Comment by Schlagbohrer
2 days ago
Wonderful passage, thank you for sharing.
My pedantic side wants to ask- Why not both? Luxurious space exploration AND meditative, poetic examinations of the human soul as well? I'd love to read Vonnegut's book someday while sitting in a nice research outpost on Titan, admiring great Saturn's crown out my window with my own eyes.
I think, those both are contradictory and completely occupy the bandwidth when engaged one way, it's mutually exclusive.
Really? You don't think astronauts and engineers get not only inspired by their work to make art, but inspired by art when they are working?
I'm like that. I see art exhibits which energize me and inspire me and give me ideas for technical things I want to build.
I read it as less about individuals and more about cultural norms (and definitely less about choice and more about necessity). Cultures that invest their resources inward may find themselves subsumed by those that invest their resources on conquest given how power accumulates.