I often think about the Biosphere 2 experiment. The question of how to create a materialy closed but energetically open system where humans can thrive is such a

I often think about the Biosphere 2 experiment. The question of how to create a materialy closed but energetically open system where humans can thrive is such an interesting one. And it is already a really hard problem. But the biospherians went one further. They didnt just wanted to build a working biosphere, they also wanted to make it mimic the earth. Like I understand if for some chemical or even psychological reason you need a giant pool to make your humans comfortable, but why spend resources and attention to create a salt mars of varying salt gradient? It just adds more moving parts to an already complicated puzzle. It is as if you don’t only want to build the worlds first aeroplane but you want it shaped like a jellyfish with tinny bells. They had a hard problem and made it even harder for themselves.