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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

#111

I see that H.P. Lovecraft is mentioned but not his work on the topic: "At the Mountains of Madness". I recently discovered a great adaptation of his book by the Japanese Artist Gou Tanabe. If you are into B&W ink drawings you should really check out Tanabe's books.

Haven't read all of Lovecraft, but my favorite story of his is "At the Mountains of Madness". I really enjoyed this audiobook of it as well: https://www.audible.com/pd/At-the-Mountains-of-Madness-Black... I hope someday that Guillermo del Toro is able to make a movie adaptation. https://movieweb.com/at-the-mountains-of-madness-movie-guill...

It’s a terrifying book. The pace and forced anticipation of it is brilliant, and was the first book to give me nightmares as a kid. A del Toro adaptation would be similarly fear inducing.

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

#112
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Advantages tend to accumulate in life. Those who had the easiest time growing up are often the most stable ones emotionally. Life doesn’t care about fairness, just like being and tall and attractive is correlated with intelligence, even though we might not prefer it this way. Many people who have had too easy of an upbringing may seem emotionally stable while inside the safety of their cushy comfort zone, but when t…

That assumption is as old as time. Whether true of false Bret Devereaux did an analysis on it and it made for an interesting read: https://acoup.blog/2020/01/17/collections-the-fremen-mirage-... As far as we can tell, historically your assumption is wrong. Hard times do not really breed hard people it's a myth that comes from the antiquity and was used by philosophers and elites to link the moral corruption of a peop…

That was a weird read.

For instance:

> Under the assumptions of our Fremen Mirage, we ought to expect farming societies to be frequently overtaken and subjugated by their non-farming neighbors

Isn’t it basically the Vikings crushing their neighboors to get fertile territories ? That’s also France’s whole history, getting overrun in waves of invasions, backing up what he calls the “mirage” that is supposed to get debunked.

PS: in economic terms the counterpoint to his theory would be the resource curse, so it’s not a foreign to us concept either

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

#113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basically every person they send to Mars needs to be mildly autistic. Highly regimented, low social needs, etc.

I suspect one would need bigger problems than autism to willingly give up, forever, the opportunity to experience life's most basic pleasures: walking, wind, water, grass, trees, flowers, sunlight, food, and other people.

Yet there are a generation of people today that are essentially hermits in their apartments, who do that.

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

#114

I wonder if digital entertainment (e.g. thousands of 1080p movies in a 10TB HDD) could make being there "bearable". You don't have to enjoy it alone, you have shipmates. Maybe even internet (satellite connection)?

Maybe this could work for some. Personally, if I watch more than a few movies in a week I begin to feel like I'm losing my mind. I think variety is key, and not just having a variety of movies. Mix in some books and video games (particularly ones that foster creativity) and I think the odds of success will be much higher.

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

#115

You can sustain a lot, when you know you will have respite. I've got a weekend off in April, I can make it until then! As folks remark something like a Mars mission may be a life sentence. It will be a different ballgame. It almost seems inevitable that folks will break. A common occurrence on the early pioneer prairies in America was mental health problems. My Dad was 3rd generation in Iowa, and he knew several olde…

Basically every person they send to Mars needs to be mildly autistic. Highly regimented, low social needs, etc.

> low social needs

People with mental health issues have greater social needs. A desire to be isolated doesn't equate with low social needs. For example, depressed people may want to be alone, but require more effort and energy.

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

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect one would need bigger problems than autism to willingly give up, forever, the opportunity to experience life's most basic pleasures: walking, wind, water, grass, trees, flowers, sunlight, food, and other people.

Yet there are a generation of people today that are essentially hermits in their apartments, who do that.

Do you mean during the pandemic? Otherwise, how big is this population?

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

#117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet there are a generation of people today that are essentially hermits in their apartments, who do that.

Do you mean during the pandemic? Otherwise, how big is this population?

Its been growing for 30 years. Just google 'social isolation'.

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

#118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet there are a generation of people today that are essentially hermits in their apartments, who do that.

Do you mean during the pandemic? Otherwise, how big is this population?

I think GP is referring to a society-wide problem. As a Gen Z-er, I concur - at the risk of sounding dramatic.

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

#119
post #112
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That assumption is as old as time. Whether true of false Bret Devereaux did an analysis on it and it made for an interesting read: https://acoup.blog/2020/01/17/collections-the-fremen-mirage-... As far as we can tell, historically your assumption is wrong. Hard times do not really breed hard people it's a myth that comes from the antiquity and was used by philosophers and elites to link the moral corruption of a peop…

That was a weird read. For instance: > Under the assumptions of our Fremen Mirage, we ought to expect farming societies to be frequently overtaken and subjugated by their non-farming neighbors Isn’t it basically the Vikings crushing their neighboors to get fertile territories ? That’s also France’s whole history, getting overrun in waves of invasions, backing up what he calls the “mirage” that is supposed to get debu…

I think this sentence taken out of context gives it a completely different meaning. Farmers were being killed by the Vikings for sure, but France the farming society was never under existential threat from the Vikings.

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

#120

You can sustain a lot, when you know you will have respite. I've got a weekend off in April, I can make it until then! As folks remark something like a Mars mission may be a life sentence. It will be a different ballgame. It almost seems inevitable that folks will break. A common occurrence on the early pioneer prairies in America was mental health problems. My Dad was 3rd generation in Iowa, and he knew several olde…

Basically every person they send to Mars needs to be mildly autistic. Highly regimented, low social needs, etc.

People with autism do not generally have lower social needs than neurotypical people. They just have poorer ability to reason socially.

It's like being deaf in one ear. That doesn't mean you don't like music any less, it's just harder for you to hear it.

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