Category Archives: Mars Colony

Numbers. Are they really important? The Torah reflects a somewhat equivocal attitude toward them. The Torah forbids counting the Jews, yet sometimes, as in last weeks parsha, actually does. We stress quality, rather than quantity, yet there are strict empirical shiurim for most mitzvos. We must eat so much matzah on Pesach within so much time. We can walk only so far on Shabbos within certain distances and parameters. No less than ten men will suffice for reciting certain prayers. It is sometimes difficult to ascertain when quantity counts and when it is irrelevant.

I discovered a metaphor for understanding this phenomenon, as is often the case, in a strange source, another wild plan from Elon Musk. The man who gave us Tesla and may be purchasing and revising Twitter also wants to send people to Mars. It has been suggested that this dream of leaving the planet is a reflection of the current woes of the richest man on that planet. But that is probably not the case, since he has been hawking this scheme for years. However, what is interesting for us is how many people it would take to make such an endeavor successful and efficacious.

This past weeks New York Times (Sunday Review, June 12, 2022), featured an article by a prominent economist, Paul Krugman. In it, he notes Mr. Musks assertion that it would take a million colonists to make such a project viable. The author asks, Whats your reaction to that number? Does it seem absurdly high? I must admit that, not being even close to knowing global economics, I certainly thought that it was a ridiculous number. However, Dr. Krugman shocks us with the proven assertion that in order to support a global economy, a hundred million people would be necessary. He even suggests that this number would be on the low side.

He explains, for those of us who are economically challenged (perhaps on more than one level), that no one country can reasonably produce the full range of goods required to operate a modern high-technology economy. As he pithily points out, its hard to grow pineapples in Norway. Thus, all of a sudden, a million people dont seem like all that many if youre trying to imitate Hashems world. But again, what does all this have to do with us? Lets open up to a famous posuk in this weeks sedra, Behaaloscha: When the Aron would journey, Moshe Rabbeinu said, Arise Hashem and let Your foes be scattered And when it rested, he would say, Reside tranquilly, O Hashem, among the myriad thousands of Israel.

Chazal (Shabbos 115b) reveal that these two pesukim actually constitute, to some extent, a separate book. What special message do they teach us? There are surely many answers. One of them is the teaching of Chazal (Yevamos 64a and Bava Kamma 83b) that the Shechinah (Holy Presence of Hashem) does not rest upon less than 22,000 Jews. I dont know how Elon Muk arrived at his figure of one million settlers on Mars or how Charlie Stross, quoted by Paul Krugman, arrived at the number one hundred million. But I do understand that our sages have established from the posuk we recite when we open the Aron that Klal Yisroel requires the much smaller number of 22,000 to welcome the Shechinah into our midst. Clearly, numbers do count even for spiritual matters, but what is the purpose and what is the message?

The Malbim (Sefer Artzos Hashalom, page 40), writing presciently, anticipates this discussion of global economics. However, of course, he sees it on the level of sharing kedusha throughout Klal Yisroel: The sages determined, through their G-dly wisdom, that the number of holy souls who could encompass the holy Shechinah could not number less than 22,000. Only by combining the lights (oros) of all these souls who join as one could the Shechinah come to rest.

The Arizal (quoted by the Ben Yehoyada, Yevamos) followed by the Bas Ayin (Parshas MatosMasei, page 375) and Chasam Sofer (Toras Moshe, Bamidbar, page 7) see the number 22,000 as an expansion of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet multiplied by one thousand.

Rav Avigdor Miller (Lean, page 229, from Rejoice O Youth), too, adds to our understanding of the numerical calculus associated with the Shechinahs presence: Whenever ten Jews congregate, the Shechinah is present (Sanhedrin 39a), the Shechinah only rests upon 22,000 (Yevamos 64a), but when all of the 600,000 Jews [basic Klal Yisroel souls] unite in heart and soul, the collective kedusha is so powerful that it is worthy of the time when Hashem descended upon Har Sinai (Shemos 19:20).

Rav Chaim Kanievsky offers us an astounding insight into the importance of each individual based upon these calculations. The Gemara in Yevamos utilizes the number 22,000 to illustrate how each person can either bring the Shechinah to the nation or, G-d forbid, prevent its presence. The Gemara concludes that if there were already 21, 999 Jews in the world and one person had the ability to bring another Jewish child into the world and does not do so, he has not only transgressed his own obligation but prevented the holy presence of Hashem Himself. Rav Chaim (Kuntres Tefillah Urefuah, page 19) understands this to be the meaning of the well-known words we utter on the Yomim Noraim in Unesaneh Tokef: How many will pass [from this world] and how many will be born? His customary terse commentary on this poignant passage is that there is a heavenly decree about how many Jews there will be in the world at any given time. Rav Chaim seems to be reminding us that each individual has the power to bring or banish the Shechinah, G-d forbid, from our midst.

Since the physical world always mirrors the spiritual universe (Brachos 59a; Zohar 197a), numbers count in both worlds. For Elon Musk and the economists, it relates to the current supply chain problems and resource sharing generic to geopolitical commerce. But for us, there are crucial daily lessons for our spiritual lives. First of all, there is no monopoly in spiritual accomplishment. Although in every generation there are surely spiritual giants who carry the nation on their shoulders, each of us has a role to play. We dare not shirk our personal responsibilities, since it is very clear that one person missing in action can bring down the world and certainly his era. Conversely, even what seems to be the most simple of individuals can save the day by adding the spiritual dimension which only he or she has in their hands.

Secondly, the complex fabric of Klal Yisroel is such that those who study Torah and those who support their efforts, those who toil in learning and those whose prayers are heartfelt and powerful, those who have developed their middos to the point of being a shining example of how to live and even those whose suffering provides the nation with hidden zechusim, all help to bring the Holy Presence to us and help it to remain joyously in our midst.

The Maharal (Ohr Chodosh, Hartman ed., page 333) alerts us to the fact that the best time to perceive this is the summer months, when the King is most obviously providing the world with His beneficence and largess. As we enjoy the beauties of summer, lets remember that Hashem has granted us the kindness of being partners in His universe. Each of us can join Him in making the world a better and spiritually more beautiful place. He has more than done His part. Lets use this precious time to bring the Shechinah and geulah into our world bimeheirah beyomeinu.

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Elon Musk, Mars and the Holy Shechinah - Yated.com

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For All Mankind captured the attention and imagination of viewers when it premiered three years ago. It is an alternate-reality story that weaves real people and events from the past with an alternate history. The series began with a rewriting of one of the most iconic moments of the 1960s with the Soviet Union becoming the first country to put a man on the moon.

From there, the people we have read about and seen from the past 60-plus years are headed for a different scenario, different lives, deaths and a whole new world.

The second season ended with the colonization of the moon. Season three focuses on the race to Mars. And it does turn into an actual race. But a new player enters the field a company called Helios. This company is akin to Space X, adding another space exploration enterprise to the mix. Now, not only are countries competing to be the first on Mars, but Helios is hot on their tail. Or are the USA and USSR on the tail of Helios?

The characters each deal with demons from their past, and while loyalty to country is at the top of their agendas, some come upon a dilemma that pits their supposed good intentions against their countrys best interest. Without adding spoiler alerts to this, lets just say there is some scheming and conniving in the background.

So who is going to head up NASAs rocket to Mars? Will it be Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman), Danielle Poole (Krys Marshall), or someone new? As the the race to Mars unveils, the relationships between the characters get more and more twisted. Families, affairs, science, traitors and more combine to make season three an interesting and fascinating 10 episodes.

Combining real people with alternate scenarios is what makes the series engrossing. We have read or seen the advancement of NASA and the dismantling of the USSR, but creating alternate stories for them brings viewers back. What would have happened if something from history had not happened the way it did? That is the premise of this show. What if?

For All Mankind season three began streaming on Friday on Apple TV+.

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Brokaw: 'For All Mankind' returns for season 3 with focus on Mars - Daily Herald

As the series Severance unfolded over nine weeks, viewers were treated to one of the smartest, most thoughtful sci-fi satires on TV a satire rife with the hallmarks of a good Philip K. Dick story. While built on the same foundation of mystery box TV shows like LOST, Severance works on several levels and themes that PKD would have enjoyedbecause they are ones he explored over several decades of writing.

[This article contains spoilers for the entire first season of Severance.]

Severance is a dark satire of corporate life starring Adam Scott as Mark S, an office worker at Lumen Industries. What they do or make at Lumen remains a mystery for the employees in Macrodata Refinement, a department in Lumen Industries that undergo an experimental procedure called Severance. A chip in their brains divides their lives and memories of work and home into separate realities. Once Mark and his co-workers Dylan, Irving, and Helly enter the elevator, the switch happens. The innies and outies have no knowledge of each other. The building is underground, and the hallways recall Kubrick movie sets as long bright white mazes.

Early in the show, our point of view is Mark; he is the only member of the team who we see in both lives. Mark is curious about what happened to Petey, his co-worker whom Helena (Britt Lower) replaced. As outside Mark dives into this mystery, his inside-self at work is still in the dark. The other two members of their cubicle team, Irving (John Turturro) and Dylan (Mark Cherry), dont question the idea of the Severance procedure. Irving is a corporate lifer who knows the employee handbook like gospel and seems to worship company founder Keir Egan, while Dylan is completely wrapped up in earning corporate perkstrinkets such as finger traps and erasers for his performance on the job, all building to the ultimate prize: the always-out-of-reach Waffle Party.

While creator Dan Erickson has pointed to Kurt Vonnegut as an influence, and not PKD, I thought it would be fun to look at all the themes of the show and how Philip K. Dick explored them. Hollywood tends to adapt PKDs novels and stories into paranoid thrillers, but his prose is often underrated for its sly humor and darkly thematic satire.

The altering of memory is something Philip K. Dick explored in three stories published in 1953, his most prolific year for short fiction. All three storiesWe Can Remember It for You Wholesale, Paycheck, and Imposterwere made into films, including the Arnold Swarzenegger classic Total Recall.

Both Paycheck and We Can Remember It for You Wholesale are stories about erased memories. But it was Paycheck that explored this radical form of biological or surgical non-disclosure agreement;the central character Jennings is an engineer who agrees to have two years of his life working on a top-secret project erased. While it is only a ten-page story, a few similarities to Severance are thereJennings is shocked to discover he waived his pay for an envelope filled with random items, and the intentions of the corporation and the nature of the work they do remain a mystery to Jennings until the trinkets save his life and lead him to clues about his invention.

While not as closely related, We Can Remember it for You Wholesale is a story about a company that sells memories of vacations you never had, which they sell as better than unreliable natural memories. The story takes off when Douglas Quail (Quaid in the movie) has a reaction to the procedure and his nature as a secret agent (maybe?) is revealed. At the time of release, Total Recall was one of the most expensive films ever made, so it is probably the most famous story of memory manipulationmuch like Severance, Quails work life was kept secret from him.

At the heart of Severance is a scathing satire of work-life balance. It comes at a time when much of the world is rejecting office life for working at home, in what has been labeled by Professor Anthony Klotz as the Great Resignation. When the show starts, Mark S has agreed to Severance because he is grieving for his wife who died in an accident, something Innie Mark knows nothing about. This life lived entirely at work is accepted by the team until Helly (the new woman in the office) rejects her new situation, tries to escape, and even attempts suicide.

While Philip K. Dick didnt address cubicle life in the office, his characters were often working class, in sharp contrast to the scientists and military leaders in most space operas. His characters had jobs as repairmen, regrooving tires, or fixing pots. Additionally, PKD works are peppered with moments when technology is used to assist with maintaining worker control, from the Dr. Smile therapy briefcase in the Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1964) to Juveniles, an omnipresent Camera system in The Man Who Japed (1956).

In Severance, the chip creates a home/work separation that becomes a technologically induced form of Schizophrenia, a theme PKD explored in his novel A Scanner Darkly (1977) where an undercover cop uses a drug called Substance-D, separating his brain into two halves and spying on himself. In A Maze of Death (1970) a group of colonists believe they have landed on Delmak-O, a planet ruled by jelly-like beings who claim to be gods. While the setting is far more spaced-out and pulpy, it shares similar themes with Severance: The colonists are corporate tools that travel in one-way rockets, with no idea where they are going. As they explore the planet, they begin to suspect they are insane, in a simulation, or a part of an experiment.

In The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Barney Mayerson works for a corporation that makes drug-induced simulations that can be used for working or escape. They become essential for life in the barely habitable Mars colonies, where their drug Can-D creates a Barbie Doll-like reality called Perky Pat. I couldnt help thinking about this as the characters living underground in Severance work hard for the illusion of reward perks.

In The Penultimate Truth (1964), humanity has moved underground while robots fighting on behalf of the major superpowers continue to war. Afraid of radiation, it has been some time since many humans dared go to the surface. They stay underground, inspired by the speeches from their leader, Tom Yancy, who is actually computer-generated. All this is manufactured to keep the workers making leadies, the robots who fight the war. This carefully manufactured fiction to maintain the workforce underground is certainly further into the field of science fiction, but was in my mind more than once while watching the show. It is likely that PKD would have greatly related to the satire of office work and the idea of subtle attempts at control.

When Irving (John Turturro) quotes from the employee handbook, or speaks of their corporate founder, he sounds like a member of a cult. Certainly, when Corporate Management Ms.Corbel (Patricia Arquette) and Milchick (Tramell Tilman) speak of Lumen Industries there is a religious quality.

In many novels, PKD explored the idea of fake or simulated leaders who were used to manipulate or control workers or entire populations, Sometimes those leaders were governmental, at times they were corporate. Sometimes they were real officials like in The World Jones Made (1956) or The Man Who Japed, but often they were manufactured as in The Penultimate Truth or The Simulacra (1964). In Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, the villain was both cybernetic and a chemical reaction to drugs. In the novel The Game Players of Titan (1964), a similar thing plays out as silicon-based aliens from Titan play a game called Bluff that is used to control land on post-war earth. There is a feeling that the Vugs from Titan control their lives and humans on earth are simply pawns. In The Zap Gun (1967) Lars Powderdry of Mr. Lars Incorporated designs weapons during a cold war in which both sides have decided to simulate war. Lars is sad to learn none of his weapons are functional, having become fashion items only displayed in war simulations.

As the Lumen employees tried to figure out exactly what they were doing, I thought of PKDs first hardcover novel Time Out of Joint (1959). Long before The Truman Show, this novel was about an entire community that was designed to make one man, Ragle Gumm, believe it is 1959. In the novel, it is really 1998 and the earth is at war with moon colonists. While Gumm believes he is solving puzzles printed in the newspaper, he is really calculating war plans. The Innies are just as in the dark as Ragle Gumm, and they could be waging war or making toys.

Irving is devout to the gospel of Lumen, as shown by his adherence to the handbook and his awe at seeing things like the paintings of Kier Egan displayed in certain areas of the building. Cult-like leadership is a theme returned to often in PKD novels like the FedGov dictator in The World Jones Made, who rose to power because he could see the future, or Palmer Eldritch, who used the drug Chew-Z to enter the minds of suffering Mars colonists.

That idol worship is showcased in two pivotal moments during Severance. When the Macrodata team completes their project in record time, they are rewarded with a waffle party (for one) that they send Dylan to. When he arrives, he is given a mask of CEO Kier Egan to wear, while masked dancers perform for him. He is given a chance to lay down in the museum representation of the leaders bedso the workers rewarded with waffle parties get to experience what its like to be their leader.

When Helly is revealed to be the CEOs daughter, and the audience learns that her intention was to be a spokesperson for the Severance process, there is a chilling moment that reminded me of PKDs villain in the Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, whose invasion is of the mind itself.Kier tells her about the first time she saw the Severance chip: You said it is beautiful. Everyone in the world should get one, they will all be Kiers children. It is speculation on the future seasons, but it seems the mission of Lumen is a chip in everyones brains. Yeah, that is a theme very much in Philip K. Dicks vein.

There is a reason to believe that the events of Severance take place in an alternate reality or a micro-realitysomething we refer to as a personal cosmos story on the Dickheads podcast. The biggest clue that points to this theory can be found in the license plates on the cars. They are not for any state, but have an image of Keir Egan and the Latin phrase Remedium Hominibus, which basically means cure for humanity.At no time is the location of Lumen given, and there are actually no indications that the story takes in our reality except in an interview where Helena says she was born in Delaware. This seems intentional, as Delaware is the state for cheap incorporation, for tax reasons.

Is Severance a simulation? I think the events of the final episode discount this theory, specifically Mrs. Cobel and her relationship with Mark in both worlds. But it is possible that the whole thing is a simulation.

Micro-reality or personal cosmos concepts is an idea that PKD explored several times: While simulation theory movies seem pretty common in science fiction post-The Matrix, Dick explored the concept for the first time in his groundbreaking novel Eye in The Sky (1957). He returned to the concept in The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, A Maze of Death, and most famously in his classic novel Ubik (1969)

It is also likely that Severance simply takes place in an alternate reality. Its a common trope in science fiction now, but PKD won his one and only Hugo award for The Man In the High Castle (1962). He explored the concept of alternate realities in other novels such as Dr. Futurity (1960), Counter-Clock World (1967), and most effectively in Flow My Tears the Policeman Said (1972).

If the events in Severance are not a simulation, then the characters are left to wrestle with one of the questions that PKD dealt with so often that it is almost impossible to pin down.

After Helly attempts to escape Lumen several times, her outie tapes her a video message and puts it bluntly: I am a person, you are not. The crack in Dylans acceptance of his work-life is finding out for a brief moment that his outie has a child. For Irving, it is his feelings for Burt (Christopher Walken), who retires just as they explore their feelings for each other. For Mark S, it is reading the self-help book left in his desk. The Macrodata team decides to rebel when, one by one, they realize that they are not people. This, of course, is why in the era of the so-called Great resignation, Severance is a show that so many in the workforce relate to. And personhood is the theme of PKDs most famous work

It is because of the film Blade Runner that the PKD novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1966) has never left print. The story of a bounty hunter who hunts down Androids posing as humans is much deeper on the themes of authenticity than the film. In the novel, people show off their wealth by collecting nearly extinct animals, to the point that there is a market for fake animals. At several points in the story,Deckard is called upon to test the humanity of individuals and uses a test that measures empathy. This is ironic, as some of the most popular technologies in the book are mood organs and empathy boxes, where people can order emotions like take-out. By the end, Deckard, the man sent to retire Androids, worries that he might be one himself.

The second season of Severance has been confirmed, which is great because the first season ended with a mind-bending twist: Ms. Casey, the woman who worked at Lumen and observed workers, is in fact Marks supposedly dead wife.

There are clues that Ms. Casey is not alive in a traditional sense. Her behavior is robotic, as if she is not quite sure how to behave, and she can count the hours she remembers being alive. Unlike other Severed employees, she has no outer life. She is scared to go down a dark hallway into blackness. While the reasons remain a mystery, the most plausible theory is that Gemma is either brain-dead or re-animated. If she is brain-dead then it would explain why Lumen would be re-building her mind, and it would explain Ms. Corbels interest in Mark. In the first episode, it is said that the numbers the team are crunching represent emotions. So perhaps they are rebuilding the minds of the dead or brain-dead.

PKD addressed re-animation in his hilariously surreal novel Counter-clock World, set in a universe where time goes backward, and this final reveal highlights one of PKDs most darkly funny novels, Ubik. Also a corporate satire, Ubik is about Joe Chip who works for Runciter Associates, an agency prudence organization that reveals or negates corporate competitors who use psychic abilities. After a businessman hires them to protect their facility on the moon, Joe and his eleven co-workers are witnesses to a bomb blast. Time starts moving in the wrong direction and they begin to see their bosses face on products everywhere. Eventually, they learn that they are dead, and their minds are being kept alive in half-life, where they are being advertised a magic product that seems to do anything and everything called Ubik.

Is Marks wife being kept alive in half-life? Only a second season will tell us. What we do know is, intentionally or not, the first was filled with Philip K. Dick themes and concepts. I have spent the last five years diving deeply into the work of Dick, and hope that the popularity of Severance might lead some viewers looking for a similar experience in mind-bending fiction to give him a shot.

David Agranoff is a novelist, screenwriter, and a Horror and Science Fiction critic. He is the Splatterpunk and Wonderland book award-nominated author of 8 books including the novels the Cli-fi novel Ring of Fire, Punk Rock Ghost Story, and Goddamn Killing Machines which he describes as The Dirty Dozen meets PKD. As a critic he has written more than 1,100 book reviews on his blog Postcards from a Dying World which has recently become a podcast, featuring interviews with award-winning and bestselling authors such as Stephen Graham Jones, Paul Tremblay, Alma Katsu, and Josh Malerman. For the last three years, David has co-hosted the Dickheads podcast, a deep dive into the work of Philip K. Dick reviewing his novels in publication order as well as the history of Science Fiction. His novels are available on Amazon or Bookshop.org. You can follow David on Twitter @DAgranoffauthor. For more detailed discussions on the work of Philip K. Dick: Now Dickheads is on Apple podcasts as PKDheads.

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Severance and the Work of Philip K. Dick - tor.com

In its diversity, the country finds talent

Published: Tue 14 Jun 2022, 11:05 PM

It is well known that the UAE is a centre of trade and commerce, but the country remains grounded in knowledge and values the written word. A new library, the regions largest that was opened on Monday, is a surprise only the UAE can throw in the midst of a pandemic. An oil major, the country is also an aviation powerhouse that connects the East and West. A hub of modern civilization would be the best way to describe the UAE that has made rapid strides in just five decades since it was born in 1971. Oil wealth fuelled its early growth. Now, this country is aiming higher and wants to be seen centre for excellence in the arts, in culture and in technology.

This country has always been open for business and welcomes people from all over the world. No other nation on earth can boast of more than 200 nationalities living in harmony. In its diversity, the UAE finds talent. It sees opportunities for knowledge and learning. Its slowly making its mark as a technology and space hub, with plans of a colony on Mars by 2117. New businesses and start- ups are setting up base here. The global traveller is returning to the country after the pain caused by the pandemic in 2020. The pandemic, in fact, has been a new beginning for the UAE. Its stellar diplomatic moves during this phase made the world sit up and take notice as it punched above its weight on the global stage.

Even in the middle of multiple crises affecting the world, the UAE has never strayed from its development model. Dubai hosted one the most successful Expos which concluded this March. The Museum of the Future opened in February. On Monday, the regions largest library was inaugurated by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. Who would have thought of a library and a return to the written word but the UAE! Like we said earlier, the country never ceases to surprise, and this is what makes it special to people from all over the world. The opening of the massive library is proof that the UAE is taking learning and reading seriously. Its digging deep and finding its creative and innovative core while encouraging people to grow in knowledge and wisdom. Sheikh Mohammed himself is a writer and poet of repute. The library has over 1.1 million books and is spread across 54,000 square metres on seven floors. Theres a book for everyone in the lectern-shaped structure. This country wants to be the seat of modern thinkers and thought leaders from all over the world. From a modern hub of trade and civilization to a Beacon of Knowledge, the UAE has indeed come a long way.

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The UAE is a hub of trade and knowledge - wknd.

Hope you got a breather from the hours of trailers for upcoming games during last weeks game conferences because Steam Next Fest is now upon us. Its a week-long event in which Steam users can play demos and watch previews for upcoming games, chat with developers, and give feedback on new titles. The demos will only be available to play during the week of the event, which runs from June 13 to June 20.

While I was able to write about every single game demo during last Octobers Steam Next Fest, Valve has a seemingly bottomless catalogue of demos for you to explore this time around. Heres a quick round-up of games I found intriguing that might suit your fancy during this months Steam Next Fest.

Arto, developed by OrionGames, is a picturesque action-RPG in which you paint your way through diverse environments while duking it out with monstrous creatures and enemies. In between upgrading weapons and fine-tuning your skills in art-based combat, youll unearth the mystery hidden within Artos colour-splashed world. Arto is slated to release on December 1.

Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator, developed by Auroch Digital, entails exactly what its name implies: Youre making your own brewskies, bud. In this chill sim youll customise your own brewery, concoct recipes for your liquid libations, and label and bottle your delicious suds for shipment. If youre particularly fond of one of your recipes, you can share it with your friends via the Steam Workshop.

The Cub, made by Demagog Studio, the developer behind Wasteland Golf, is a post-apocalyptic platformer, or Limbolike, as Kotaku staff writer Ari Notis described it. You play as a child parkouring for their life through abandoned cityscapes and overgrown forests, fleeing hostile animals and returning Mars colonists who are hunting them down in search for the secret behind their immunity to Earths harmful climate.

Cursed to Golf, developed by Chuhai Labs, is a roguelite sports game that assigns you the unenviable task of returning to the world of the living after escaping a dungeon-like afterlife of purgatorial golfing. While keeping track of rudimentary details like par count, youll also have to overcome otherworldly hazards like spike traps, exploding boxes, and space-bending teleporters.

The Fridge Is Red, developed by 5WORD Team, is an episodic first-person psychological horror game in which you sit in a chair and try to keep an eye on the creepy objects and unsettling people that occupy the liminal space around you. Be warned: Failure to do so can result in a horrific failstate in which your character gets eaten alive by a refrigerator, which is almost poetic if you think about it.

Goodbye World, developed by YO FUJII, is an atmospheric puzzle platformer that casts you as two aspiring female developers named Kanii and Kumade as they navigate the debilitating landscape of game development. Throughout the 13 chapters of their story youll help the pair try to get their first game off the ground while working part-time jobs to fund their passion project and stay afloat. Although Goodbye Worlds story is soul-crushingly meta, its soft pixelated art style finds a way to be warm and charming. Ganbatte, Kanii and Kumade.

Kaichu: The Kaiju Dating Sim, developed by Squiddershins, is a dating sim where youre a kaiju looking for love. You play as a Gigachu, who goes on dates with six other hopelessly romantic kaiju, vocalizing what you seek in a mate while also dishing out mutual destruction on humanitys most beloved landmarks. Kaichu is expected to land later this summer.

Last Time I Saw You, developed by Maboroshi Artworks, is a coming-of-age love story set in Japan in the 80s. You play as a teenager named Ayumi as he wanders through the melancholy countryside in search of the mysterious girl he saw in his dreams, who may have also put a curse upon his town. You know the type.

Metal: Hellsinger, developed by The Outsiders, is a rhythmic first-person shooter where you play as a half-human half-demon hellbent on destroying demons. If that premise doesnt sound hardcore enough for you, youll be slaying hordes of demons while listening to a soundtrack featureing songs from metal icons like System of a Downs Serj Tankian, Lamb of Gods Randy Blythe, and Jinjers Tatiana Shmayluk. Metal: Hellsinger is coming out on September 15.

Moonscars, developed by Black Mermaid, is a pixel-art metroidvania in which you play as a warrior made of flesh and clay named Grey Irma, whos battling her way through the bowels of the earth in search of her maker and the truth behind her existence. Throughout Moonscars side-scrolling, nonlinear world youll battle hordes of fearsome generals, corrupted monstrosities, and turncoat allies who seek your destruction. Moonscars is set to release later this summer.

Nitro Kid, developed by Wildboy Studios, is a roguelike deck builder in which youre a kung-fu master straight out of the 80s. Building a deck of kung-fu action martial arts moves in grid-based combat areas, your quest is to save kids with special abilities from an evil mega corporation based in Miami, all while bumping to 30 fresh synthwave tracks.

Power Chord, developed by Big Blue Bubble, is another deck-building roguelite, this one inspired by genre notables Slay the Spire and Darkest Dungeon. Instead of dishing out kung-fu action, youll be doling out devious licks from your guitar as you and a team of musicians battle demonic gangs in a rock n roll battle of the bands.

There Is No Light, developed by Zelart, is a dungeon-crawling Souls-like action-RPG where youre a forsaken hero who rejects his god and battles hordes of monsters in search of his kidnapped son. There Is No Light looks to focus on fast-paced action, stunning-looking pixel art, and Lovecraftian monsters, including the great Cthulhu himself. Its due in September.

Signalis, developed by rose-engine, is a pixel-art sci-fi survival horror game inspired by the works of Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch, and Hideaki Anno. (Imagine that trio on a road trip together) You play as Elster, an android who awakens from cryostasis in an abandoned spaceship on an off-world planet. Your goal is to help Elster find her lost partner as well as her lost dreams while she fights off horrific aliens in the narrow corridors of the derelict spaceship. Signalis is coming out on October 27.

The Spirit and the Mouse, developed by Alblune, is a puzzle-platformer that has you playing as a cute electric mouse with a big heart and not owned by Nintendo named Lila, as she tirelessly restores electricity in the quiet French town of Sainte-et-Claire.

There you have it, 15 out of the more than 1,000 demos you can check out during Steam Next Fest. If any of these games caught your eye or if youre brave enough to venture further into Valves catalogue of games, be sure to follow and wishlist them to stay abreast of their release dates. Its an easy way for you to keep track of when these games will come out and itll help boost their visibility so your fellow gamer can flag down games that caught your eye as well.

Go here to see the original:

15 Next Fest Demos That Will Have You Begging For More - Kotaku Australia

Jake is not the only social media star to have lost money in crypto. Logan Paul admitted on his podcast in May that he had lost more than $500,000 by investing in the ill-fated Luna token, while fellow YouTube star KSI had lost about $3 million in the same investment.

Jake has also been under scrutiny in 2022 for shilling a number of Non-Fungible Token (NFT) and crypto rug pulls, where projects make big promises to would-be investors, take their money, then fail to deliver. Perhaps this is a sign that, with his crypto investments sitting so far underwater, Jake is feeling the pinch and looking for alternate sources of income.

Pseudo-anonymous crypto sleuth Coffeezilla has reportedly been able to connect Paul to crypto promotions and projects totaling $2.2 million.

While Paul has made substantial sums by promoting often doomed crypto projects, there is every chance that he sunk some portion of his fortune into these schemes, not realizing the scam at hand. In that sense, his losses could be ugly.

But Jake is known to have been a long-time fan of what has so far proven to be cryptos safest bet, Bitcoin. He has in the past claimed that he invested his entire earnings from his first Vine brand deal in the worlds largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization back when he was sixteen and it was trading around $100 per token.

Though, as of Sunday, BTC/USD is trading nearly 60% lower versus its November 2021 highs at $69,000, Paul would still be up around 280x on this investment.

Bitcoins struggles in the near-term look for from over, as global economic conditions worsen and persistently high inflation forces major central banks like the US Federal Reserve to press ahead with monetary tightening regardless.

But Bitcoins long-term outlook looks very promising, with the global adoption of cryptocurrency payments/investing still looking to be very much in its early stage, and as narratives of bitcoin being a long-term store of value akin to gold and a nascent form of freedom money gain popularity.

If Jake Paul put any substantial portion of his $40 million in earnings in 2021 into Bitcoin, he will probably be sitting on a tidy profit by the end of this decade, with many forecasting the cryptocurrency moving into the hundreds of thousands per token, if not hitting one million.

Paul has also in the past praised Dogecoin as Bitcoins younger brother. The outlook for the crypto communitys favorite meme-coin is far less certain than with proven crypto safe-haven bitcoin. Indeed, DOGE/USD is currently around 90% lower versus its 2021 highs.

But as the likes of Elon Musk continues to tout Dogecoin as a feasible currency, you never know. If Paul put any sizeable portion of his 2021 earnings into the dog-inspired coin and Musk makes it official tender any future SpaceX colony on Mars, you never know!

Read more:

Will Jake Paul's Cryptocurrency Investments Stand The Test Of Time? - FX Empire

A few minutes into The Cub, a forthcoming 2D platformer from Demagog Studios, and it hit me like a train: Everyone wants to make the next Limbo or Inside.

Now, before anyone gets the wrong impression, Im not saying such platformers are derivative or uninspired. Far from it. If anything, its more a commentary on how Playdeads duology of seminal platformers2010s Limbo and its 2016 spiritual successor, Insidehave transcended touchstone classic game status. Theyve spawned a subgenre unto their own. Weve had Metroidvania since video games were little more than primordial strings of code. The term Soulslike has dominated gaming discourse for the past half decade. Id like to propose a new phrase for entry into the gaming shorthand canon: Limbolike.

Defining the Limbolike isnt an exact science, but theres a visual language that establishes commonality. It cant just be a side-scrolling platformer with environmental puzzles and a confident, striking art style; thats way too broad a definition. The Limbolike has to be moody and atmospheric. It has to involve some sort of eerie desolation or weird AF science, or both. It has to cast you as a tenacious loner who doesnt speak. (Bonus points if you play as a child.) But above all, the Limbolike must convey a sense that you dont know what the hell is going onat least not for sure. Youll have to come up with your own thematic interpretations.

We are, as of late, awash in such games.

Take Silt, a puzzle-platformer from freshman indie studio Spiral Circus out this month for consoles, Switch, and PC. It certainly has the visuals to match, with everything done up in a deliciously textured grayscale. You play as a deep-sea diver exploring derelict science facilities. The gimmick is that you can transfer your consciousness into various creatures of the sealanternfish, hammerhead sharks, and so onusing their innate abilities to bypass obstacles. Im several chapters in and do not have a fucking clue whats going on. Thats a Limbolike!

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Theres also this years placid, serene Far: Changing Tides, from Okomotive. Though it doesnt have the grayscale visuals of Silt, it unequivocally nails the Limbolike tone. There are light platforming elements, and you occasionally have to solve a rudimentary puzzle to progress past, say, a seagate. But the key to its Limbolike-ness is that youre alone. Youre navigating a world left behind. And you have no clue how, or why, youre by yourself.

The past few years, of course, have been rife with similarly moody side-scrollers. Some, while terrific, dont quite clear the Limbolike bar: Ori and the Will of the Wisps. (Too action-focused, too explicit in its themes.) Carrion. (Sorry, the power fantasy disqualifies it.) Metroid Dread. (Yeahhhh, I think that fits into a different platforming subgenre.)

This morning, at the Tribeca Festival, I spent 20 minutes hands-on with The Cub. Based on what I playedwith the essential caveat that its still in development, and this impression could change upon its full releaseIm inclined to say that clears the bar.

Planet of Lana.Screenshot: Wishfully

Youre a child. The demo I played started me off on a futuristic version of Earth, demolished and abandoned by humans whove decamped the planet to establish a colony on Mars. (The Cub is set in the same fictional universe as Demagogs capitalism satire, Golf Club: Wasteland.) With no humans around, the child is literally raised by wolves. All the while, soldiers affiliated with some sort of nefarious-seeming scientific organization try to stop you for reasons that eluded me. The goal, at least stipulated in the demo I played, is to keep moving toward the right side of the screen, which you accomplish by jumping, dashing, clambering ledges, and occasionally swinging on vines.

Prior to the start of the game, the child you play as finds an astronauts helmet, which is set to a radio station from Mars. Not only does this offer the child their first experience of other humans, but it also offers a(very minimalist) excuse for a killer OST. The whole game, to my understanding, features a mixture of indie-rock earworms and esoteric dispatches from the now-Martians. (One neat touch: When you go into a cave, the radio turns to static. You cant get a signal.) The Cub is further full of inexplicable oddities: neon blue giraffes and globules of volatile violet goo, plus that whole soldiers shooting weapons at a child thing. But in spots, its a touch on the nose. At one point, you see a light-up roadside sign with much of its text turned off. The only letters still on? R-U-I-N.

The Limbolike isnt just defined by whats out now but rather whats on the horizon. Planet of Lana, developed by Wishfully and expected to release this year, casts you as a child on an exoplanet. Early footage indicates extremely Limbo vibes. Somerville, from UK-based developer Jumpship, casts you as an adult, accompanied by a dog, trying to survive on a planet beset by gigantic extraterrestrials. Early footage there also gives off extremely Limbo vibes (A roadmap published by Xbox yesterday indicates Somerville is on track for a 2022 release, but theres no release date set in stone.)

The Limbolike might not even need to be a side-scroller. During yesterdays big Xbox showcase, publisher Annapurna Interactive unveiled Cocoon. Developed by the lead gameplay designer on Inside and Limbo, you cant miss how it carries the DNA of those two games, despite its top-down perspective. Theres some weird shit going on, too: You carry worlds within worlds that exist in Pokball-sized orbs. Huh.

Given the lengthy and often arduous timelines of game development, it takes a while, but there comes a point where you see a landmark games influence start to spawn enough obvious comparisons that you cant ignore it. Weve hit it for FromSofts punishing action-games. Weve definitely hit it for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, with even the typically brash Sonic the Hedgehog going the route of a somber, melancholic open world. Six years removed from the release of Inside, I feel confident in declaring that weve reached its saturation point, too. Bring on the Limbolikes.

Read the original here:

Everyone Wants To Make The Next Limbo - Kotaku

The Broadsheet Lower Manhattans Local Newspaper

The Madding Crowd

Your Share of Space Downtown Comes to 535 Square Feet

Updated census data and demographic metrics from the Population Fact Finder compiled by the Department of City Planning (DCP) indicate that the headcount of residents in Community District 1 (CD1), a collection of neighborhoods encompassing 1.5 square miles, bounded roughly by Canal, Baxter, and Pearl Streets, and the Brooklyn Bridge, swelled from 60,978 in 2010 to 78,390 in 2020, an increase of 28.6 percent.

These residents inhabit 41,977 dwellings, according to DCP, a tally that has jumped by 7,838 units (or 23.0 percent) in the decade that ended in 2020. During the same interval, the average household size in Lower Manhattan increased slightly, from 1.91 persons per dwelling, to 2.02 residents.

Among the most striking benchmarks contained in the DCP Population Fact Finder is that the population per acre in Lower Manhattan jumped by 34.8 percent, from 60.4 to 81.4 persons. This means that everybody who lives Downtown gets an average of 535 square feet in which to live, shop, commute, and perform every other function of daily urban existence.

Between 2010 and 2020, Lower Manhattan also got a lot younger, according the DCP, with the number of residents under the age of 18 nearly doubling, from 7,969 to 12,775, an increase of 60.3 percent.

Racially, Lower Manhattans population of African-American residents expanded slightly (from 2,595 to 2,964) but declined in proportional terms (from 4.3 percent to 3.8 percent). Also growing in absolute numbers but contracting as a share of local population was the White headcount, which grew by 8,497 residents (to a total of 49,307), but shrank from 66.9 percent to 62.9 percent.

At the same time, Downtowns Asian population swelled from 10,603 to 14,263, increasing from 17.4 percent to 18.2 percent. And the Lower Manhattan Hispanic population similarly increased by 2,067 residents (for a new total of 6,914), while growing from 7.9 percent to 8.8 percent of the local cohort.

In terms of housing stock, some 5,520 local dwellings are currently unoccupied, according to DCP, meaning that 13.2 percent of all Lower Manhattan homes are vacant. This is among the highest percentages for empty housing units for any Community District in the five boroughs of New York City.

Matthew Fenton

CB1 Opposes Demolition of Wagner Park Pavilion

Town Hall Meeting on Wednesday Morning Will Review Controversial Plan

Letter

To the editor,

[Re: Rent Goes Up Downtown, June 13, 2022]

Practice what you preach is what NYC needs to think. If you want a city that is not segregated and is socio economically diverse, all neighborhoods have options with a variety of affordable housing! Building more 80/20 housing is not the answerit is a drop in the bucket and ensures segregation in the schools, adds burden on the subways and trains as families are pushed out of Lower Manhattan. It has been 2000 years and we have yet to learn

An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.

Plutarch

Tammy Meltzer

Rent Goes Up Downtown

Monthly Cost of Local Apartments Jumps by More Than 25 Percent Since Last Year

A new analysis by real estate brokerage firm Douglas Elliman indicates that in May, Lower Manhattan apartment rentals have reached their highest-ever median level, at $4,495. This plateau represents at 28.6 percent increase from May of last year, when the median rental price for a Downtown apartment was $3,495.

EYES TO THE SKYJune 13 26, 2022

Peak Sun, Full Strawberry Moon, morning planets

The Summer Triangle ascends in the east on June evenings. Look for the three bright stars high in the east at midnight and at zenith in the south-southeast at dawn. Chart via Chelynne Campion, Courtesy EarthSky.org.

In early evening twilight, near the top of an azure sky, a singular golden point of light appears to the inquisitive sky gazer. It is Arcturus (-0.07magnitude), the brightest star in the summer sky, high in the southeast at about 9:10pm.

Gazing in a northerly direction, one other ray of starlight penetrates Earths dimming blue atmosphere: it is the second brightest star, bluish-white Vega (0.00m), not quite as high, in the east-northeast. Mark the astronomical beginning of summer in the night sky by finding the Summer Triangle of stars (see illustration), visible in the east to northeast at nightfall and traveling the sky all night. Altair (0.75m), the last vertex of the Triangle to come into view, clears the eastern horizon by 9pm this evening.

Summer Solstice, June 21, marks the Suns northernmost and highest point in our sky.

Judy Isacoff, naturesturn.org

Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn thats their order outward from the sun, and its the order youll see Junes planetary lineup, stretched across our morning sky, beginning around June 10. (Earth is situated between Venus and Mars.) Youll be able to see all five planets with the unaided eye until Mercury slips away in the morning twilight in early July. Chart via John Jardine Goss. Courtesy of EarthSky.org.

Wednesday, June 15

9am

Battery Park City Resiliency Town Hall

Museum of Jewish Heritage (36 Battery Place) and livestreamed

10am-12pm

Rector Park East

Observe and sketch the human figure. Each week a model will strike short and long poses for participants to draw. An artist/educator will offer constructive suggestions and critique. Drawing materials provided. Free.

2pm-4pm

Wagner Park

Embolden your artwork amidst the flower-filled and seasonally evolving palette of BPCs verdant gardens. An artist/ educator will provide ideas and instruction. Materials provided. Free.

5:30pm

Pier 17

Concert.

6pm-7pm

Rockefeller Park House

Strengthen the body and cultivate awareness in a relaxed environment as your instructor guides you through alignments and poses. All levels are welcome. Bring your own mat. Free.

6:30pm

Online

Thirty-five years before the battles of Lexington and Concord, the British colonies in North America raised a regiment to serve in the British Army for an expedition to seize control of the Spanish West Indies. The expedition marked the first time American soldiers deployed overseas. In this lecture hosted by Fraunces Tavern Museum, Craig Chapman will discuss the Americans role in the conflict, their terrible suffering, and the awful results of the expedition. Free.

6:30pm

China Institute, 40 Rector Street

In todays renaissance of Chinese cooking, the food of Chinatown is often overlooked. Tonight, Chris Cheung, owner of East Wind Snack Shop, joins China Institute to discuss his newly published book, Damn Good Chinese Food, where he shares 50 recipes inspired by life in Chinatown, including the technique for making his renowned dumplings. From take-out orders at tiny hole-in-the wall teahouses to the lush green vegetables piled high at the markets, celebration dinners at colossal banquet halls to authentic home-cooked meals, Chinatowns culinary treasures and culture laid the groundwork for chef Cheungs career as a chef. Free.

Thursday, June 16

6pm

Livestreamed

7pm

Pier 17

Concert.

7pm-10pm

Wagner Park

Celebrate Pride Month with a silent disco dance party featuring Gotham Cheer and queer DJs from QuietEvents. Breath-taking sunset views and Lady Liberty will serve as our backdrop as we dance to the hottest beats pumped through light-up headphones. Headphones are free; deposit is required.

8pm

Gibney, 53A Chambers Street

With Can We Dance Here?, three storytellers offer percussive conversation. Celebrating and elevating their survival amidst the barriers that diminish collective liberation, Soles has bottled this synergy into an enticing evening of rhythmic exchange. Also Friday and Saturday. $15-$20.

Friday, June 17

11am-5pm

Take a self guided tour of the tall shipWavertree, and visit the 12 Fulton Street galleries to view the exhibitions South Street and the Rise of New York and Millions: Migrants and Millionares aboard the Great Liners. Free. Also Saturday and Sunday.

7PM

Wagner Park

Singer/songwriter Terre Roche leads this weekly singing program with the beautiful backdrop of the setting sun in NY Harbor. Open to all. Free.

Between the Waters

River to River Festival Offers Free Dance, Music, Theater, and Open-Door Museums

The 21st annual River to River Festival, Lower Manhattans annual, free summer arts celebration, began Sunday, June 12, and will continue through Sunday, June 26. The 15 days of live dance, music, theater and visual arts will present nine separate performances and events, at venues spread across the length and breadth of Lower Manhattan venues, to an audience of tens of thousands spectators.

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The BroadsheetDAILY - 6/15/22 - The Madding Crowd: Your Share of Space Downtown Comes to 535 Square Feet - ebroadsheet.com

Elon Musk is clearly having a moment; hes trying to back out of his deal to buy Twitter, but he probably cant without paying billions in damages. Perhaps thats why hes thinking about zooming off to Mars?

OK, Im being unfair. (Am I about to receive a poop emoji?) While Musks decision to talk up a scheme to send 1 million colonists to Mars may reflect a desire to change the subject, his plan calls for doing so by 2050 and he has been talking about that idea for years.

Still, the Mars talk caught my attention, largely because of the line about 1 million people (which I cant help but say in my best Dr. Evil voice).

Whats your reaction to that number? Does it seem absurdly high? In terms of the logistics of actually getting people to Mars, it probably is. But my original home field in economics was international trade. And if you know anything about trade, or for that matter the realities of industry, you realize that 1 million is actually an absurdly low number of people far too few to support a modern economy.

Lets instead treat the SpaceX chiefs Mars fantasies as a teachable moment a chance to talk about the economics of globalization more generally.

Musks comments immediately called to mind for me a great essay by one of my favorite science fiction writers, Charlie Stross, that posed precisely this question: What is the minimum number of people you need in order to maintain (not necessarily to extend) our current level of technological civilization?

Stross answer was that given the complexity of modern society, youd need a lot of people. In fact, writing back in 2010 when Musks Tesla was still a struggling company that had only survived the Great Recession thanks to an Obama administration bailout he explained how Musks current plan is thinking far too small: Colonizing Mars might well be practical, but only if we can start out by plonking a hundred million people down there. I agree if anything, thats on the low side. To understand why, you need to think about why nations engage in international trade.

One reason is that countries have different resources and climates: Its hard to grow pineapples in Norway. But another reason is that in the modern world there are often huge economies of scale in production. These economies of scale make it efficient to supply the entire world market for some goods from only a handful of locations sometimes just a single location with international trade delivering those goods to customers in other countries.

For example, a recent shortage of semiconductor chips which seems, finally, to be easing has drawn attention to the role of photolithography machines, which use light to etch microscopic circuits on silicon wafers. (Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.) The world market for these, it turns out, is dominated by a single firm in the Netherlands, ASML, which has a complete monopoly on the latest generation of machines, which use extreme ultraviolet light to make circuits even more microscopic.

So how many factories does ASML have assembling these cutting-edge machines? One. (It has other factories producing subsystems.)

These economies of scale mean that no one country can reasonably produce the full range of goods required to operate a modern, high-technology economy. International trade is essential, and more essential the smaller the economy which is why Canada is far more dependent on imports than the United States, Belgium far more dependent than Germany, and so on.

Now, given access to world markets, even small countries can have full access to the benefits of modern technology; life in Luxembourg is pretty good. But unless we actually invent the Epstein Drive or something, the realities of transportation costs mean that Musks hypothetical Mars colony would have to be largely self-sufficient, cut off from the rest of the solar system economy. And it wouldnt have enough people to pull that off with anything like a modern standard of living.

As I said, I see Musk on Mars as a teachable moment, an unintended thought experiment that helps remind us of the positive aspects of international trade. Yes, there are downsides to globalization, especially to rapid change that can disrupt whole communities. But you really wouldnt want to live in a world without extensive international trade. And you really, really wouldnt want to live on another planet, cut off from the globalization weve created on this one.

Paul Krugman is an economist and a New York Times columnist.

Read the original here:

Paul Krugman: Musk, Mars and the modern economy - Berkshire Eagle

Krys Marshall and Joel Kinnaman in For All MankindPhoto: Apple TV+

The Men of Earth came to Mars, Ray Bradbury wrote, because they were afraid or unafraid, because they were happy or unhappy, because they felt like Pilgrims or did not feel like Pilgrims. There was a reason for each man. You could say the same of the humans on the moon in the first two seasons of For All Mankind, Apple TV+s meticulously realized, largely satisfying alternate-history space drama. Each has their reason for stepping onto the cold lunar surface. Or, in this season, the equally inhospitable Red Planet.

Over twenty episodes streamed in 2019 and 21, the series excelled when messy human motivations ran up against the life-or-death exigencies of surviving in space. Heartbroken Edward Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman) captained the first nuclear-powered space shuttle in a game of chicken with the Soviets in orbit around the moon, even as his marriage was imploding on Earth. Ex-spouses Gordo (Michael Dorman) and Tracy (Sarah Jones), who were awkwardly reunited on the lunar base Jamestown, save the joint (I mean the entire moon) from nuclear meltdown by a suicide mission on the surface, their spacesuits jerry-rigged from duct tape and crazy determination. Ellen Wilson (Jodi Balfour) goes to superhuman lengths to save her mission in season onebut works even harder to hide her sexuality. These arent cardboard cosmic heroes; theyre flawed men and women dying inside (and outside) but doing what has to be done.

In For All Mankind, every astronaut, NASA administrator, family member or lover has their private reason for risking their lives or standing by while a loved one risks theirs. Jimmy (David Chandler), Gordo and Tracys emotionally fragile son, grabs the mike at his brother Dannys wedding in space to deliver a bitter tribute to his romanticized parents: Now theyre lovers on the lunar surface, Jimmy says with a sneer. Thats what NASA does. It twists things into how we want to see them. They died for the country, they died for the space program, they died for each other, but the truth is, they just died. Go ahead and say its for science, or progress, but reality lies, like the title of the season-two finale, in The Grey.

Speaking of gray, everyones a decade older as season three begins with the NASA-reunion-becomes-a-disaster-movie thriller Polaris. Ed falls and fractures an ankle trying to hustle out of a space hotel room during an emergency. Margo (Wrenn Schmidt) has to squeeze extra hard to get into her control pantyhose in the morning. Makeup crew even add lines to Krys Marshall to show how time is wearing on Danielle Poole. The year is circa 1992, Gary Hart is President, and the next destination is Mars.

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For All Mankind has always been a workplace drama that turns on a dime into a horror movie (what you get when you ride giant fuel bombs into a radioactive void). In season one (its Mad Men in Space phase), the Apollo 23 launchpad explosion incinerated Gene Kranz and several others; and the Apollos 24 and 25 malfunction killed Harrison Liu and Deke Slayton. In the 1980s-set season two, there were Soviets and gunplay on the moon, and the body count rose accordingly. And not just in space. NASA Administrator Thomas Paine also got obliterated in the (real-life) KAL 007 airplane disaster.

Now space is being commercialized and civilians are at risk. China and Korea have launched their own rockets. An Elon Musk-like billionaire named Dev Ayesa (Edi Gathegi) is mining Helium-3 on the moon as a source of clean energy. NASA announces plans to put an American on Mars by 1996. The Soviets counter with their own Mars mission. And so were back to season ones audacious premise: the Soviets beating Americans to the moon in 1969. That national humiliation drove the space race faster and longer, while at the same time prevented the USSR from falling apart. Incredibly, Margo is still carrying on an extremely ill-advised affair with her Soviet counterpart, Sergei Nikulov (Piotr Adamczyk). Theyve been passing technical secrets for a decade to help advance each others space programs. Im not sure Im ready to see Margo let her hair down (its actually pretty short now) behind closed doors with the reds.

Speaking of love affairs, its nice to see that Aleida Rosales (Coral Pea) has settled down and started a family with a fellow named Victor. Aleidas kindly father, Octavio (Arturo Del Puerto), lives with them, and in a scene where Margo comes for dinner, we learn that Aleida is the best person suited to fix a NERVA technical issue on the moon, the nuclear-powered engine that will get us to Mars. The moment is a reminder that, for all the innovations like a space hotel and whatever gadgetry the Soviets and private entrepreneurs come up with, NASA remains the idealistic hub where an immigrant like Aleida can let her engineering genius flourish. Such quietly dignified patriotism is one of the shows more refreshing aspects.

And it fits the semi-utopian, technophile alt-history the series promotes: If NASA developed revolutionary new technology at a faster pace (mobile phones, electric cars, nuclear rockets, and of course, lunar colonies), would social progress come faster? (The Equal Rights Amendment was passed in season one.) But this season, were in the thick of 90s go-go neoliberalism and social justice takes a backseat to commercial success: The former astronaut dive bar the Outpost is a Hard Rock-caf like chain (thanks, Sam Cleveland) and the Polaris space hotel spins in orbit above the earth (thanks again, Sam).

Coral Pea in For All Mankind Photo: Apple TV+

And thanks also to Karen Baldwin (Shantel VanSanten). Shes co-proprietor of the wheel-shaped Polaris, which serves as the destination-wedding for shiny new astronaut Danny Stevens (Casey W. Johnson) and Amber (Madeline Bertani). On the guest list are Ed Baldwin, his second wife, Yvonne, Dani Poole, and her second husband and son. The seasoned astronauts are both impressed and dubious about the slick Polaris set-up, which promises a bar, a gym and all kinds of amenities that astronauts could only dream of. The veterans of early Jamestown roll their eyes. We came in peace. For all your cash, Dani jokes. Im just glad Ill be on my way to Mars in a few years, the older but still wiseass Ed drawls, and leave all this bullshit to you lowly Earth dwellers. To which the ever-composed Dani whispers, Come on, old man. You know I got this in the bag.

Ed and Dani are in competition to see who will head the mission to Mars. The tte tte between Molly and Margo a few scenes laterover that very issuebrings up an interesting point that could become more prominent as the season progresses: As technology gets more sophisticated and can be relied upon to perform tasks more precisely than humans, it makes the daredevils of the space programthe Ed Baldwins, specificallyless essential. Being an old-guard space cowboy, Molly wants Ed to be the first American on Mars. Margo prefers the more methodical, level-headed Dani. I fully expect Aleida on the first Mars mission.

But before Mars, we have a disaster to avert on the orbital Four Seasons. In terms of lapel-grabbing brio, the race to save Polaris is one of the most cracking season openers Ive seen since season two of Deadwood, when Al and Seth go at it in the mud. If there was a criticism of For All Mankinds first two seasons, its that they were slow burns until slam-bang action in the last two episodes. Apparently, showrunners Ronald D. Moore and Ben Nedivi would like our attention. And they get it with Space Hotel: Killer Gravity 1992!

It appears that an unmanned Korean test rocket recently exploded, and a chunk of that debris just happens to hit a thruster on Polaris. The thrusters make sure the wheel-shaped Polaris rotates at just the right speed to simulate normal Earth gravity. With the wheel accelerating nonstop, G-forces increase, and members of the wedding party, already a bit tipsy, starts to feel the weight. A nice touch from co-writers Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi and director Sarah Boyd shows the bride-and-groom figurines on the wedding cake sinking ominously into the frosting. Trying to repair the damage, a couple of Polaris crew members are crushed by dislodged cables whipping around like space-octopus tentacles. We are told that at G-Force 4, the hotel will start breaking up, and its up to Dannyin an echo of his parents heroism from last seasonto save the day with a last-minute spacewalk to repair the damage and slow down the rotation.

The whole sequence was a reminder that for all its human drama and tech geekiness, For All Mankind likes a good, old-fashioned cataclysm. The show is essentially a fable about the beautiful, terrible unpredictability of existence. We go about our lives on this little blue planet (or pockmarked satellite) and suddenly a chunk of space junk slams into our lives. Think of Shane Baldwin on his bike. Innocence becomes tragedy. The reason astronauts go into space is probably the same thing that attracts fans to sci-fi: a mix of wonder and terror.

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For All Mankind sets up a mission to Mars - The A.V. Club