[txsh]

What a complete waste of time. The point of a simulation like this would be to see observe how people react in isolation and under stress. But, reading this article, its clear that these people are acting to please the scientists rather than reacting naturally to events.

If everyone clucks like a chicken on Day 7, is it because that’s what happens under these conditions or is it because the software developer from New York saw it in a movie and thinks that’s what the scientists want to see? They’re even quoting lines from the Martian while they are in the simulation.

They are playing make believe. This is not science.

[practice9]

The article gives an impression of a group of people who behave like cultists.

[marcosdumay]

Guess what, if you give people some high purpose, lock them away from society and force them to stick together, they start acting like cultists.

It may still be useful to see what kind of cults develop there. If I had to guess, I'd say the experiment planners want to discover how to manipulate people into the right kind of cult.

[walrus01]

Also, if they really want to simulate it on earth, do it somewhere very remote, in a harsher climate, and difficult to access. The center of the desert in Bir Tawil, perhaps.

[walrus01]

It's a "social" science experiment to see what happens. Might as well put four people in a 900 sq ft condo for six months, give them a 40 minute telecom latency, and black out all the windows.