Help Bring the Academy to South by Southwest
Your vote could help the Academy achieve liftoff!
Published August 05, 2019
This year, the Academy wants to share some of the work underway across our amazing network of researchers, innovators, and Members, at South by Southwest — one of the largest creative gatherings in the world. But we need your help to get there. The topic the Academy is proposing this year is:
Alienating Mars: Challenges of Space Colonization
Human bodies are optimized for life on Earth, and ill-equipped for environments like those we will encounter on Mars. But here at home there are organisms that thrive in the extremes: the coldest, hottest, driest, and saltiest places. As technologies like CRISPR enable us to manipulate our genes, there may be adaptive tools we can borrow from these extremophiles. But while we are absorbed in self-preservation, it will be easy to neglect the planet we hope to colonize. After all, humans do not have the best track record when it comes to ethical exploration. While there is no evidence for life on Mars — yet — there is still the matter of an entire land that has no one to speak for it, or to defend it. So in the process of getting humans to Mars, what values may be compromised along the way?
If you’ve never voted for a SXSW proposal before, vote for our proposal by doing the following:
- Login to PanelPicker and click on the “Sign In” link in the top right-hand corner of the page.
- Click on “Create Account” and type in the required information including your name and email address.
- Confirm your registration via the email sent to your account.
- Vote for the Academy’s proposal
If you would like to see the Academy at South by Southwest, please vote for our proposal on PanelPicker by August 23, and share your vote on social media.