News From Planet Concordia
An Interview With Alexander Kumar at Concordia Station, Antarctica
“Dr. Alexander Kumar is currently residing at Concordia station located at Dome C, Antarctica at 75°06’06”S – 123°23’43”E at an elevation of 3,800 meters. Alex is serving as Concordia Station Doctor for the Institut Polaire Francais (IPEV) and as a European Space Agency sponsored research doctor. I recently had a chance to ask Alex a few questions about his experiences in Antarctica – and elsewhere as they related to space exploration – and exploration in general.”
Thanks for this, Keith. This quote jumped out at me:
“I find new social media fascinating, but very destructive to the fabric of a winter team’s society. Instead of involving themselves in fellow crew members and life on the base, people remain loosely connected, in fact disconnected with life in Antarctica – by regular Skype, Facebook and telephone access.”
To the extent that the Concordia station is a universal microcosm (a subject well-discussed), social media may have a similar disconnect here back in the real world. But that’s not what we see: mostly people use it to stay connected with each other, rather than the opposite, so one wonders what it is about the Concordia environment that is causing the scientists to emotionally flee.
An interesting study indeed and full of variables. Just like the social scientists like!
I gotta make a pitch here for Werner Herzog’s great
documentary “Encounters at the End of the World”
“Herzog travels to
Antarctica accompanied only by his cameraman and is given unprecedented access
to the hidden society of one thousand men and women living there and risking
their lives and sanity to conduct cutting-edge scientific research”.
All space cadets should watch this wonderful (and somewhat disturbing) film.
And yes…I’m just like the guy in the film who
always keeps a fully stocked survival pack with him at all times. You never know.
Hell, I could find myself trapped with someone like Cowing and be forced to
escape to save his life and my sanity.
Good interview KC – by the way.
More of this please and less PAO carping.
‘Course it’s your site. I’m just saying.