This is a fascinating pulling together of different threads to smash the myth of space exploration and colonization as inevitable endeavors undertaken by billionaires for the benefit of humanity whose destiny can be no other than to hurtle ourselves forward, chained to their mad ambitions, along the old Western teleogy of progress, ever progress, always progress. Thanks for a great read, and a nice bonus film at the end.
A minor point on the intellectual history. I always understood that settlement from Asia was the dominant view, and that Heyerdahl's expedition was an effort to support a minority view. On this way of reasoning, Finney's expedition showed that it was technically feasible from either direction, leaving the issue to be settled by other arguments, which favoured Asia.
This is a fascinating pulling together of different threads to smash the myth of space exploration and colonization as inevitable endeavors undertaken by billionaires for the benefit of humanity whose destiny can be no other than to hurtle ourselves forward, chained to their mad ambitions, along the old Western teleogy of progress, ever progress, always progress. Thanks for a great read, and a nice bonus film at the end.
A minor point on the intellectual history. I always understood that settlement from Asia was the dominant view, and that Heyerdahl's expedition was an effort to support a minority view. On this way of reasoning, Finney's expedition showed that it was technically feasible from either direction, leaving the issue to be settled by other arguments, which favoured Asia.