3. I heard an interview with Hans Zimmer where he described Apollo as an epic art project. I like that framing a lot.

IMO the project didn’t justify itself _scientifically_. But it was an unparalleled _aesthetic_ achievement.

— Kevin Simler (@KevinSimler) July 19, 2019

I quibble with the lack of scientific value, but the framing of Apollo as an epic art project is one that I also like and agree with. Getting away from the technocrat progressive worship of narrow utilitarianism is an extremely good goal, because just as people cannot live under conditions of absolute realism, they also cannot abide the abridged technocrat conditions of life.

Humans need far more than that, on a far larger scale. The prog technocrat utopia of everyone subsisting in gray concrete boxes eating reprocessed maggots and licking algae out of recycled glass bottles is utterly uninspiring and no future can be created from that, nor will it be. It’s a dead end, just as is unrestrained capitalism.

Rationality, extreme utilitarianism and absolute realism are in fact all dead ends. Let’s not waste time heading in those directions.