I was watching The Expanse on Amazon Prime. Not exactly something worth writing home about, but it stirred a thought in me: perhaps, in the future, family won’t just mean blood relatives but also the people we work with.

In the Ramayana, Ram’s wife Sita and his brother Lakshman chose to stay by his side during his exile, even though they didn’t have to. Together, they endured hardships and emerged stronger. Similarly, in The Expanse, a group of people on a mission across the galaxy sticks together. They trust that their team, the people they call family, will have their back, come to their rescue, and pull them out of trouble. This faith gives them the strength and courage to face uncharted territory.

Maybe that’s what humanity will need in the future. As we travel to distant planets, the people we go with probably won’t be related to us by blood. They’ll come from different families, different civilisations, and different countries. But if they share a common purpose, and have faith that those alongside them will stand by them. Perhaps that will be enough to create a new kind of family and take us into the new world.