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A brief history of people losing their minds in Antarctica

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Re: A brief history of people losing their minds in Antarctica

#11
Future of space explorations for sure. Similar situation portrayed in Ad Astra (2019) where the main hero's father have gotten stranded on a space station on the edge of the solar system for many years and went insane.

Humans are delicate machines. Gotta know how to keep the monkey happy.

Re: A brief history of people losing their minds in Antarctica

#13
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On a single usb stick we have interactive games and all human knowledge available, I think mars explorers will be just fine.

Not everyone's a gamer, and even those that are get bored with games after a while. There are even fewer readers than gamers, and even those that are get bored with reading after a while. Many people want to go outside and do something every now and then... but on the way to/from Mars there's nowhere to go, and every moment you're in space you know that on the other side of thin shield of metal lies death. Sure, peop…

> Many people want to go outside and do something every now and then... but on the way to/from Mars there's nowhere to go, and every moment you're in space you know that on the other side of thin shield of metal lies death.

Not much changes when you get there, too. I think at best we will have something like McMurdo Station, for researchers on 2-3 year stints. Maybe less, since the round-trip is long and cosmic rays remain a significant health concern even when you are on Mars itself—no appreciable magnetic field and no ozone layer.

Even when you're there, excursions will be limited and planned well in advance, probably not much different from spacewalks today. The rest of the time you'll be in a tiny underground bunker.

Under current projections, anybody who took a trip to Mars with a ~1 year stay would exceed their lifetime radiation allowance, and would never be able to fly again. (Assuming a solar flare doesn't kill you mid-trip. Unlikely, we think, but possible.) If you're the first astronaut, or even the first dozen, this might be worth it. After that, though...? I'm sure there would be no shortage of volunteers, but we won't just need bodies, we'll need talented scientists at the top of their game who are physically and mentally healthy enough to make the trip in the first place.

Re: A brief history of people losing their minds in Antarctica

#16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everyone's a gamer, and even those that are get bored with games after a while. There are even fewer readers than gamers, and even those that are get bored with reading after a while. Many people want to go outside and do something every now and then... but on the way to/from Mars there's nowhere to go, and every moment you're in space you know that on the other side of thin shield of metal lies death. Sure, peop…

> Many people want to go outside and do something every now and then... but on the way to/from Mars there's nowhere to go, and every moment you're in space you know that on the other side of thin shield of metal lies death. Not much changes when you get there, too. I think at best we will have something like McMurdo Station, for researchers on 2-3 year stints. Maybe less, since the round-trip is long and cosmic rays…

"we'll need talented scientists at the top of their game who are physically and mentally healthy enough to make the trip in the first place."

From what I understand, the science can be done better with robots and probes anyway. So I'm not sure scientists are even necessary.

But they will need dedicated, motivated, fit, and mentally stable people willing to risk and possibly give up their lives.

Re: A brief history of people losing their minds in Antarctica

#17
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the COVID-19 pandemic has shown a lot of us that actual physical isolation from others can be much more detrimental to our mental well-being than we thought, even for those of us who were already used to being on our own for prolonged periods of time.

> I think the COVID-19 pandemic has shown a lot of us that actual physical isolation from others can be much more detrimental to our mental well-being than we thought. Can you site source for this claim, I do not see any detrimental mental health, at least in terms of people are willingness to go back to work from office.

> I do not see any detrimental mental health, at least in terms of people are willingness to go back to work from office.

Mind giving me a source for this? I personally feel much worse during the pandemic and most people I know do as well. If your doing better I’m happy for you but not everyone is the same.

Re: A brief history of people losing their minds in Antarctica

#18
post #3

> Among the first things he said when he rediscovered his voice was that he was going to murder his superior, chief engineer Henri Somers, as soon as he had the chance. One has to wonder what where his thoughts for two weeks ..., probably, for whatever reason thoughts where around time when engineer told him something that he did not like, and it was so minor, he would forget about next day in normal times, without g…

"I need some Belgian fries. Right now!"

Re: A brief history of people losing their minds in Antarctica

#20

It is funny and slightly dissonant that Roald Amundsen, the greatest polar explorer of all (forgive me Fridtjof) is mentioned in a subordinate clause as "The Belgica’s first mate, a fellow Norwegian named Roald Amundsen".

I too noticed that the author didn’t connect the first man at the South Pole with Amundsen
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