Volume 18 ☄️
When I was little I was incredibly curious about what was beyond the stars visible to me on a clear night sky. The sky was clear in comparison to the smog bucket it is now. Back then my sister and I would walk to the local library to let our curiosity go wild. The library was less than a kilometer away but it felt like a special journey that led to a treasure chest. I read almost every book they had about the cosmos. I browsed through whatever I had at home. What next? Accepting the immediate lack of material to chow on, my interest shifted to biology. I took a magnifying glass and stared at the skin on the back of my hands for hours trying to imagine what a solitary skin cell looked like. I thought about my grandmother's wrinkled hands and wondered what made them age in this manner. Could it be reversed? I also remember squinting at beams of light to see patterns coming towards me and disappearing. When I stooped squinting I could see particles of dust flying in a pattern I couldn't discern. I wondered which one was real.
I wanted to know everything. I was hungry for everything. Maybe one day I'd find all the answers. (Not even close but I try)
Every month I write to you about how I'm getting by each day and trying to take care of myself in the best way that I can. Sometimes it looks like obsessively reading about certain subjects, indulging in vivid flashbacks and sometimes it looks like (countless, odd, obsessive) experiments in the kitchen. I have somehow managed to hold space for all potential ways of coping and ways of being in this strange period.
This month I tapped into that old enthusiasm for space and what lies there. I zoomed in and out of the scale in which I exist in a way similar to the Eames's video Powers of Ten. It started with a book called The Future of Humanity by Michio Kaku. It took my mind away from thinking about clients and invoices (temporarily. Invoices must be sent and money must be paid) to colonies on Mars. (I write more about it in the Books section) The Future of Humanity talks about our shared future as an interplanetary species. This cannot be done by physics, AI, and engineering alone, it would need microbiology, nanotechnology, and fields that haven't been born yet. Merely thinking about it gets me excited. We will mine asteroids. We will build a space center on the moon. We will build a Dyson sphere! (Any Star Trek fan out there who remembers the episode in which the Enterprise gets caught in an abandoned Dyson sphere? Anyone?) I wish I could live to see these feats happen with my own eyes. When I study art I wish I was born a few decades earlier so I could hang out with my favourite writers and artists (making the assumption that they'd want to hang out with me too) When I read about developments in science I wish I was born decades or a century later. Isn't it odd that we always find ourselves born between golden ages?
I also made the most of pineapple season by experimenting with smoothies with an almost comical seriousness. Every morning, I take out a pineapple out of the refrigerator, pick an apple, and decide which ingredients I will pulverize with them on that day. I make it sound more criminal than it is. I'll keep my detailed report on smoothie disasters for another day. Let's just say, like my interest in space, making weird things in the kitchen is something I have carried from my childhood too.
This book and the general fascination with how things work that informed my childhood set the tone for the research rabbit hole for this month. For the first time ever I haven't filled this newsletter with content about artists and designers. Enjoy -
(A special welcome to all the new readers, I am thrilled to have you here and I hope you stick around 🌻)
BOOKS
The Future of Humanity: Terraforming Mars, Interstellar Travel, Immortality and our Destiny Beyond Earth by Michio Kaku - The book is divided into 3 parts - 1. The history of space travel, what lies beyond earth in our solar system and what we need to get there. 2. Robots, starships, antimatter, string theory, stars and exoplanets. 3. Advanced civilizations, looking for life beyond earth and transhumanism. Kaku avoids jargon and explains complex concepts in a manner that's easy to understand. He also makes a lot of Star Trek and Foundation (Isaac Asimov's series) references. What's not to love? ⭐️Highly recommend this book. It was a delight to read.
The Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon - Kaku mentions this book several times in his book. That was enough to catch my attention. I haven't finished it yet but it's supposed to be a sci-fi classic and I can already see why. The protagonist in this story is somehow magically floating through space, disembodied. His consciousness can shoot through space at any speed. That's the dream, no? He finds himself in planets with various kinds of beings and civilizations.
Imagine shooting in space, disembodied, at the speed of light, passing our neighbour Mars, rushing past the bumpy asteroid belt, past the eye of Jupiter, sifting through Saturn's rings, crossing the Kuiper belt and breaking past the constrains of the gravity that holds our solar system together. What would you do next? Assuming you could go anywhere in the Milky Way, where would you go? With the unimaginable immensity of a singular galaxy ahead of you, what would you do? You're now in a spot where you can choose one of two ways of thinking - 1. Earth is special. God/ fate (belief of your choice) crafted the earth in such a way that it provided the exact chemical composition, temperature, habitat, and sources of nourishment we needed to survive. Everything was made for us. 2. If these factors were slightly different, we'd merely turn out differently. Our biological make up would look vastly different. We aren't special at all. We're a by-product of mere chance.
The protagonist finds that the latter is true.
What do you think?
ARTICLES
A Manifesto for life by Alain de Botton.
+The Ego and the Universe on Brain Pickings.
++ Neanderthals And Humans Were at War For Over 100,000 Years - apparently, we were assholes but we survived.
I wanted to know everything. I was hungry for everything. Maybe one day I'd find all the answers. (Not even close but I try)
Every month I write to you about how I'm getting by each day and trying to take care of myself in the best way that I can. Sometimes it looks like obsessively reading about certain subjects, indulging in vivid flashbacks and sometimes it looks like (countless, odd, obsessive) experiments in the kitchen. I have somehow managed to hold space for all potential ways of coping and ways of being in this strange period.
This month I tapped into that old enthusiasm for space and what lies there. I zoomed in and out of the scale in which I exist in a way similar to the Eames's video Powers of Ten. It started with a book called The Future of Humanity by Michio Kaku. It took my mind away from thinking about clients and invoices (temporarily. Invoices must be sent and money must be paid) to colonies on Mars. (I write more about it in the Books section) The Future of Humanity talks about our shared future as an interplanetary species. This cannot be done by physics, AI, and engineering alone, it would need microbiology, nanotechnology, and fields that haven't been born yet. Merely thinking about it gets me excited. We will mine asteroids. We will build a space center on the moon. We will build a Dyson sphere! (Any Star Trek fan out there who remembers the episode in which the Enterprise gets caught in an abandoned Dyson sphere? Anyone?) I wish I could live to see these feats happen with my own eyes. When I study art I wish I was born a few decades earlier so I could hang out with my favourite writers and artists (making the assumption that they'd want to hang out with me too) When I read about developments in science I wish I was born decades or a century later. Isn't it odd that we always find ourselves born between golden ages?
I also made the most of pineapple season by experimenting with smoothies with an almost comical seriousness. Every morning, I take out a pineapple out of the refrigerator, pick an apple, and decide which ingredients I will pulverize with them on that day. I make it sound more criminal than it is. I'll keep my detailed report on smoothie disasters for another day. Let's just say, like my interest in space, making weird things in the kitchen is something I have carried from my childhood too.
This book and the general fascination with how things work that informed my childhood set the tone for the research rabbit hole for this month. For the first time ever I haven't filled this newsletter with content about artists and designers. Enjoy -
(A special welcome to all the new readers, I am thrilled to have you here and I hope you stick around 🌻)
BOOKS
The Future of Humanity: Terraforming Mars, Interstellar Travel, Immortality and our Destiny Beyond Earth by Michio Kaku - The book is divided into 3 parts - 1. The history of space travel, what lies beyond earth in our solar system and what we need to get there. 2. Robots, starships, antimatter, string theory, stars and exoplanets. 3. Advanced civilizations, looking for life beyond earth and transhumanism. Kaku avoids jargon and explains complex concepts in a manner that's easy to understand. He also makes a lot of Star Trek and Foundation (Isaac Asimov's series) references. What's not to love? ⭐️Highly recommend this book. It was a delight to read.
The Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon - Kaku mentions this book several times in his book. That was enough to catch my attention. I haven't finished it yet but it's supposed to be a sci-fi classic and I can already see why. The protagonist in this story is somehow magically floating through space, disembodied. His consciousness can shoot through space at any speed. That's the dream, no? He finds himself in planets with various kinds of beings and civilizations.
Imagine shooting in space, disembodied, at the speed of light, passing our neighbour Mars, rushing past the bumpy asteroid belt, past the eye of Jupiter, sifting through Saturn's rings, crossing the Kuiper belt and breaking past the constrains of the gravity that holds our solar system together. What would you do next? Assuming you could go anywhere in the Milky Way, where would you go? With the unimaginable immensity of a singular galaxy ahead of you, what would you do? You're now in a spot where you can choose one of two ways of thinking - 1. Earth is special. God/ fate (belief of your choice) crafted the earth in such a way that it provided the exact chemical composition, temperature, habitat, and sources of nourishment we needed to survive. Everything was made for us. 2. If these factors were slightly different, we'd merely turn out differently. Our biological make up would look vastly different. We aren't special at all. We're a by-product of mere chance.
The protagonist finds that the latter is true.
What do you think?
ARTICLES
A Manifesto for life by Alain de Botton.
+The Ego and the Universe on Brain Pickings.
++ Neanderthals And Humans Were at War For Over 100,000 Years - apparently, we were assholes but we survived.
PODCASTS (and related content)
Science Vs : Masks - Do Masks Work? (Someone took the time to ask if masks really work because they don’t protect you from the smell of farts. I am not kidding.)
+ Science Vs Astrology : Are Geminis The Worst? I’M A GEMINI, I had to find out. It’s more about astrology in general but I took the bait. No, Geminis are not the worst, if that’s what you’re wondering. There is no proof. None.
++ Science Vs Probiotics : Scam or Superfood? I TAKE PROBIOTICS. Science Vs continues to launch personal attacks on me. (Kidding) I dislike yogurt and wasn’t getting enough probiotics through natural sources so a doctor prescribed these.
Ancient Asteroid Dust & Deep Space Delivery on Are We There Yet?
Updates about the OSIRIS-REx (articles) -
+ NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft successfully touches asteroid
++ NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collects significant amount of asteroid
Isn’t that incredible? The more we see the less we know.
Countdown by TED - TED’s new podcast dedicated to climate change and what we can do about it. Here is Countdown’s website.
(articles + info)
+ What you can do about climate change at various scales.
++ Earth School by TED.
The Great Indoors on 99% Invisible - the microbial and fungal flatmates you never knew existed. Where are your manners?
Jason Kottke and Twenty Years of kottke.org on the On Margins podcast with Craig Mod - How Jason Kottke shaped blogging, linking and sharing information. I love kottke.org, it is the ultimate hub of cool things happening in the physical and digital world.
Suibhne is wounded, and confesses by Sean Hewitt on Poetry Unbound - this poem is poignant, stunning and oddly relevant.
WARM SOUP FOR THE SOUL (Beauty and comfort in audio/ video/ text)
How to be at Home - ⭐️highly recommend watching this warm hug of an animated poem by Tanya Davis.
+ How to be Alone - also by Tanya Davis, written 10 years ago but still relevant.
⭐️ Poetry Unbound
+ Philip Metres - One Tree
++ Roger Robinson - A Portable Paradise - what is in your portable paradise?
+++ Ode to Buttoning and Unbuttoning My Shirt - Ross Gay - who thought unbuttoning your shirt could feel special?
Frank Wilczek - Why Is The World So Beautiful? on On Being - Nobel physicist Frank Wilczek talking about the beauty in physics, mathematics and nature.
A bit I loved from this episode is when Krista quotes 20th century physicist Hermann Weyl on spacetime from a God’s eye view, he said, “The objective world simply is, it does not happen. Only to the gaze of my consciousness, crawling along the lifeline of my body does a section of this world come to life as a fleeting image in space which continually changes in time.”
I couldn’t stop thinking about this line.
⭐️ Sounds of the Forest is a project that collects sounds of forests and woodlands from all over the world. Highly recommend checking this out.
++ Sounds of Mumbai - Sounds of the city will soothe you if you’re missing them.
‘What Happened When We All Stopped’ a story narrated by Jane Goodall
OTHER COOL THINGS
⭐️ Tons Valley - Order fresh nuts and grains from the valleys of Uttarakhand. The sale of local goods came to a sudden halt because of covid but this group has figured out a way to being fresh produce to you. My sister ordered apples from them in September and rajma from them this month. It’s the best rajma I have ever eaten. Do check it out.
At Home This website is not only cool for it’s content but slightly cooler for its interface. Preferably view it on your desktop.
Sangya Project - an informative and comprehensive guide about sex, sexuality and well being. It is incredibly well written and researched.
COUNT US IN - An initiative with practical steps towards reducing carbon pollution. This initiative encourages millions of people to take tiny steps towards the same. A tiny effort by billion people matters.
I hope you enjoyed reading this and above all, I hope you found something interesting that leads you down your own rabbit hole of choice. What has captured your heart, mind and attention lately ? I’d love to know. If you have any feedback you can let me know here or respond to this email. :)
Have an incredible month ahead.
Warmly,
Sachi.
You can support my projects and writing by sharing this with a friend or supporting me with a book. 📖
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