No One Is Going To Mars, And Other Facts
Welcome to What We Learned This Week, a digest of the most curiously important facts from the past few days. This week: Mars One is a scam, "Deep Space Nine" has a good baseball episode and the four-hour work week is a lie.
We Will Be Long Dead Before Anyone Sets Foot On Mars
In the opening moments of "Blade Runner" a loudspeaker blares over the din of Los Angeles: "A new life awaits you in the off-world colonies. A chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure." In two lines, we have the promise of humanity's desire for exploration (Space colonies by 2019? In 1982 it seemed possible!) and the ever-present corrupting influence of capital ("A golden land of opportunity and adventure" is a lie we've heard before).
Although a human has not set foot on another celestial body in what is coming up on a half-century, that hasn't stopped the more enterprising among us from mining our aspirations to get off this rock. This week, Inverse's Rae Paoletta delivered a damning profile of Mars One — an improbable crowdfunded effort to send humans on a one-way trip to the red planet.
Seven years ago, Bas Lansdorp and Arno Wielders founded Mars One. Their pitch was simple: Pay $40, and you would have a shot at a future manned mission to Mars. Who could refuse? According to Mars One, around 200,000 couldn't.
But Paoletta's reporting on the company's finances finds that while paying $40 to be one of the first humans to set foot on another planet is an easy thing to do, raising the estimated $6 billion to make it happen has been a bit more challenging.
[Inverse]
The Best Opening Day Read Is This Essay On A 'Deep Space Nine' Episode
I have maybe watched two full baseball games from start to finish in my entire life. I am 29 years old. That said, it's hard not to get wrapped up in the excitement of Opening Day. I mean, heck, Chicago Cubs second baseman Ian Happ knocking one out of the park on the very first dang pitch of the season is enough to get you internally screaming "LET'S GOOOOOO BABY!!"
That said, out of all the Opening Day things you can possibly read or watch or listen to online, you should read Corbin Smith's recap of the beautiful relationship that "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" Captain Ben Sisko has with the sport of baseball.
It really does have everything you could want in a piece about "Star Trek" and baseball: celestial gods, nuanced critique of Starfleet baseball tactics and the inherent hubris of humanity. It'll also remind you that you should definitely watch "Deep Space Nine" — one of the better parts of the Star Trek universe.
[Deadspin]
Tim '4-Hour Workweek' Ferriss Came So Close To Being A Socialist
Meagan Day's debunking of self-help guru Tim Ferriss' first breakout success, "The 4-Hour Workweek," isn't one that takes issue with how plausible it is to logistically find a place in life where you only need to work here and there. Day's criticism stems from just how cynical Ferriss is in his plan to get people working less. (We'll happily spoil it: Its by hiring others to work for you).
What's frustrating is that Ferriss comes so close to accurately diagnosing what ails the working folk. He, rightly, asks why should we be forced to work 40 hours a week? Why don't we have more time for leisure? And instead of, I don't know, doing some research into the folks who have shared his frustration and have written about it at length, Ferriss suggests that you, selfishly, exploit capitalism for your own gain.
Massive political change of how markets work is too hard. People have already written about it. It's much easier to just hire out cheap labor to bolster your personal self-help brand (Seriously: This is what he suggests you do.)
[Jacobin]
