This week’s readings spoke to me about the unfeeling cruelty of the universe.  I think we’ve evolved a sense of comfort or even mastery over our planet while simultaneously pillaging it.  Because the Earth is a valiant and accommodating fighter, our expectations of consequences are inappropriately lax: we see this every day in our reluctance to step over to the garbage pail, in our refusal to walk instead of taking the elevator, in forgetting to turn off the light when we leave a room.  In “The Cold Equations” we meet a character whose behaviors support this notion; she stows away onto a ship with no extra fuel and is shocked – and horrified – when she’s told she will have to die for her mistake.  I think there’s a misguided idea that, if death does find us, it will be a result of someone else’s active maliciousness, but in reality, nature is a harsh mistress.  It could be argued that “Night’s Slow Poison” makes a case against this, but even then, we’re very much victims of the natural order.  This is why we’re capable of making mistakes like trusting attractive folks (Awt and his gran), feeling power over deadly environmental phenomenons (think: NSP’s Crawl, our fellow earthfolks trying to surf Tsunami waves or refusing to evacuate in the midst of a weather disaster), or believing we are stronger or smarter than our peers.  This is what makes “The Martian” so poignant.  No one knows the severity of our universe better than Mark Watney.  He works on problems with an awareness of the potential fatality of failure, and this is why his humor might be so jarring to audiences – how could one see life so coldly while still cracking jokes?  To this, I’d venture to say that humor and sarcasm are some of the key ways folks cope with this frosty awareness.  Think of NSP’s Vonda-bite tale, wherein one has only enough time to finish a tea before death, and later on, the story’s final soundbite,

“But enough of this. Let’s get you to your bunk. And something strong to drink.”  “One thinks,” said Inarakhat Kels, “that a cup of tea would be sufficient.”