A dozen writing students perched around weather-beaten couches, laptops balancing on their knees, ready to discuss their work. Next up to read was Ira Birch, a poet sporting black boots and a shag haircut.

十多位写作班的学生散坐在饱经风吹日晒的沙发周围，膝上放着笔记本电脑，准备讨论他们的作品。接下来朗读的是艾拉·伯奇，一位穿着黑色靴子、留着蓬乱发型的诗人。

It was a scene reminiscent of any creative writing brainstorm happening on any college campus. But the gathering's true setting was a barren, windswept plot in the middle of the California desert.

这一幕让人想起任何大学校园里都会有的创意写作研讨会。但这场聚会的真正地点却是加州沙漠中一片荒芜贫瘠、狂风肆虐的土地。

The desolate community's name: Mars College.

这个处于荒凉之地的社群，名叫火星大学。

"You know, it kind of looks like Mars out here, " says co-founder Gene Kogan, a programmer and artist.

“你要知道，这里看起来有点像火星。”联合创始人、程序员兼艺术家吉恩·科根说。

At Mars, unlike a real college, there are no grades, degrees or mandatory attendance. There are no tuition fees or trained professors or even public utilities.

火星大学与现实中的大学不同，这里没有成绩、学位或强制出勤。没有学费，没有受过专业训练的教授，甚至没有公共设施。

But there are daily classes taught by anyone who has something to teach. All classes are held within a cluster of plywood-and-metal structures, which are built right before the beginning of the "semester" in January, and then torn down again every year in April.

但这里有日常课程，任何有东西可教的人都能讲授。所有课程都在一月“学期”开始前搭建好、每年四月再拆除的一组胶合板和金属搭成的屋子里进行。

Mars is clearly not collegiate in a traditional sense; it's more like a low-cost experimental community. But as the price of college tuition continues to soar, and the college educated now see more long-term unemployment than in decades past, people of all ages are looking for new, adventurous ways to keep learning.

显然，火星大学并不是传统意义上的大学；它更像是一个低成本的实验性社区。但随着大学学费持续飙升，且相比过去几十年，受过大学教育的人现在长期失业的比例更高，各年龄段的人们都在寻找新的、充满冒险精神的方式来继续学习。

And Mars feels like a college for the end of the world: a dystopian, isolated place where students learn both how to live off the grid and how to use modern AI tools.

而火星大学就像是一所给世界末日准备的大学：一个反乌托邦式的、与世隔绝的地方，学生们在这里一边学习如何在不依赖电网的情况下生活，一边学习如何使用现代人工智能工具。

To join Mars, prospective students have to formally apply, although Kogan admits that the admission process is "very self-selective" because of the inherent toughness required to live in the desert for three months with virtually no immediate resources.

要加入火星大学，有意向的学生必须正式申请，不过科根承认，录取过程是“高度自我选择的”，因为要在沙漠中几乎没有直接资源的情况下生活三个月，本身就需要韧性。

"We sort of emphasize that this isn't a vacation, " he said.

“我们多多少少强调过，这不是来度假的。”他说。