WEBVTT - CZM Book Club: Hermetica, by Alan Lea, Part Three 0:00:01.680 --> 0:00:03.240 Cool Media. 0:00:06.920 --> 0:00:11.280 Book Club The Club The Club. Hello, and welcome to 0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:13.240 the Cool Zone Media book Club, the book. 0:00:13.039 --> 0:00:16.000 Club that I started introducing by chanting, which made sense 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:18.200 back when I was reading to other people and they 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:20.439 would chant with me, And no longer makes sense because 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:22.920 I no longer do that, but I feel compelled by 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:25.520 inertia to continue to introduce book club by chanting. 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:31.000 Book Club, The Club, The Club. I'm Herst Markert Kiljoy 0:00:31.040 --> 0:00:33.080 And this is the only book club that you don't 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:35.519 have to do the reading because I do it for you. 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:38.280 There are probably other book clubs that do reading for you, 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:42.280 but they're not read by me, are they? Unless I 0:00:42.360 --> 0:00:44.440 have other book clubs, but I'm not aware of that. 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:46.640 But you know, if you're listening to this in the future, 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:49.080 who knows what would happen. But do you know what 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:53.560 else is in the future is our story, our story Hermetica, 0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:57.279 which seems to be set in the far future, and 0:00:57.320 --> 0:01:01.960 it is taking place on a generation ship. It's called 0:01:01.960 --> 0:01:05.040 her Medica. It is by Alan Lee, which is the 0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:11.200 pen name of the usually otherwise nonfiction author Peter Gelderlos. 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:15.080 And we are on part three of this book and 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:18.160 it's getting good. Yeah, I'll just wait, it's coming in. 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:21.520 We got all that set up. What's gonna happen with it? 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:25.880 Well you'll find out, all right. Here's part three of 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:31.400 her Medica by Alan Lee, published by Detritus Books. Oh yeah, 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:33.240 by the way, if you're like, wait, what just happened, 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:36.559 Days had just pulled out a piece of newspaper hidden 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:40.360 behind a panel in the wall, and okay, I'll just 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:42.800 read the last sentence of the last weeks. Along the 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:46.520 top there was a date June twelfth, twenty twenty three. 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:51.840 Below a yellowing margin, an article began as vaccine Hope's 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:58.760 falter choking sickness here to stay. All right, now we're back. 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:04.480 Days looked closer at the sheet, twisted an edge of it. 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:06.360 It seemed to be made of some kind of fiber, 0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:09.840 and not one they were familiar with. Well, they'd have 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:14.040 to do this the old fashioned way. Squinting health officials 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:16.680 warn that America may have to get used to semi 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:20.720 permanent confinement measures, as results from the latest vaccine trial 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:24.080 at the University of Washington failed to deliver good news 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:27.800 to a nation that is still grieving the catastrophic mismanagement 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:31.600 during the first two years of the ARP v twenty pandemic. 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:35.760 Recent studies confirm early fears that the virus may mutate 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:40.960 too quickly to allow for long term immunity. Officials underscored 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:44.000 the confinement is a positive measure compared with the inferno 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:46.200 the virus left in its wake during the period of 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:50.640 governmental inaction. We will not go back to the horrors 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:53.200 of the party system, putting the comfort of the few 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:56.760 before the survival of the many, said doctor Goa, speaking 0:02:56.800 --> 0:03:00.320 from the steps of the National Health Administration. We are 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:04.040 currently expanding the parameters of our modeling, looking for innoative 0:03:04.040 --> 0:03:08.240 solutions to this crisis. Believe us when we say increasing 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:12.239 human life expectancy across the board for all Americans is 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:15.680 our number one metric. If we have to delete elements 0:03:15.680 --> 0:03:18.280 from the old system in order to fulfill that promise, 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:21.800 we will do so. We ask all Americans to walk 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:25.480 with us boldly into the future we are building. We 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:29.320 will respect tradition, but we must cast aside the harmful 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:34.040 habits that hold us back. Officials are worried about a 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:39.040 resurgence of last year's unrest amidst an uptick in terrorist incidents. 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:41.320 All incidents linked to the loss of life have been 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:45.840 connected to market extremists and traditionalists, who even after a 0:03:45.840 --> 0:03:50.440 million deaths, still deny the pandemic exists. More worrying for 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:54.480 the administration, however, is the increase in sabotage incidents carried 0:03:54.480 --> 0:03:59.880 out by social extremists relative to the denialists. Social extremists 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:03.960 have more influence among the general population, and experts worry 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:08.800 they could lead people astray with unrealistic demands or magical solutions. 0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:12.920 Speaking from the White House, Doctor Hennessy, chair of the 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:17.440 Planning Commission, warned that social extremist proposals were quote nothing 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:21.520 but vestigial, anti scientific superstition. They claim to speak for 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:25.799 quality of life, but by adding archaic, non quantitative metrics 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:30.680 alongside quantitative metrics, they wreck the whole system. It doesn't compute. 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:35.599 Tell me what is fifteen times orange. This is intellectual anarchy. 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:39.039 It's idealistic. It doesn't work. They need to get with 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:41.880 the program. This is the twenty first century. If you 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:47.520 can't model it, don't propose it. Increasing quality of life 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:50.360 metrics before the trial period ends will be necessary for 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:54.360 the administration to carry the referendum early next year. Otherwise 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:57.160 the state of emergency will expire and the old constitution, 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:03.120 which most experts agree is unworkable, would come back into effect. Meanwhile, 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:06.599 the growing pool of pandemic orphans has required officials to 0:05:06.640 --> 0:05:09.159 increase social spending beyond what was ear marked for the 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:13.640 fiscal year. Social officials promised to look into innoative solutions. 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:17.960 Speaking from the nssay's offices in Omaha, doctor Ventura gave 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:21.080 journalists a hint of a new project the social administration 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:26.560 was exploring at the NSSAY. We believe all life has value. 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:29.920 Under the old system, orphans were just warehoused and sub 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:32.880 standard facilities until a family with means could come along 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:37.719 and adopt them. Need and capacity were inversely proportional. In 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:41.200 a recession, more kids get abandoned and fewer families can 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:44.200 adopt them. We are rolling out a new system in 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:47.640 which the parentless are given everything they need, including a 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:50.840 top of the line education, and in the meantime will 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:55.159 track their performance, collect data and produce intellectual value that 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:58.799 will be immediately useful for the rest of society. Everyone 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:02.400 wants to contribute. Will give these kids the opportunity to 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:08.560 contribute from day one from the cradle. Ventura's comments provided 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:11.240 a rare optimistic note at a time when the scientific 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:15.120 solutions promised by the Planning Commission seemed unlikely to bear 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:19.520 fruit given the poor results of the vaccine program. Commission AIDS, 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:22.880 speaking on condition of anonymity, say that the plans for 0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:26.560 defunding the police will be delayed again given expectations of 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:32.239 a spike in civil rest. Continued on page twelve. Days 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:36.599 flipped over the sheet, but page twelve, whatever that was, 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:39.520 was nowhere to be found. The backside had a large 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:42.719 illustration of some kind of wheeled vehicle and the beginning 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:47.400 of another article, Planet Earth Our only hope. Mars probe 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:52.080 results lead to pessimistic conclusions. In a much delayed report, 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:56.400 NASA conceded that permanent human habitation on Mars seemed unlikely 0:06:56.760 --> 0:06:58.920 given the results from the last probe sent to the 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:03.040 Red planet. Obstacles include the toxicity of the Martian regolith 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:07.719 with its high concentrations of percolites, difficulties in filtering out 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:12.600 the ultrafying Martian dust particles also toxic, and strong limitations 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:16.120 on the availability of energy sources and organic chemicals needed 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:19.800 for terraforming. The report is grave news for sectors of 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:23.600 the scientific community that have proposed accelerated terraforming on Mars 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:27.560 as an answer to the cascading chain of catastrophes adversely 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:31.840 affecting Earth's own biosphere. We will just have to accelerate 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:35.160 the terraforming of Earth, as it were, to doctor Stewart, 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:39.680 chairperson of the Climate Advisory Council, that means aggressively re 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:44.160 engineering the biosphere to design agricultural ecosystems compatible with five 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:47.560 degree warming, rather than waiting for one to two million 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:51.640 years of evolutionary adaptation to play catch up. The report 0:07:51.720 --> 0:07:54.680 may also be a death knell for the Space Agency itself, 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:57.080 one of the few to be kept on from the 0:07:57.080 --> 0:08:01.840 prior government, perhaps realizing the report would spell trouble. NASA's 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:05.000 leading scientists have been lobbying the Planning Commission to change 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:08.880 the agency's mandate to a focus on orbital space engineering 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:13.120 with an eye towards climate mitigation. One of the agency's 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:16.920 most popular proposals centers on the deployment of orbital mirrors 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:20.360 to fine tune the quantity of solar radiation that reaches 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:28.120 the planet's surface. Continued on page seventeen Days was thoroughly confused, 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:33.359 Shostakovich declaimed ominously, like a fist on the door, Snookum 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:37.720 sat watching. The dating and the geographical references were all 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:42.079 Terran Earth was an archaic name for Terra, Yet the 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:45.800 choking sickness had been an event on Hermetica. Where was 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:49.559 this sheet from? What was it doing here? The events 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:52.280 described were a muddle, some of them lining up with 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:56.200 what they knew of Terran history, and others contradicting it flagrantly. 0:08:57.600 --> 0:09:01.280 Days decided to reach out to a friend, message Zimp, 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:05.560 Hey are you still up? Do you remember from history? 0:09:05.960 --> 0:09:09.319 What year did her Medica launch? The reply came back 0:09:09.360 --> 0:09:14.320 a moment later, announced by an amiable rising tone, Days, 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:19.640 how's it going? What a question? Zimp had been assigned 0:09:19.640 --> 0:09:21.960 to a different block after the Aptitudes, but they still 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:25.040 saw each other on video every now and then, The 0:09:25.120 --> 0:09:29.080 recording continued. You know, you could just ask library, but 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:32.760 that's an easy one. Technically, it's a trick question. Her 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:36.080 Medica never launched. It was assembled in orbit, but it 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:40.319 departed in tearin year twenty twenty two, Seven years later 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:43.400 we left the Solar system. And what year is it 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:47.720 now on Terra? Zimp replied, I guess it must be 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:51.480 twenty fifty. Why do you ask? Oh, just trying to 0:09:51.520 --> 0:09:53.760 work some things out. Hey, do you think we could 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:58.400 do a video call like soon? Sure? Good night, zimp, 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:02.720 good night, Days talk soon. And do you know who 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:05.320 else would like to wish you a good night and 0:10:05.400 --> 0:10:09.280 would love to talk to you so soon? It's the 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:12.640 sponsors of this show. They always are there to tuck 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:29.240 you in at night. And we're back the bed extracted 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:33.040 with fresh sheets, and Days plopped down, cradling snookums against 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:37.920 their chest. Sleep came fitful, and late the next day, 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:41.160 Days messaged that they wouldn't be going into work. They 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:44.840 tried sleeping longer, but it was impossible. Their brain wouldn't quit. 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:47.880 After half an hour of tossing and turning, they found 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:51.320 themselves locked in the reenactment of a fierce argument with 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:55.640 the examiner the day of the aptitudes. It was all imagination. 0:10:56.520 --> 0:11:00.520 They never actually confronted the examiner or anyone else. But 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:03.600 since the day the results came back, thwarting their dreams, 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:07.040 whittling their future down to nothing, they had spent many 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:10.560 hours inside their head protesting the unfairness of it all. 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:13.760 Who was to say that the examiner's tardiness had not 0:11:13.800 --> 0:11:17.320 disadvantaged them relative to other testing groups as far as 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:20.760 Days as low teamwork scores, Surely there was more than 0:11:20.800 --> 0:11:24.400 one way to measure teamwork on the aptitudes. At three 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:27.640 different moments, people's screens were linked in groups of five, 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:31.359 and each group had to solve a common problem communicating 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:34.800 over their devices but not speaking directly. Days had not 0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:38.880 integrated effectively into the problem solving, but building an effective 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:41.840 team could play out differently if people were allowed to 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:45.120 talk directly, make eye contact, if they didn't have a 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:49.719 ticking clock hanging over their heads. Other aspects of the 0:11:49.760 --> 0:11:55.000 aptitudes were borderlines shoddy Days could only remember one error 0:11:55.240 --> 0:11:59.080 aside from the examiner arriving late but still in error 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:01.199 on such an important test did not give a good 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:05.880 impression in a problem. On a mission spectra, video of 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:10.240 an experiment appeared on Day's screen showing an unidentified compound 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:13.680 burning bright green. Before anyone had gotten to that problem, 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:18.000 the examiner had made another verbal announcement. On problem forty one, 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:21.920 there was an error and experiment preparation substitute the flame 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:24.440 color you see on your personal console with the flame 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:27.760 color pictured here. They gestured and a video of a 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:31.320 dark red flame appeared on the main screen, but the 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:34.840 exams were computer evaluated. How could Days be sure the 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:38.800 examiner was not the one who was mistaken? Puzzled, annoyed, 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:41.240 they had skipped the question and gone on to the 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:44.560 next one. How could it possibly be considered fair for 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:46.839 their future to be determined on the basis of such 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:51.000 an errant instrument in their head? They always won those arguments, 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:53.120 but when it was over, they still had to face 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:56.880 up to the same reality. Annoyed, they got out of bed, 0:12:57.000 --> 0:13:00.600 called for a coffee, reluctantly declined the dose model offered, 0:13:01.000 --> 0:13:04.920 and then squared off again against the wall screen. Take 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:09.640 me to the library. The wall screen came on, Show 0:13:09.679 --> 0:13:14.960 me her Medica. A grainy schematic appeared, showing the image 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:19.360 Days knew well from school. Her Medica was an immensely long, 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:22.960 slender cylinder with a rounded nose and a bulky tail 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:27.640 where the propulsion reactors were housed. Arrayed sequentially along its 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:31.320 length were four rings, each connected to the central cylinder 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:35.559 by gossamer spokes. Given the dimensions of the ship, Days 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:39.040 knew that each spoke must be incredibly thick, but in 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:43.079 the schematic they always looked so delicate. The rings were 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:47.520 modified Stanford tauruses, rather than being a continuous loop like 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:51.559 a doughnut as in a standard Taurus. Each ring held 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:56.640 three immense platforms, evenly spaced about the circumference. It was 0:13:56.720 --> 0:13:58.600 like a Taurus, but with three parts of the loop 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:02.640 symmetrically blotted out In profile, they looked like circular arcs 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:07.400 with theta of thirty degrees. The rings rotated slowly, and 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:10.520 all the blocks, every module every person Days had ever 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:13.400 known were housed on the inside of one of those 0:14:13.440 --> 0:14:17.560 twelve platforms, held in place by the pseudo gravity created 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:21.480 by centrifugal force. If it weren't for the sky, they 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:23.720 would have been able to look up and see Hermetica's 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:28.120 central cylinder about ten kilometers above them, bisecting their view, 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:31.280 and on either side of it, even farther away the 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:35.840 other two platforms on their ring. Actually, Days supposed they 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:38.240 would only see any of that if they turned off 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:40.800 all the lights on their platform, and if the material 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:43.160 closing off the top of the platform from their frame 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:47.640 of reference the inside of the ark was transparent. Otherwise 0:14:47.640 --> 0:14:50.360 above them they would see a massive reflection or glare. 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:54.800 In any case, Before Hermetica had even departed, its builders 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:57.960 knew that mental health stats improved greatly if a sky 0:14:58.040 --> 0:15:01.800 were projected diffusing light in replicating the heavens people had 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:06.120 evolved under on Terra Days tried to remember which of 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:09.240 the twelve platforms they lived on had that been taught 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:15.200 in school. Zoom in. The perspective shifted virtgenously, diving in 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:18.240 close and suddenly dazed. Was looking at their block and 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:21.000 the eight blocks that flanked it, four of them sharing 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:23.720 a node with theirs. It was not much wider of 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:28.120 a view than the one they were stuck in every day, Library, 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:33.120 Can I get a more intermediate view ship schematics? Since 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:36.400 the destruction of the wiki, access to precise schematics for 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:41.480 her Medica are compartmentalized on a need to know basis. Yeah, 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:46.920 the wiki disaster and the infamous NTK Days had heard 0:15:47.000 --> 0:15:51.120 all about that. They sighed, well, can you show me 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:54.920 where we're going? Library switched to a live feed from 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:58.400 a camera. Part of the screen revealed the observation window 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:01.240 at the tip of Hermetica's nose. Most of it was 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:04.320 the blackness of space, dotted with a million pin pricks. 0:16:05.000 --> 0:16:07.040 Three of the pin pricks directly in front of them 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:10.480 were noticeably larger, one of them twice as bright as 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:14.640 anything else on the screen. Still though, just a pin prick, 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:19.080 and Days would never get there, never see its planets 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:23.280 up close? Can we get a view of Terra? The 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:26.000 solar system is not currently visible from the cameras on 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:28.760 the rear ring. Would you like the rear view anyway? 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:34.520 Days sighed again, No, that's all right. Another thought occurred 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:37.840 to them, bring up Terra in history the decades prior 0:16:37.920 --> 0:16:41.800 to departure. A list of topic headers appeared on the screen. 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:47.360 What do you have on epidemics? A long list scrolled by, 0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:52.200 listing names, dates, locations, death tolls. Days saw some they 0:16:52.240 --> 0:16:58.840 remembered from basic history, others that were unfamiliar. Dengi fever, ebola, cholera, 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:05.440 swine flu, yellow fever, AIDS, Spanish influenza, typhus. What about 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:11.600 choking sickness? Library paused? Choking sickness was not a Terran event. 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:15.960 Choking sickness ARPV was an event here on her Medica. 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:19.560 Would you like to see the entry? No, that's all right, 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:22.800 I'm looking for Terran epidemics. Was there anything else that 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:27.520 might have been similar? What does ARPV stand for Acute 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:32.600 respiratory passenger virus passenger virus? Well, that certainly sounded like 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:34.119 the name of a disease that would break out on 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:37.840 a ship. What's the last year you have entries for 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:43.439 in terran history twenty twenty two. Days looked at the 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:46.920 sheet in their hand. One year before the article was published, 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:50.320 one year there had been a reference to something that 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:55.840 had happened a year earlier. There it was unrest. Tell 0:17:55.880 --> 0:18:00.520 me about political unrest from twenty twenty two in America. 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:08.920 Here is the disambiguation on America. Please specify? Oh, scroll down? Yeah, 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:13.320 that one United States of America. There are no entries 0:18:13.320 --> 0:18:16.440 on significant political unrest in the United States of America 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:22.320 in twenty twenty two. Hmm, what about denialists? Here is 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:27.960 the disambiguation on denialists? Please specify. There weren't many choices, 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:30.040 and the first one seemed to be a simple dictionary 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:35.320 definition one who denies an empirically demonstrated fact. How about 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:40.560 climate denialists. Climate denialists were political pressure groups funded by 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:44.679 hydrocarbon extraction industries who claimed that the significant increase in 0:18:44.720 --> 0:18:47.800 heat trapping gases in the planet's atmosphere would not trap 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:52.119 heat in the planet's atmosphere. Hydrocarbon extraction industries in the 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:56.720 United States began funding climate denialists sometime after nineteen sixty eight, 0:18:57.040 --> 0:19:00.280 when their research demonstrated conclusively that their product was, in 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:03.879 fact changing the chemical composition of Terra's atmosphere in a 0:19:03.920 --> 0:19:07.920 significant way. That didn't sound like what the article was 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:11.280 talking about. It sounded like bad fiction, but the reference 0:19:11.320 --> 0:19:13.920 had to do with a pandemic, not with the atmosphere. 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:16.920 Days shook their head, not sure if they were amused 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:21.119 or appalled by the concept of a global hydrocarbon energy system. 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:24.879 They thought back to basic chemistry. Sure it made sense 0:19:24.920 --> 0:19:28.080 to transport hydrocarbon fuel for the use in remote locations 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:30.800 not reached by an electrical grid if none of the 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:35.080 vehicles involved were large enough to house nuclear reactors, but 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:39.800 systematically burning hydrocarbons, and vehicles that traveled standard routes, each 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:43.240 lugging the weight of its own combustion engines or to 0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:47.399 power the entire electrical grid burning the stuff they had 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:50.360 put tens of millions of years of sequestered carbon into 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:54.280 the atmosphere in a century. What a relief her Medica 0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:57.280 had left that place behind. Days felt bad for the 0:19:57.320 --> 0:20:02.680 segment of humanity that stayed behind. Still, the present conundrum 0:20:02.720 --> 0:20:06.000 had not become any clearer. Days had come up against 0:20:06.000 --> 0:20:09.080 a wall. The information in the article and the information 0:20:09.160 --> 0:20:12.120 in the library did not add up. Then they remembered 0:20:12.119 --> 0:20:14.320 the second article, the one on the back of the sheet, 0:20:14.880 --> 0:20:17.600 from the talk of failed probes. They inferred that Mars 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:21.240 had not been settled in the terran year twenty twenty three. 0:20:21.320 --> 0:20:23.880 But if Mars had not ever been settled yet, how 0:20:23.920 --> 0:20:26.240 did they manage to send off for Medica a full 0:20:26.320 --> 0:20:32.199 year earlier? Library tell me about the human colonization of Mars. 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:37.679 After the first unoccupied probes landed on the Martian surface 0:20:37.720 --> 0:20:41.000 in nineteen seventy one and nineteen seventy five, work began 0:20:41.160 --> 0:20:45.160 on a larger spacecraft that could transport human astronauts. By 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:48.160 the time an assembly and launching platform had been manufactured 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:51.399 in low Earth orbit in nineteen ninety eight, further probes 0:20:51.440 --> 0:20:53.920 to Mars had carried out all the mapping and chemical 0:20:53.920 --> 0:20:57.439 analysis necessary to begin planning the logistics of a human mission. 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:00.960 Supply drops to the Martian surface began the next year, 0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:04.240 and the first occupied spacecraft was launched from the orbital 0:21:04.240 --> 0:21:07.960 platform in two thousand seven, arriving safely with its twelve 0:21:08.040 --> 0:21:12.439 person crew ten months later. They remained for two Terran years, 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:17.440 overseeing construction of the research station and launch platform, returning 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:21.840 safely to Terra in twenty eleven. By that point, it 0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:26.360 was clear that Mars's chemical and circumstellar characteristics were unfavorable 0:21:26.359 --> 0:21:29.159 to terraforming, and it was calculated that it would actually 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:32.439 be cheaper and faster to terraform an exoplanet in the 0:21:32.440 --> 0:21:36.240 Goldilock zone of another star system, even accounting for a 0:21:36.320 --> 0:21:40.240 journey of several hundred Terran years. Activity based out of 0:21:40.280 --> 0:21:44.120 the Mars Research Station continued, carried out remotely or by 0:21:44.160 --> 0:21:49.600 subsequent human teams. Days scratched their head. They supposed the 0:21:49.600 --> 0:21:52.240 probes mentioned in the article could have been from subsequent 0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:55.800 attempts to explore other avenues of terraforming on Mars, in 0:21:55.880 --> 0:21:59.800 parallel to preparations on the WIKI and her Medica missions. Still, 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:02.640 it didn't say anything about a research station or any 0:22:02.720 --> 0:22:05.600 human presence on Mars, nor did it mention the two 0:22:05.640 --> 0:22:08.480 ships that had departed the year before, with millions of 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:13.040 passengers between them. Something didn't add up. But do you 0:22:13.080 --> 0:22:16.320 know what does add up? All of the joy and 0:22:16.440 --> 0:22:31.560 satisfaction guaranteed to you by these products and services and 0:22:31.680 --> 0:22:38.679 We're back. Days looked crossly at the strange printed sheet. 0:22:39.400 --> 0:22:43.159 All published material was vetted and peer reviewed by pertinent experts. 0:22:43.760 --> 0:22:47.359 Affirmations of fact were always qualified. Results that had not 0:22:47.400 --> 0:22:51.160 been rigorously replicated included margins of error or the probabilities 0:22:51.200 --> 0:22:54.960 of some flaw in the design fiction. The old volumes 0:22:54.960 --> 0:22:58.440 of literature stored in the library was clearly marked as such. 0:22:59.160 --> 0:23:04.440 To deliberately publish things that were untrue, that was censurable. However, 0:23:04.600 --> 0:23:07.840 stamping words and ink on some non electronic sheet and 0:23:07.920 --> 0:23:10.919 stashing it behind a wall panel at that stretched the 0:23:10.960 --> 0:23:14.800 bounds of what could be considered publication. An uneasy feeling 0:23:14.840 --> 0:23:21.240 crept up, and a word sprang to mind, sabotage no now. 0:23:21.359 --> 0:23:24.320 Days was getting worked up, trying to find connections to 0:23:24.359 --> 0:23:27.680 explain something that didn't feel right. Their coping mechanism came 0:23:27.720 --> 0:23:31.080 to mind, like a mantra. Name the pattern, break it, 0:23:31.200 --> 0:23:35.320 and change your mental scenery so you can relax. Days 0:23:35.359 --> 0:23:37.960 needed to move around and put the conundrum out of mind. 0:23:38.880 --> 0:23:42.400 They slid on their mask and went outside. The air 0:23:42.560 --> 0:23:46.520 was crackling oppressive. They could tell the atmosphere was getting 0:23:46.520 --> 0:23:49.280 out of sync. The meteorology people would have to do 0:23:49.320 --> 0:23:53.400 an intervention soon. Weather events were always scheduled and announced 0:23:53.440 --> 0:23:56.159 at least a day in advance, but days never checked. 0:23:56.840 --> 0:23:59.480 They liked the feel of intuiting. When they were coming, 0:24:00.400 --> 0:24:02.720 other people on the block didn't seem to notice. A 0:24:02.760 --> 0:24:07.400 dozen were out enjoying the hot, bright day. Keeping their distance, 0:24:07.520 --> 0:24:10.880 Days made their way to the green colorful bunting had 0:24:10.880 --> 0:24:14.280 been stretched between the taller bushes. The pole stood in 0:24:14.280 --> 0:24:18.439 the middle. What's the theme, they asked their neighbor, seated 0:24:18.480 --> 0:24:24.720 on a bench. Mayday, it's a Scandinavian tradition. The neighbor 0:24:24.800 --> 0:24:27.200 tossed out the phrase like it was a truly interesting 0:24:27.280 --> 0:24:30.359 bit of information, though the careful way they pronounced the 0:24:30.400 --> 0:24:34.359 word suggested they could not quite remember. From cursory geography 0:24:34.440 --> 0:24:39.119 lessons long faded in time, where exactly on Tera Scandinavia 0:24:39.320 --> 0:24:44.680 had been Days nodded, recalling something about a dance. Flowers, 0:24:44.920 --> 0:24:48.240 white dresses, colorful lengths of cloth wrapped around a pole. 0:24:49.119 --> 0:24:51.280 They wondered if they'd feel up for it. The day 0:24:51.320 --> 0:24:55.040 the block party came around, The air seemed to pulse angrily. 0:24:55.480 --> 0:25:00.560 They nodded and turned around. Some days Days enjoyed spontaneous 0:25:00.560 --> 0:25:04.680 socializing but today was not one of them. The regulation distance, 0:25:04.840 --> 0:25:09.240 the superficial topics, their neighbor's pleasant apathy, all of it 0:25:09.320 --> 0:25:12.679 got on their nerves. Walking back to their module, they 0:25:12.680 --> 0:25:16.040 heard raised voices from one of the family units. That 0:25:16.200 --> 0:25:20.280 was unusual. The modules were effectively sound proofd someone must 0:25:20.359 --> 0:25:25.119 really be shouting screaming. In fact, the sound was faint, 0:25:25.160 --> 0:25:28.840 but the tone was unmistakable, not the low growl of anger, 0:25:28.880 --> 0:25:32.960 but the high shriek of desperation. Days stopped looking at 0:25:32.960 --> 0:25:36.479 the door four down from their own. Another neighbor passed 0:25:36.480 --> 0:25:40.040 by homeward, head down, politely, giving them all the birth 0:25:40.080 --> 0:25:42.399 they could, since Days was standing in the middle of 0:25:42.440 --> 0:25:45.879 the street. A minute later, another neighbor passed by the 0:25:45.960 --> 0:25:50.680 other way. No one acknowledged the screaming. Trembling a bit 0:25:50.720 --> 0:25:53.679 in the pit of their stomach, Days drew themselves up 0:25:53.720 --> 0:25:57.080 and headed for the door. Something wasn't all right, screaming 0:25:57.200 --> 0:26:00.000 like that they should check in, at least offer some health. 0:26:00.880 --> 0:26:03.560 Just as they raised their hand to buzz, an electronic 0:26:03.640 --> 0:26:06.560 warble sounded from the direction of the green. It was 0:26:06.600 --> 0:26:09.840