Key to understanding the whole thing is this: “the group that built, conceived, and directs the Biosphere project is not a group of high-tech researchers on the cutting edge of science but a clique of recycled theater performers that evolved out of an authoritarian—and decidedly non-scientific—personality cult”
I’ve been there 3 or 4 times. Yeah, it has a storied history but it’s an incredibly inspiring place.
They more or less built a tropical jungle in the the desert (Along with several other biomes, but the jungle is the most incredible). Over the decades it’s become overgrown and all the trees completely fill the dome to the ceiling, there are waterfalls annd rivers and all kinds of life in there, the humidity and everything is exactly like a real jungle; it’s borderline science fiction. Maybe science needs a few more artists because if we want to live on other planets without going insane it won’t be in sterile space capsules, it’ll look like Biosphere.
When this was being built it was a big tourist attraction. I visited the Biosphere a couple of times that first year and I went to the ceremony for the reopen.
Strange project. There was clearly some valid science and engineering that came out of it, but lots of vanity, hype and backlash. The effort was founded by a billionaire who was either a visionary or a member of a personality-cult, or both, depending on your perspective. The biosphere residents - the biospherians - were lionized in the local press, similar to astronauts.
When they opened it up after the first year, the biospherians strode out in jumpsuits and lined up on stage. Lot of speechs by people in the project and unrelated luminaries.
My favorite memory is a great but somewhat random speech by Jane Goodall. (paraphrasing) "I know this experiment isn't supposed to be about the interpersonal dynamics of a small group in a confined space, but we should use this experience to think about other intelligent animals in confined spaces for long periods of time... like chimpanzees".
Well, when you're a hammer everything looks like a nail, so I suppose when you're a primate researcher, everything looks like a primate. Probably helps that we are actually primates.
