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Last Flight Out

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Re: Last Flight Out

#141

Post by clarkema »

goldenchrome wrote: post #114
pavlov wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "The animal within each of us comes out in Antarctica more than anywhere else. This is of course part of what makes living there so exciting on an elemental level." It's supposed to be a science station, not some kind of wild survival game. I don't think any of the women scientists signed up for "excitement on an elemental level."

That’s a fine goal but it doesn’t take away from the fact that Antarctica is a hostile environment which makes it hard to establish civilization. I’m describing reality, not my own personal wishes.

We don't "establish" civilization. We take it with us.

Re: Last Flight Out

#142

Post by lisper »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #135
wwweston wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a statement about the absence of immediate first-order incentives. But there are other incentives, for example, being interested in the problems of actually settling Mars. Necessity is certainly motivating, but people serious about their ambitions often don't wait for it to motivate their preparations. Would-be serious ocean-farers probably want to become practiced in producing/storing/carrying/consuming/rest…

> absence of self-sustaining colonies in harsh outposts on the earth (and similar absence of more local positive terraforming projects) indicate limits in how serious anyone is about colonizing Mars This is a stronger argument. I agree. I think there is serious interest in establishing permanent facilities on Mars. But a self-sufficient, self-sustaining population isn't being planned on because there are too many unk…

Something I've never even seen mentioned, let along seriously discussed, is the protocol for deciding under what circumstances the first human will be born and raised off-earth. I predict that will turn out to be an intractable problem.

Re: Last Flight Out

#143

Post by JumpCrisscross »

lisper wrote: post #142
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> absence of self-sustaining colonies in harsh outposts on the earth (and similar absence of more local positive terraforming projects) indicate limits in how serious anyone is about colonizing Mars This is a stronger argument. I agree. I think there is serious interest in establishing permanent facilities on Mars. But a self-sufficient, self-sustaining population isn't being planned on because there are too many unk…

Something I've never even seen mentioned , let along seriously discussed, is the protocol for deciding under what circumstances the first human will be born and raised off-earth. I predict that will turn out to be an intractable problem.

> the protocol for deciding under what circumstances the first human will be born and raised off-earth

This one's easy. We won't have one when it happens.

> predict that will turn out to be an intractable problem

In what ways?

Re: Last Flight Out

#144

Post by TrackerFF »

A couple of my ex-colleagues worked on the Troll station. The Norwegian Polar Institute usually publish the vacancies a year ahead, as there is a lot of prep to get to right people.

Anyway, both of 'em worked as IT/communication engineers some 10 years apart, but told me that the first movie they watched together (with rest of the crew) was John Carpenter's The Thing.

Re: Last Flight Out

#145

Post by sponaugle »

quickthrowman wrote: post #104
ratg13 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like a decent opportunity to use a nuclear reactor .. something like what you would find on a submarine.

We already tried that 60 years ago in Greenland, it didn’t end well. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Iceworm

There is a fascinating film about that reactor:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlmOQJW5Xis

Re: Last Flight Out

#146

Post by zeagle »

sph wrote: post #80
4gotunameagain wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The famous scene[0] from this film is a masterpiece. It never fails to sink me to my nadir, so I avoid watching it even if I love it so much. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnTU_hJoByA

Beautiful, thanks for sharing. That penguin walked to his certain death, while his mates swam and caught fish, to their certain death. Sadness for it and his supposed insanity only exists for a fleeting moment. In a long enough timespan, it lived and died like any other penguin has or ever will. Nihilism is not necessarily pessimistic. It presents our universe, and life itself, as a glass half full, but it's up to yo…

I speculate, but I imagine that that type of behavior by a group of individuals on a long timescale where most but not fail is one important mechanism of how remote Polynesian islands, ice age American via Beringia, and other areas of the world get populated.

Re: Last Flight Out

#147

Post by KineticLensman »

bartvk wrote: post #139
jrochkind1 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everyone is free to stand in the physical shower stall as long as they want! As long as they keep water flow within the allocated quota. I'm going to be turning on the water to get wet, soaping up, turning on the water to rinse. If I have some extra maybe I'll let the water just run for some seconds to enjoy it. More people in the shower isn't going to help, they're just going to get in the way. Also, at least 10 y…

I wonder if there are libido-inhibiting drugs you can take, and whether that would help.

The British Army allegedly used Bromide in tea for this purpose in WW2 [0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromide#Folk_and_passé_medicin...

Re: Last Flight Out

#148

Post by dylan604 »

lisper wrote: post #142
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> absence of self-sustaining colonies in harsh outposts on the earth (and similar absence of more local positive terraforming projects) indicate limits in how serious anyone is about colonizing Mars This is a stronger argument. I agree. I think there is serious interest in establishing permanent facilities on Mars. But a self-sufficient, self-sustaining population isn't being planned on because there are too many unk…

Something I've never even seen mentioned , let along seriously discussed, is the protocol for deciding under what circumstances the first human will be born and raised off-earth. I predict that will turn out to be an intractable problem.

Have you not read Stranger In A Strange Land?

Re: Last Flight Out

#149

Post by frosted-flakes »

stickfigure wrote: post #75
ta1243 wrote: post #40

The shower page was interesting, you get 4 minutes of shower time a week https://brr.fyi/posts/showering-at-the-south-pole I'm surprised they can't just melt snow water to run things like showers. Oddly no suggestions on the page about doubling up your shower with someone else to have longer or more frequent showers.

I'm more curious about what they do with the greywater. If you just dumped it you'd end up with a giant, evergrowing pile of dirty ice.

There's another post on his blog about visiting the sewage treatment plant at McMurdo (not Pole, I don't know what they do there). At McMurdo it's like any other sewage treatment plant: they release the cleaned water into the sea.

Re: Last Flight Out

#150

Post by macabe »

This is a great read. Not sure if it is answered in another post, but what is the story behind your decision to leave San Francisco for the South Pole?
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