because the five permanent members of the security council can veto any resolution, essentially making it unable to fully function as a governance body.
> The UN is not a great example because the five permanent members of the security council can veto any resolution
Any security council resolution, sure.
> essentially making it unable to fully function as a governance body.
The UN has many problems, but not having a way to adopt policy in the presence of a security council deadlock was only even arguably one of them for less than five years after the Charter was ratified, prior to the explicit adoption of a General Assembly bypass for Security Council deadlocks in the Uniting for Peace resolution which has been used repeatedly since it's adoption.
Love that one! My first thought was “we’ve already got one, you see; it’s very nice.”
When I decided to start flying flags a few years back, I got one of these. Good conversation starter with the neighbors. (And my Kerbals always flew their missions under this flag, too!)
My opinion is that these are awful. Mercury and Venus especially are so close that with printing margins and color-calibration issues, you'll never ever be able to tell them apart in real life.
Esperanto is similarly futile. But at least you have fun learning about linguistics, arguably have an easier time learning subsequent natural languages, and might get to interact with other people online or in meetups that you wouldn't be able to communicate with otherwise.
This is just... a flag. That you stare at for about 5-10 seconds, before realizing that flags only work as a uniting force when they exclude other groups.
69 comments
[ 2.2 ms ] story [ 153 ms ] threadWhat's the current percentage of humans who identify as first-Earthers?
So, Musk et al, get crackin'.
Whoever you are, you do not represent the planet Earth. At most perhaps you represent some fraction of one species on the planet. To claim otherwise is a kind of colonialism. It is no more justified when you do it than when a queen or pope does it.
And if in some bizarre scifi scenario you come to represent the planet Earth in some sense ... wouldn't it be better to just use a picture of Earth? It's quite distinctive.
I don't believe the overview effect is made up. Simply doing nothing and letting it continue seems like a shit option. Anything that attempts to give people better context to unite instead of divide seems worth while to me.
The 'everything flag' will mostly mean the 'USA + kind of China and sometimes UK/EU/Japan' flag.
The nations on the other side won't be on the flag.
(Or it’s some cool cloth display that shows a rotating version in realtime.)
That’s genius!
And it's not inclusive of those who do not identify as being from Earth, it denies their identity, and therefore is a form of violence against them.
"wouldn't it be better to just use a picture of Earth?"
And what about those members of our Universal Community who are vision-impaired ?!?
Aliens will think of us as colonialist, cis-planetary, ableist bigots, we don't want that.
So, I'm laying my stake right now. Right here. I am your new Galactic Overlord.
I will give you all 14 days to pack your belongings and leave. I have sold the Earth and a new hyperspace bypass is being built and your continued presence is an inconvenience. I will leave the plans posted at Alpha Centauri for you to read at your leisure. I also put them online here:
http://alphacentauri.milkyway.deptoftransport.universe/earth...
In the FAQ:
"The creator and chief designer, Oskar Pernefeldt, holds the copyrights to the proposed The International Flag of Planet Earth. The reason for this is simple; to protect the integrity of the flag as it is introduced to the public domain. Just as a national flag of any kind is protected by the government agencies behind its creation, we have chosen to keep it this way for the same purpose."
Hmmmmmm...
https://earthflag.org/
> Not sure that works everywhere.
IANAL, so I can't say it works "everywhere", but CC0 was created to give up as many restrictions in as many jurisdictions as possible:
> CC0 helps solve this problem by giving creators a way to waive all their copyright and related rights in their works to the fullest extent allowed by law. CC0 is a universal instrument that is not adapted to the laws of any particular legal jurisdiction, similar to many open source software licenses. And while no tool, not even CC0, can guarantee a complete relinquishment of all copyright and database rights in every jurisdiction, we believe it provides the best and most complete alternative for contributing a work to the public domain given the many complex and diverse copyright and database systems around the world.
* https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc...
If you are concerned about a particular jurisdiction, CC has national chapters that perhaps have more localized information:
* https://network.creativecommons.org/chapter/
B) This one is aiming to be a 501(c)(4), which is very different than a 501(c)(3), making its sells even less potentially controversial
C) Its not even selling the flags anyway, so A) and B) are not relevant, it states that they don't sell the flags but distributors do.
D) A for-profit can sell a product advertised by a non-profit
E) None of these distinctions matter even if it wasn't true, because of A) a non-profit can sell products if it wanted to. Profit has nothing to do with being a non-profit.
This one just looks dumb
And make the silhouette drawn with stars, one for every country.
https://youtu.be/UTduy7Qkvk8
Given that some countries are dropping metal flags on the arctic seabed just to claim the mineral rights, I’m sure it’ll be a source of much drama.
I like the one in Seveneves more
> Selecting the color scheme had consumed resources equivalent to the gross domestic product of a medium-sized country. They had settled on a thin red line down the center, symbolizing the bloodline of the human race, flanked by bands of white, symbolizing starlight, flanked by bands of green, symbolizing the ecosystem that would keep the Arkies alive, flanked by bands of blue, symbolizing water, and, finally, edged by bands of black, symbolizing space. The discussion had been as lively as the results were complicated. Black symbolized death to Westerners, white symbolized it to Chinese, and so on. This design offended everybody.
Bit of a Douglas Adams moment for Neal Stephenson there. Seveneves is a good read by the way.
So... The flag will be generated on the blockchain as a NFT? Talk about a waste of a waste of resources :)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overlapping_circles_grid#Moder...
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/enfuturama/images/f/f2/Zoi...
Your link just shows me a gray box.
https://i.redd.it/5e9h3s9tokw71.jpg
International flag to display where? Everywhere on Earth? Or only in places/countries which recognize to be part of ... Earth? On the orbit, least being confused to be interlopers?
I get it, the creators may be trying to be pro-active for the time Mars or/and Moon get colonized, or the worst case - Aliens drop by and refuse to stay quiet, thus we won't get confused who's who in the parking lot.
Here we go again: 'God-fearing Earthlings, unite under the flag to purge the unfaithful heteroplanetarians!"
Almost every country has at least observer status (except for Taiwan, Kosovo, Western Sahara, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and North Cyprus).
Much like any other organization, the UN does not represent the values of many people around the world. In the same way, I don’t feel like my government completely represents my values. At the same time, I’m able to appreciate my country’s flag because, to me, it doesn’t just stand for my country’s government, but also my country’s culture and my fellow countrypeople. I think the same thing goes for the UN - to me, it represents everyone on Earth.
Save for Taiwan and Kosovo, these are all territories which are still disputed, not just rhetorically, but practically. For example, while the PRC claims Taiwan as a territory, they’re not currently trying to exert any control over it. In contrast, Turkish troops in North Cyprus are in a standoff with Greece.
The Federation flag is itself an adaptation of the UN flag to represent a union of planets in space instead of nations on Earth (and the Federation is basically a Space UN where the unified military command actually was implemented), so...just use the UN flag for Earth?
Any security council resolution, sure.
> essentially making it unable to fully function as a governance body.
The UN has many problems, but not having a way to adopt policy in the presence of a security council deadlock was only even arguably one of them for less than five years after the Charter was ratified, prior to the explicit adoption of a General Assembly bypass for Security Council deadlocks in the Uniting for Peace resolution which has been used repeatedly since it's adoption.
When I decided to start flying flags a few years back, I got one of these. Good conversation starter with the neighbors. (And my Kerbals always flew their missions under this flag, too!)
It's an (open source) system of flags for the entire solar system.
This is just... a flag. That you stare at for about 5-10 seconds, before realizing that flags only work as a uniting force when they exclude other groups.
Still have it on my laptop.
Anyone else who did the same? :)