2023-08-17: the many planed moon landings of 2023

my twitter feed is full of the following: hottest 7 days in 100000 years, temperatures in death valley to hit record highs, the concerned and well-meaning posting these and similar as proof of what's coming, as if anyone reasonable is even uncertain anymore. after all, the worst people in our society, the ones who made this, know what's coming. they're making plans and they sure as hell expect they won't face any consequences. we've been speedrunning dystopia, and we're moving into collapse. i guess we'll see.

throughout my life i've hoped for spaceflight, the science fiction kind. i've been reading about all the lunar landings planned for 2023, and what i feel isn't hope, but maybe a slight easing of my anxiety: i delude myself into thinking it matters, that we'll still be around on this rock in a meaningful capacity in a few hundred years time; that this is the start of something, that we'll have lunar missions, martian missions, establish drilling in the rings of saturn.

i've always had this great affinity for the sci-fi shows about drifting through the blackness of space. a single person, or a handful of people, on a ship just barely keeping it together. as the planet burns, as we're awash in catastrophic weather events as the outcome of the last century becomes clear, i keep thinking about what it would be like to wake up, day after day, in that sort of scenario. check the systems. eat cold, pre-packaged meals. coming back in my mind to the emptiness and the stability. the thought of simply surviving. the comfort of quiet.

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