Sensory deprivation

Unconsciousness.

I'm going to go into a sensory deprivation tank and just wish this would all stop, you know?

Yeah.

I really like those sensory deprivation tanks.

It's just like, do you ever, the problem with them is like you go in obviously and they close the lid and you're sort of floating and there's no sound or visual stimuli or anything.

And just your dad's face appears like right in front of your face and just is like roaring into your face.

Okay.

Sensory deprivation tanks.

So buddy of mine owns two of these places in Denver and they're like temples.

They're amazing.

Interesting.

Why am I doing that? Who knows?

Okay, the sensory deprivation tanks, yeah.

I really want to try those.

They form couples, not necessarily for romantic love, but for deep physical and psychological support.

They need an anchor to survive the sensory deprivation.

It seems obvious that for interplanetary travel, space agencies are gonna have to abandon their bureaucratic prudishness and consider sending established couples or mixed gender crews with the understanding that intimacy is a survival mechanism.

So the internal architecture of the human mind is fragile enough when confined.

And worst of all, because the power is dead, the oxygen scrubbers and pumps have stopped working.

So the carbon dioxide you are exhaling is just forming an invisible suffocating bubble around your head.

The crew had to try and repair the electrical systems while floating in this sensory deprivation tank, completely cut off from Earth.

They eventually managed to restore power, but the psychological damage to Zolotov was irreversible.