I was worried I’d suffacated/trapped the woodlice inside. However, they popped their heads up recently and still seem lively.
The idea of earth ships or biospheres as a solution to humanities survival either in a post-apocalyptic or outer space context is interesting to me, especially in experiments that have explored what quality of life can be achieved within a closed system, utilising a dynamic equilibrium of natural processes to reuse water, waste products, growing food etc. There are undoubtedly valuable lessons to be learned from such experiments regardless of any high-tech application, namely how we can live more efficiently and with nature rather than exploiting it.
Then there is also the terrarium as analogy. In that, to a degree, we’re all farmed, our choices curtailed and processes monitored more than ever before. We live under a dome already, perhaps that’s what made me feel for the woodlice the most – there was a familiarity in the idea of feeling trapped. Space, in terms of safe borders, stable environment or private ownership of property, is at an ever-rising premium. Those who have such things in abundance in turn have better opportunities to survive and thrive. This means less artists, creatives, academics, politicians, engineers etc from “outside the dome”.