UTOPISM. *** In the long run, nothing else is realistic. *** Welcome to the English language blog of Morten Tønnessen, Professor of philosophy at University of Stavanger's Department of Social Studies.
Today I have had half a book writing day, with some 700 words written on my scientific monograph Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement. So far this Spring I have had 62,5 writing days, including 53,5 book writing days.
By now in 2025 I have logged 52.036 words written. This is more than what I wrote in the entire year of 2024 (51.879 words).
On Wednesday May 28th I have been scheduled to comment on a lecture by John Ellis on "The theory of everything - the holy grail of physics?" (Teorien om alt fysikkens hellige gral?) at the Wonderful world festival, which is held in Stavannger May 28-31st.
The Mars event on May 30th now has a new poster, featuring a certain Elon Musk.
Springer Nature has now launched a website for the forthcoming book Mars and the Earthlings: A Realistic View on Mars Exploration and Settlement, which I am one of ca. 60 authors of. The book will appear in the book series Space and Society. Planned publication date is said to be December 11th. The book will be included in Springer´s e-book package for Physics and astronomy.
Book description:
In an era of public Mars fascination, this book offers an objective presentation of the challenges of crewed Mars missions and discusses scenarios of Mars settlements under scientific, technical, social, economic , ethical and political aspects. With the aim to make the reader comprehend what is plausible and what is at stake, the book tries to clarify misconceptions and half-truths spreading rapidly in the public. The authors argue that approximations and misinformation should be countered for two main reasons. First, to avoid missing out on the benefits that Mars exploration may bring, including major scientific discoveries and an inspiring, federative human endeavor. Second, to remediate dangerous delusions – such as the idea that humanity could be transferred there should the Earth become inhabitable in the near term. In preparation for this book a group of European, world-renowned scientists from fields as diverse as astronomy, planetology, geology, biology, philosophy, or economics, as well as astronauts and science-fiction writers, was gathered to discuss Mars missions ranging from near-term robotic missions, all the way to large-scale settlements and even the feasibility of terraforming. For each, they draw arguments from their domains of expertise to discuss what is feasible and what is desirable. The result provides researchers with an objective review of the field, policy makers with a reference to make informed decisions, and the general public with a tool to form educated opinions.
