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2025 - Volume 9 - Number 2

Earthrise: A Commentary on Planetary Emancipation and Freedom

Tory Schendel-Vyvoda * ORCID: 0000-0001-8670-7450
Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts, Portland, UNITED STATES

Open Journal for Studies in Philosophy, 2025, 9(2), 77-92 * https://doi.org/10.32591/coas.ojsp.0902.03077s
Received: 18 July 2025 ▪ Revised: 27 October 2025 ▪ Accepted: 10 November 2025

LICENCE: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

ARTICLE (Full Text - PDF)

ABSTRACT:
Since the invention of mass communication, humans have developed technological advancements that have created non-human elements, enabling humans to physically leave the planet. With these new technological mediums, can one say that humans are experiencing a new level of planetary freedom? While technology allows for virtual engagement, it does not provide true planetary freedom. Therefore, I argue that acts of human defiance in technological environments are essential to challenge Earth-centric perspectives to achieve planetary freedom. To support this argument, I will examine the biblical exodus pattern to highlight the differences between planetary emancipation and freedom, emphasizing the role of defiance- or the refusal to obey a specific command or a chain of command- in driving the possibilities of emancipation. I will analyze significant techno-cosmic events, such as Sputnik, Lunar Orbiter 1, Apollo 8, and the photographic image of Earthrise, to illustrate how acts of human technological defiance have challenged previous Earth-centric views and the exodus pattern. Finally, I will examine the presence of human defiance within global interconnectivity—the noosphere. This investigation explores engagement with global human and non-human agents to reorganize life systems that foster new ways of thinking and shaping identity for humans in the twenty-first century.

KEY WORDS: global consciousness, freedom, Apollo 8, Earthrise, noosphere.

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR:
Tory Schendel-Vyvoda, Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts, Portland, UNITED STATES.

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