You Are Already an Astronaut," Say Sam Harris and David Deutsch

Astronauts rely on a number of life-supporting technologies to keep them alive in space. At the International Space Station, for example, these technologies include the Environmental Control and Vital Support System, which provides habitable air pressure, oxygen, fresh water, adequate moisture, fire detection and waste management.

Relying on such systems might seem alien to non-astronauts at first glance. But is modern life different?

That's the idea Sam Harris and David Deutsch explored in an episode of the Waking Up podcast, and it's an idea worth exploring now that both government and private organizations are reaffirming plans to colonize and even build cities on Mars:

DD: So we evolved somewhere in East Africa in the Great Rift Valley. That was a particularly fitting environment for us to evolve, and life there was hell for humans. Unpleasant, brutal and short does not begin to describe how horrible it was, but we transformed it ... or rather, not actually our species. Some of our predecessor species had already changed their environment by inventing things like clothing, fire and weapons, and therefore, made their lives much better, but still horrible by our current standards. Then they moved into places like Oxford, where I am now. It's December. If I were here in this same location without technology, I would die in a matter of hours, and nothing I could do would prevent that.


According to Harris and Deutsch, people are wrong to think that the biosphere is "wonderfully hospitable" for humanity. The Earth, says Deutsch, no longer provides us with a life support system that provides us with radio telescopes.

Still, there must be some places on Earth that provide us with something like life support systems, right?


A hot summer Mediterranean climate (labeled "Csa" by the Köppen climate classification) is arguably the most hospitable to humans, and would therefore require the least amount of technology to survive because it provides optimum:

Temperature - Csa climates have mild temperatures that fall between 68 and 77 degrees Fahrenheit, a range in which the human body does not need to shake or sweat.
Relative Humidity - Extreme humidity or lack of it interferes with bodily functions. Csa climates tend to have mild moisture levels throughout the year.
Sunshine - Csa climates typically offer sunny weather and not too much rain.
Human history also seems to favor the Mediterranean climate. The ancient Greeks and Romans built some of the largest cities in history in the Csa climate, and it is the climate of some of the best wine producing regions in the world. A quick look at this map of the Mediterranean areas, however, reveals how rare it is in the whole world.


Of course, humans can survive in many climates. But the logical implication is that technology becomes more necessary as you travel out of the optimal habitats and into the hostile ones; In other words, you live more like an astronaut as your habitat worsens. Given the projected effects of climate change, this relationship between technology and hostile environments could soon become a reality for millions.

Another way to frame the level of habitability of the Earth is through the "planetary boundaries" model of Johan Rockström. In an article published in Science in 2015, Rockström and his colleagues proposed that there are 9 boundaries that humans need to maintain in order for the Earth to be a sufficiently habitable planet. According to the model, we have already crossed four of those limits.


Rockström's model highlights the fragility and inhospitality of the Earth. It also gives a sense of urgency to the idea that humanity has to move beyond Earth and become an interplanetary species to survive in the long run. As Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, the father of the modern rocket, said:

"Earth is the cradle of humanity, but one can not live forever in the cradle."

More recently, Elon Musk echoed that sentiment by framing the movement to Mars as something like an insurance plan:

"I think there is a strong humanitarian argument for making life multi-planetary, to safeguard the existence of humanity in the event that something catastrophic would happen, in which case being poor or having a disease would be irrelevant, because humanity is It would be like: "Good news, the problems of poverty and disease have been solved, but the bad news is that there are no humans left," Musk said in an interview with Aeon.

As NASA and SpaceX are reaffirming plans to put humans on Mars in the coming decades, it's worth thinking about how the People are leaving in the artificial habitats on the red planet. Humans who settle on Mars will live with the constant reminder that the only thing that separates them from dea
th is a wall, or a spacesuit. The psychological consequences of that lifestyle over the long term remain unclear. Still, many people already maintain a similar relationship with their habitats—it's just easy to forget because technology is always buffering us from the dangers of nature. So given the general inhospitality of Earth, maybe it's better to view the concept of being an astronaut as a spectrum—with life in an optimal habitat and little need for technology on one end, and Mars on the other.