"The moon is basically grayscale. It's dark gray or light gray. There's no atmosphere, which means that the sky is completely black. There's no sunsets and sunrises. And on mars everything is very orange because the regolith is very rich in iron. The atmosphere is very thin on mars and the sunsets on mars are blue."
I sat down with Phnam Bagley a few days after we met at the Dubai Future Forum, and this turned out to be one of the most interesting conversations I've had in a while.
Phnam is a designer, space architect, and founder of Nonfiction. Her work spans brain implant systems that, in early clinical trials, are showing real potential for people with treatment-resistant depression, with some patients experiencing meaningful change in just five days, all the way to designing for human life in space. She even served as commanding officer on an analog astronaut mission on one of the most remote islands on the planet.
She made the point that we've spent so long designing for the masses and for the elite, but the real challenge is designing technology that adapts to every single person. Not just in space, but everywhere. If you're disabled, elderly, a child, the environment should adjust to you, not the other way around. That principle runs through all of her work, from the brain implant system to the sleep device to the renewable energy batteries in East Africa.
She also told me this story about an executive coach who works with CEOs. The coach met a former child soldier in Uganda who'd been through everything but was full of hope. When she asked his secret, he said, 'Because I believe in myself.' She went back to her clients who had every advantage and couldn't shake the contrast. This episode covered a lot of ground, from neuroscience to space architecture to what it actually takes to believe in yourself.
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