Charlie wants to know if he can learn how to "think like an engineer", just like the Matt Damon/Mark Watney character in THE MARTIAN -- and Oz has some good suggestions, as per usual.

Shownotes:

• Von Neumann probes 
• We Are Legion (We Are Bob) - Dennis E. Taylor
• Nibbles - Charlie's short story about von Neumann probes 
• The Martian - Andy Weir: 
• Shimmer - Charlie's short story about mining a giant diamond asteroid
• Ian Hubert's YouTube channel
• This week's XKCD reference
• Primer (movie)
• Farcaster social media protocol 
• Charlie's "fling" experiment on Farcaster