The Plight of the Martian Farmer

Programming note: The newsletter now has over 1,000 subscribers! Thank you! It has been a joy to write, and your subscriptions help buy me time to research future posts in my signature style, where I just download and read endless papers like a dinosaur. If you know someone else who would enjoy reading these posts, please let them know!Share Mars For The Rest of UsA photo taken inside Biosphere 2 in March 2025The first impression you get when visiting Biosphere 2 is that it would be a great place to start a cult. The futuristic greenhouse complex is built in the hills north of Tucson and has a beautiful view of the Santa Catalina mountains. The environment contains dangerously high levels of Arizona woo—you can practically feel the earth currents flowing down your energy meridians and making your various chakras and nadis vibrate in sympathy with Mother Gaia.And the people who ran the place were kind of cultlike! They practiced mandatory weekly meditation and radical theater, were…