Yeah life under the sea is awesome. But Pod 6 still sucks
-Commander Murphy
3 Likes
That’s what I find so ironic about a lot of these guys. They tend to be hyper-Libertarian types, but they’re champing at the bit to subject themselves to the antithesis of their ideology.
2 Likes
I think they all want to be Governor Cohagen in Total Recall.
2 Likes
Agreed. I’m all for space exploration and think working toward a permanent Mars base (at first something akin to the ISS) makes sense. We just need to make sure everyone understands that it has to be in addition to addressing problems on Earth not instead of it.
The US currently spends $2 billion a day on the military. Even if we just cut that in half and put the other half to climate change, pollution, and making sure we don’t make Earth substantially less habitable for people it would make a big difference. And spending now is by far the easiest possible path to that
3 Likes
The truly heartbreaking thing about the US is that is it has effectively infinite money, but spends it so poorly. It could easily provide the best quality of life possible for every single person living there, address climate change, and have money left over to go to Mars. It just chooses not to. 
6 Likes
All the rich, imperialist North has this problem. It’s a feature.
2 Likes
Any links to descriptions or discussions of said evolution? I’m partway through the Mars trilogy, so I’m not exactly up to date on this subject.
His novel Aurora, about a generation starship, gets to the heart of what I read as his skepticism regarding the ability of humanity to thrive in a wholly artificial ecosystem, or in an alien environment. I won’t spoil it, though.
Here’s an interview where he he obliquely hints at this attitude, especially in the last couple of paragraphs:
There are better discussions available on the web, but I don’t have them handy at the moment. Definitely keep reading his Mars books! They’re modern classics, and essential.
4 Likes
Yeah, his disgust for world colonisation is no longer oblique.
One feature of KSR novels, and it’s often only once in the book, is an extended, rapturous, prose poem on nature and beauty. This could be in the form of sex, as in Shaman, or as an ode to the sea and the feeling of its majestic, frightening power in Aurora.
2 Likes
It was explicit in Years of Rice and Salt.
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
