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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

#51

Post by alickz »

ggregoire wrote: post #33

On that topic, I recommend the first season of The Terror. Plot from Wikipedia: "The Terror is a fictionalized account of Captain Sir John Franklin's lost expedition to the Arctic in 1845–1848. The series' first season begins with the Royal Navy's polar explorer ships HMS Erebus and HMS Terror having recently left Beechey Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, heading south toward King William Island into unchart…

I really, really loved the first season of the Terror. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys that genre of stranded arctic explorers.

Pretty much anything with Jared Harris in it is good (The Expanse, Fringe, Chernobyl)

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

#52

Post by watwut »

haar wrote: post #45
danuker wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why? Because they know the crazy thoughts will pass. I am not a psychologist nor anything similar, but wouldn't people who have gone through the same conditions without having the crazy thoughts in the first place be better suited for the job?

Two schools of thought? - Those that really try hard to make sure the computer cannot crash. - Those that see the computer crashing as an inevitability, and want to ensure the appropriate behaviours are in place when it does happen.

When it comes to high risk activities, the preference should be for: those that really try hard to make sure the computer cannot crash and also have plans in place in case it happens.

The two are not mutually exclusive at all.

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

#54

Post by DanBC »

ggregoire wrote: post #33

On that topic, I recommend the first season of The Terror. Plot from Wikipedia: "The Terror is a fictionalized account of Captain Sir John Franklin's lost expedition to the Arctic in 1845–1848. The series' first season begins with the Royal Navy's polar explorer ships HMS Erebus and HMS Terror having recently left Beechey Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, heading south toward King William Island into unchart…

It's good!

The book is also enjoyable, and covers a little bit more detail.

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

#55

Post by hdnl »

A confluence of factors are present in the described episodes of people 'losing their minds'. The highlighted two were the harsh physical environment and relative social isolation/vacuum.

The harsh physical environment is, to my understanding, intractable. However, the social environment is less so. How are those headed to Antarctica trained with respect to mental health and 'working with a team' (e.g. communication) skills?

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

#57

Post by detritus »

colechristensen wrote: post #2

Future of expeditions to Mars?

I suspect, yes - I imagine that a lot of the mental trauma stems from a feeling of helplessness being trapped beyond the furthest boundary fringes of our typical existence.

If technology develops enough and we can have a fleet of starships on stand-by, then the moon might not be so bewilderingly frightening a place to feel trapped as Mars would, with its much longer journey times and periodically grander distances and Delta-Vs from Earth.

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

#58

Post by fleetingmoments »

intricatedetail wrote: post #48

If explorers had shrooms, weed and some way to play music, I think they'd be good. Unfortunately there is still a "no fun" camp at the head of decision making.

Freely available hallucinogens at the pole would make things 1000x worse.

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

#59

Post by fit2rule »

This makes me wonder what sort of steps will be taken to avert this kind of catastrophe when we finally get to Mars.

In fact there are so many pyscho-/social aspects of the journey to Mars, and eventually landing, that I really wonder what steps are in place to ensure things stay on the rails.

I can imagine a scenario where we finally get to Mars, but are defeated by our own minds. I truly hope someone is working on this issue before we get there ..

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

#60

Post by goodcanadian »

hellbannedguy wrote: post #39

I have thought for awhile that the best space voyagers, or guys whom are going to be isolated, are individuals who already had minor breakdowns when they were younger. That includes so many of us? Why? Because they know the crazy thoughts will pass. I'm not talking about individuals with serious mental illness like Schizophrenia, or have a genetic lineage of mental illness. I'm talking people that have survived mild…

Yes--I'm leary of the Ph.D types whom sailed through school. The ones with a big egos that feel they feel like they are the best, and claim they were never sick at sea. I think we have all met the type?

I don't think those are the type that generally get these positions, however. As you say, a big ego is a big liability. The ones who have "the right stuff" are generally very intelligent, very accomplished, and very humble.

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