As a Canadian, I've started thinking about what lies under the Arctic ice more and more. At least one ship that is not an icebreaker has made it through the Arctic Ocean from the Atlantic to the Pacific. I don't expect to see it in my lifetime (I'm middle-aged), but major sea lanes across the Arctic Ocean are now imaginable. In other words, the old dream of the Northwest Passage is about to come true. And what commodities might be under the ocean floor? I can only hope that our leaders are making long-term, strategic defence plans for our northern frontier...
Aye - a few more centuries, maybe less, and once-impossible navigation routes will open and once-uninhabitable landmasses could hold the potential for human settlement, with all the opportunities and problems that could bring. The same is true in and around Antarctica. But a big question-mark over all this is the climate: it may be warmer in these places, but will it be less stormy? Unlikely, due to the energy building up in the atmosphere right now. As for national defence, it could be that the sheer longterm cost of climate-change damage forces some countries to de-prioritize military spending and therefore de-escalates things in the long run? https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/17/economic-damage-climate-change-report That may be me being naive, though.
I thought that the "something incredible" under the pole was going to turn out to be the remants of one of the rogue planets that this edition opened with, deeply embedded in the Earth.
Is it just me or do you hear Monty Pythons-type voices in your head when you imagine the planting of that Russian flag? Like King Arthur, but in an undersea diving suit with an enormous, bulbous helmet.
An understandable mistake! She was apparently a huge influence on nurses in the American Civil War - https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1087&context=vulcan - so you might have heard something along those lines? Also, it seems like every war since the Crimean has its own "[This War's] Florence Nightingale" character getting lots of headlines, so that may be a factor too...
Ha! I rather like that idea. If it's all this absurd, let's be honest about it! Land ownership is such a maddeningly daft thing, filled with inconsistencies and injustices and flat-out nonsenses - and mostly involving theft at some point. It's interesting to speculate what we'd do if we didn't have this urge to squabble over land ownership - if some other form of land use was the way we did things... Not my scene (that's more for Antonia Malchik at her Substack) but what could be more "alien" than a vision of the future where nobody legally owned any land?
Great point. I feel like property ownership has proven itself to be incredibly useful over the centuries, essentially a cornerstone to keep the peace.... but land ownership is so very tricky and complicated. It's its own separate category.
As a Canadian, I've started thinking about what lies under the Arctic ice more and more. At least one ship that is not an icebreaker has made it through the Arctic Ocean from the Atlantic to the Pacific. I don't expect to see it in my lifetime (I'm middle-aged), but major sea lanes across the Arctic Ocean are now imaginable. In other words, the old dream of the Northwest Passage is about to come true. And what commodities might be under the ocean floor? I can only hope that our leaders are making long-term, strategic defence plans for our northern frontier...
Aye - a few more centuries, maybe less, and once-impossible navigation routes will open and once-uninhabitable landmasses could hold the potential for human settlement, with all the opportunities and problems that could bring. The same is true in and around Antarctica. But a big question-mark over all this is the climate: it may be warmer in these places, but will it be less stormy? Unlikely, due to the energy building up in the atmosphere right now. As for national defence, it could be that the sheer longterm cost of climate-change damage forces some countries to de-prioritize military spending and therefore de-escalates things in the long run? https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/17/economic-damage-climate-change-report That may be me being naive, though.
I thought that the "something incredible" under the pole was going to turn out to be the remants of one of the rogue planets that this edition opened with, deeply embedded in the Earth.
Theia! Oh yes, that's a real mind-blower of a scientific theory: https://everythingisamazing.substack.com/p/did-this-tree-of-fire-break-our-world Very exciting work being done there.
Is it just me or do you hear Monty Pythons-type voices in your head when you imagine the planting of that Russian flag? Like King Arthur, but in an undersea diving suit with an enormous, bulbous helmet.
YUP. It definitely has that vibe. High farce. Carry On Up The Arctic. National Lampoon's Arctic Vacation. Monty Python's Life Of Putin.
Thanks, Mike, for another excursion into wonder.
Thank YOU, Joyce, for reading. That was a long one!
All so fascinating! And I’m not sure what it says that I thought Florence nightingale was American from the revolution, lol.
An understandable mistake! She was apparently a huge influence on nurses in the American Civil War - https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1087&context=vulcan - so you might have heard something along those lines? Also, it seems like every war since the Crimean has its own "[This War's] Florence Nightingale" character getting lots of headlines, so that may be a factor too...
I feel like you could just wind the clock back to the Big Bang, and just say: everyone has a claim on all the land. Reduction ad absurdum.
More like absurd-dumb! BURN!
Ha! I rather like that idea. If it's all this absurd, let's be honest about it! Land ownership is such a maddeningly daft thing, filled with inconsistencies and injustices and flat-out nonsenses - and mostly involving theft at some point. It's interesting to speculate what we'd do if we didn't have this urge to squabble over land ownership - if some other form of land use was the way we did things... Not my scene (that's more for Antonia Malchik at her Substack) but what could be more "alien" than a vision of the future where nobody legally owned any land?
Great point. I feel like property ownership has proven itself to be incredibly useful over the centuries, essentially a cornerstone to keep the peace.... but land ownership is so very tricky and complicated. It's its own separate category.
Another joyous read, thank you. The Lomonosov Ridge< who knew?!
Not me, before a couple of weeks ago! Absolutely mad, how much there is to learn about the world. Thanks for reading, Mark!
Cool.
SO cool. Thanks for reading Mark.
Oh oh I know this because I read the book. It's an alien artifact, right? RIGHT!!?!
Now to read the newsletter and see if I'm right!
Sorry for the disappointment, sir! It's not that at all. Although, now that you mention it....
https://theconversation.com/ancient-pathogens-released-from-melting-ice-could-wreak-havoc-on-the-world-new-analysis-reveals-209795