The role of the astronaut is in flux
We go to space for geopolitical prestige, manifest destiny, spiritual fulfillment, scientific curiosity, and, increasingly, business opportunities. In the wake of Artemis II, a slew of new books suggest that these justifications are subsumed by one unifying fact: humans have itchy feet, and we are simply wired to roam.
In The Ultraview Effect, space anthropologist Deana L. Weibel frames human space exploration as part of our need to embark on pilgrimages. In A Heart for Space, civilian astronaut Eiman Jahangir recounts one such voyage with Blue Origin. And in Dinner with an Astronaut, former NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao argues that people simply “need to know what’s on the other side.”
See what these three new books have to say about why we go to space.
—Becky Ferreira
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The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 Microsoft and OpenAI workers say AI is destroying the web
Cannibalizing clicks from websites obliterates the business models that keep fresh content coming. (404 Media)
+ The employees showed concern that publishers couldn’t survive AI scraping. (NYT $)
+ The comments emerged during the NYT’s copyright case. (WP $)
+ They could weaken OpenAI and Microsoft’s defense. (Reuters $)
+ AI means the end of internet search as we’ve known it. (MIT Technology Review)