33 - Mars is Having a Mid-Life Crisis

Remember when we looked up into the night sky and saw endless potential in that little red dot out among the stars. Was it a god looking down upon us? Aliens perhaps? Scantily clad space women from pulp fiction? I mean, c’mon, there were roads up there, I’m pretty sure once we found a face carved into the rock and at least one space pyramid. Alas, the adventure and promise of Mars has changed much. We’ve seen it now, landed a probe on its surface and that probe sings ‘happy birthday’ to itself every year. It’s a little like a young man leaving the promise of youth only to find that he’s not the man he expected he would become. The questions surrounding Mars are not really questions about who might be up there but how we might survive if we lived up there. The questions we have now aren’t inspired by wonder the practicality of life on an inhospitable planet. The fine work done in The Expanse does a great job with this with the Martian Colonial Republic is a key player in solar politics. So what’s going on in the heavens of your worlds? What mysteries do the nearest astronomical neighbors hold? Maybe it’s time for Mars to reclaim its youth in our fiction.

Links and Sundry

• Have I talked about the Expanse enough? You should watch it. Did I say that? I think I said that. Why aren’t you watching now? Well, if you want convinced check out our YouTube playlist. It’s small as of this writing but it’ll grow. James’ love of this show is boundless. We are also taking recommendations for curated lists and such so if you sniff anything rad and worldbuildy on YouTube hit us up.

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