Two Million Kilograms

Spoilers for Project Hail Mary

Sometimes I'm reminded of the fact that I don't analyze the stories that I read. Apparently I often just enjoy them for what they are, internalizing their messages more intuitively and less intellectually than I would otherwise expect.

Today, I was reminded of that by a short video I watched about the Project Hail Mary movie. In the video, a scene that, in a sense, seems so obvious to me was highlighted by the videographer as being the best shot in the film. I don't think he's wrong; I think I just missed it because I am in such a state of agreement with the character that it doesn't seem like a surprise.

It's a simple scene: Grace mentions that he needs 2 million kg of astrophage to get home. And Rocky simply says "I can give". He has it. He doesn't need it. it does him no good in his ship nor is it required to complete his mission, so he offers it freely! No strings. No conditions. No exchange. Simply one man needed something that the one in possession didn't; so in the spirit of teamwork, he gave it away.

It didn't seem at all odd to me in either the movie or in the book. It's just how teamwork is... Or at least how it should be. We work together, freely exchanging ideas, knowledge, skills, labor, time, resources... As the saying goes, "a rising tide raises all ships", so too did Rocky's generosity later save his own life... and his own planet. If he would have kept the astrophage to himself, all involved would have lost. Not only would Grace have died himself, he wouldn't have had the resources to save Rocky, or Erid (Rocky's home planet) later in the story. The spirit of generous teamwork works out to EVERYONE'S benefit.

Having it pointed out to me in this video has helped me to understand and appreciate this story even more. It's helped me to relate it to other aspects of my life. I see it playing out in my career... In the people I've worked with/around. For the most part, I've mostly worked with people like Rocky, people who are very generous with their knowledge and skills. With teammates like this, we're consistantly building each other up, bouncing ideas off of one another improvingly, sharing credit generously... Needless to say we get more done, faster, cheaper, better, happily. However, I have dealt with plenty of people who jealously guard their ideas, knowledge, and skills while choosing to spend their energy on retaining credit for themselves... Looking from the outside they seem miserable, and it always seems to backfire. It's short-sighted to focus on only one side of the transaction. It should be obvious that it causes division, infighting, and distrust, which in turn leads to poor performance through reticence to continue cooperating with those toxic teammates. Rocky's example is the antidote to such toxicity.

Moreover I think this speaks to the popularity of Project Hail Mary and the lasting legacy of The Lord of the Rings in this postmodern era of Dune, Game of Thrones, and similar cynical stories. Both Dune and Game of thrones can be boiled down to one sentence "everybody sucks and the good people die first". I reject such an amoral view of life.

I think I prefer to be like Rocky and say "I can give."