So here's the actual problem: People. People want to escape Earth because of people. But escaping Earth is impossible alone, so you have to escape with other people ... which means you're bringing along with you every single problem you are trying to escape from.
We'll never escape each other, we can only learn to live with each other, wherever we are.
Incidentally, The Expanse is a fantastic sci-fi book series and tv series that covers this beautifully.
The right way to do this is to take a few decades to reconfigure the human mind for practical spacefaring.
For our first generations it will be primitive and absolutely nothing like your pathetic (needy) life on earth. Everything will be structured, every droplet of water, gradient of heat, and pulse of power will be precious to you, even if everything is prefect and plenty nearly all of the time.
The trick to spacefaring is not to “go somewhere” though one will naturally do these things. The life of spacefaring is to live a completely naturalized habitation in any environment at scale.
So start with the oceans and underground self centering habitations.
And that other guy is right about “people getting away from people”. The first person one must learn to deal with is themselves!
If you hate humans so much that you want to leave the planet you maybe need help from a professional, though to be frank most mental health professionals will probably make it worse.
It all sounds very unpleasant, but most of the nasty stuff described in TFA is the result of living in zero gravity. That is a solved problem: build a rotating space station to create artificial gravity. It probably “just” requires a trillion dollars. But if we collectively wanted it, we could have it.
The two problems called out here that wouldn’t be solved with that are the smell (not dangerous, live with it) and the radiation (very nasty indeed).
I always assumed they keep them super busy because, for me at least, if I had time to contemplate where I am I would become very anxious. Do they keep a supply of anti-anxiety meds on board just-in-case?
A City on Mars by Zach Weinersmith goes over a lot of these points and many others, like politics and laws of space. Like the title of this article, the tldr is "life in space would suck".
Suni and Butch have been on the ground since March, but the article mentions that "Stranded NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have been living aboard the ISS for 170 days since their departure from Earth on June 5."
Compare space flight/living to signing up to work on an age of exploration clipper ship. Compare scurvy to the various ailments enumerated in the article.
Some small fraction of people are willing to live in discomfort. Either to seek fame and fortune or just because as their status-quo lives aren't fulfilling. Most of these people are men.
> I looked in the opposite direction, into space, there was no mystery, no majestic awe to behold . . . all I saw was death.
> I saw a cold, dark, black emptiness. It was unlike any blackness you can see or feel on Earth. It was deep, enveloping, all-encompassing. I turned back toward the light of home. I could see the curvature of Earth, the beige of the desert, the white of the clouds and the blue of the sky. It was life. Nurturing, sustaining, life. Mother Earth. Gaia. And I was leaving her.
Early Elon talks about spreading consciousness to Mars.
Later he changed the wording and started talking about sending humans to Mars by the millions.
I think the plan all along has been that these “humans” will be human successor humans, in other words next generation humans, in other words sentient robots enough like us to be basically human in some sense in Elon’s mind. Enough that he can fudge the words. And sure some humans will go as well. A few.
But why? Why fudge the words?
The answer is pretty obvious. If most people realized what the real plan was, the level of alarm would make the whole thing unsellable. To government, to employees, to investors.. he has to play down the sentient robot part until the overton window shifts and people get used to the idea of AI humanoids being ok.
The alternative theory that everyone seems to believe, that Elon envisions millions of meatbags, adjusted to Earth by millions of years of evolution, flourishing on Mars, seems bonkers in comparison to what I’ve just said. Maybe I’m the bonkers one though? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
Some people may be motivated by a wish to escape other people, but many will want to go to space because it's so cool. In other words: for adventure, romance and blazing a trail for other people to follow.
Having the right spirit and the right motivation creates mental well-being, not material or social conditions. By those standards, medieval life was far worse than today, but I don't think the people then were less happy or less motivated than people today. Quite the reverse.
I think the title of the original article itself should be changed to "Too bad life in International Space Station would suck", as many examples are based on ISS experience.
If your vessel can do constant 1G acceleration/de-acceleration like those in The Expanse, then many problems mentioned in the article will simply not exist. For example: you never shower because gravity problems, toilet is hard to use also because of gravity problems, body fluids problem (including pee) is also because of gravity.
So I guess you just need is to wait for someone to invent Epstein Drive, and then you're good too go. Or, you can just take a walk in the park see if it reduces the urge, it's free and you can do it right now.
Frankly I wouldn't mind going on a one-way trip into deep space. Heck I'd volunteer right now.
Don't have to go to a planet, just fly by and drift through.
Actual eyes and hands on a craft can observe more directly and in real time compared to remotely controlled instruments, so the trip would provide scientific benefits for the rest of humanity too.
I don't need to eat a lot. Just give me a fast internet connection.
In fact I'm surprised there aren't any projects like this.
> The way fluids redistribute themselves in space is also why astronauts can’t burp without throwing up — the contents of their stomach become evenly pressed to the sides of the organ instead of settling at the bottom.
Interesting. Is it literally throwing? I'm not sure this article is authoritative enough, but would like to know details.
19 comments
[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 34.7 ms ] threadIn fact it’s cold as hell
And there’s no one there to raise them if you did
- Rocket Man
We'll never escape each other, we can only learn to live with each other, wherever we are.
Incidentally, The Expanse is a fantastic sci-fi book series and tv series that covers this beautifully.
For our first generations it will be primitive and absolutely nothing like your pathetic (needy) life on earth. Everything will be structured, every droplet of water, gradient of heat, and pulse of power will be precious to you, even if everything is prefect and plenty nearly all of the time.
The trick to spacefaring is not to “go somewhere” though one will naturally do these things. The life of spacefaring is to live a completely naturalized habitation in any environment at scale.
So start with the oceans and underground self centering habitations.
And that other guy is right about “people getting away from people”. The first person one must learn to deal with is themselves!
The two problems called out here that wouldn’t be solved with that are the smell (not dangerous, live with it) and the radiation (very nasty indeed).
Suni and Butch have been on the ground since March, but the article mentions that "Stranded NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have been living aboard the ISS for 170 days since their departure from Earth on June 5."
Some small fraction of people are willing to live in discomfort. Either to seek fame and fortune or just because as their status-quo lives aren't fulfilling. Most of these people are men.
> I saw a cold, dark, black emptiness. It was unlike any blackness you can see or feel on Earth. It was deep, enveloping, all-encompassing. I turned back toward the light of home. I could see the curvature of Earth, the beige of the desert, the white of the clouds and the blue of the sky. It was life. Nurturing, sustaining, life. Mother Earth. Gaia. And I was leaving her.
Later he changed the wording and started talking about sending humans to Mars by the millions.
I think the plan all along has been that these “humans” will be human successor humans, in other words next generation humans, in other words sentient robots enough like us to be basically human in some sense in Elon’s mind. Enough that he can fudge the words. And sure some humans will go as well. A few.
But why? Why fudge the words?
The answer is pretty obvious. If most people realized what the real plan was, the level of alarm would make the whole thing unsellable. To government, to employees, to investors.. he has to play down the sentient robot part until the overton window shifts and people get used to the idea of AI humanoids being ok.
The alternative theory that everyone seems to believe, that Elon envisions millions of meatbags, adjusted to Earth by millions of years of evolution, flourishing on Mars, seems bonkers in comparison to what I’ve just said. Maybe I’m the bonkers one though? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
Some people may be motivated by a wish to escape other people, but many will want to go to space because it's so cool. In other words: for adventure, romance and blazing a trail for other people to follow.
Having the right spirit and the right motivation creates mental well-being, not material or social conditions. By those standards, medieval life was far worse than today, but I don't think the people then were less happy or less motivated than people today. Quite the reverse.
If your vessel can do constant 1G acceleration/de-acceleration like those in The Expanse, then many problems mentioned in the article will simply not exist. For example: you never shower because gravity problems, toilet is hard to use also because of gravity problems, body fluids problem (including pee) is also because of gravity.
So I guess you just need is to wait for someone to invent Epstein Drive, and then you're good too go. Or, you can just take a walk in the park see if it reduces the urge, it's free and you can do it right now.
Don't have to go to a planet, just fly by and drift through.
Actual eyes and hands on a craft can observe more directly and in real time compared to remotely controlled instruments, so the trip would provide scientific benefits for the rest of humanity too.
I don't need to eat a lot. Just give me a fast internet connection.
In fact I'm surprised there aren't any projects like this.
Interesting. Is it literally throwing? I'm not sure this article is authoritative enough, but would like to know details.