Sometimes when I watch the Mars Rover videos I wonder that if you lived in a colony there, and were looking out the window across a rocky landscape — perhaps with a low mountain range on the horizon — whether it would always be a numinous experience. I would imagine that would fade over time where you’d lose the appreciation for the strangeness of the environment and would start to see it as routine: same old rock, same old mountain range, and you’d be feeling homesick. I don’t think everyone would experience it in the same way. There would have to be a very cohesive community in which you would collectively find it more transcendent, as opposed to on an individual level. Say you were a photographer and you went around every day and took photographs. The variety of subjects would diminish over time: same old rocks, perhaps some interesting formations that you found. In any event, Mars missions may be informed by adaptations on Earth to its own harsh conditions. By the time people are living there in 100 or 200 years they will know how to adapt and cope with both boredom and anxiety.
Originally published at https://leebarrymusic.blogspot.com on January 3, 2024.
