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Sure, Earth Could Get Hit by a Deadly Asteroid–But There’s an Upside
- Terr_ 10y ago> Yet these threats also present an unusual opportunity for nations to band together My cynical prediction: "Phew! Okay, that was intense. Good job everyone. However, now we aren't 'due' for another impact that size for, like, thousands of years, right? Plenty of time to go fight my neighbor!"
- lomnakkus 10y agoI don't think it would even get as far as thinking about the "thousands of years" bit. $WE would just think, "OK, we survived, but our neighbors were already weaker than us before, so they're bound to be in really bad shape.". (I have a pessimistic view of humanity. Individual humans are actually usually pretty nice, but we're just too easily led and since 'leaders' tend to have traits that are antithetical to general well-being...)
- flukus 10y agoWould we want to band together to fix it anyway? I would have thought smaller teams from US, Russia, China and EU could all come up with independant solutions and see which works. If an asteroid is hurtling and don't want people fucking around in committees.
- 464192002d7fe1c 10y agoWhy do you think that individual smaller efforts are more likely to succeed than a single unified global effort. I see no evidence to support that. We're obviously going to spend a few years researching this before we start figuring out how to stop the asteroid to determine if we should be fighting this asteroid menace as a whole, or individually.
- vtange 10y agoThere's no guarantee a "single, unified global effort" will be better than multiple different efforts though, plus it sounds like putting all your eggs in one basket. If events in 2016 has shown anything, it is that people are naturally divisive. We all live in our own bubbles and want to do things our way all the time, win all the time and be right all the time. Unless you're willing to compromise, it'll be hard to just tell people to team up with you and do things "the global way".
- andrewflnr 10y agoThere's no guarantee they won't interfere with and nullify each other. For instance, one team lands a big ion thruster on the rocket to push it out of the way. The next detonates a nuke next to it. They screwed up the positioning so it didn't deflect the asteroid enough, but did wreck the ion engine. Oops. At the very least you need some communication between the "competing teams".
- hueving 10y agoYou've clearly never worked in anything dictated by multiple voting parties with different interests. There would be no such thing as a 'global unified effort' in this scenario. There might be a 'global effort', but it will be dragged down by countries arguing over which will provide what resources and for what reward.
- ci5er 10y agoBecause "all of us", collectively, is usually stupider than "any of us". It's hard to beat small focus'd tactical teams. Large committees get bogged down. Even way back when there were few commercial incumbent interests in web standards a the W3C or IETF being this way or the other, and the groups were small, focused and collegial, it took a fair amount of patient doing to achieve outcomes. For something more global and "significant" -- getting the respective rep teams of 10-large banks to agree on technical standards for money transfer -- oh, boy....
- golemotron 10y ago> There’s another factor that makes the threat of asteroid impacts a unique opportunity for global unity. Unlike some more localized natural hazards, like volcanic eruptions and tsunamis, these kinds of impacts are theoretically preventable. “It’s the only natural disaster that we really have the ability to—at least in principle—prevent,” says Barbee. “That creates a certain type of international collaboration that is very unique.” The desire the unify the world is powerful. It might even be deeper than any surface issues. Sometimes I wonder whether, if we invented some machine that quickly and easily pulled carbon out of the atmosphere, people would adopt it or still continue to push for a global agreement. I think they'd adopt it but then they would look for other ways to unite the world.
- roryisok 10y agoI wish I lived in your world. Mine only seems to be getting more and more divided. None of the leaders of the free (or unfree) world seem to have any desire right now to 'unite' it
- golemotron 10y agoLeaders? No. But many people do.
- kobeya 10y agoGlobal unity sounds like a dystopian nightmare to me. Are you sure you're not projecting here?
- ebcode 10y agoPresent day reality lives like a dystopian nightmare to me. Pretty sure I'm not projecting. (God I hope I'm not!) Global unity sounds to me like world peace. Maybe not every individual would be peaceful, but we could finally put away our silly flags.
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- joeax 10y agoI wrote a science fiction novel about an asteroid crashing into Earth, and did some extensive research on the topic (including how large an asteroid has to be to cause worldwide damage). Regarding global unity, my book takes the opposite stance. In it, futuristic superpowers U.S and China squabble about who should do what, and global politics destroys any chance of stopping the asteroid in time. Of course, there's much more to the story, and there wouldn't be much of a plot if there was 'global unity' :)
- dkarapetyan 10y agoI think you have the right take. Not sure if even with imminent catastrophe there would be any kind of unity.
- 464192002d7fe1c 10y agoPublished? Link?
- joeax 10y agoSorry didn't want to spam. Book is called "The Final Six Days", just search on Amazon.
- ffggvv 10y agoOr look in his profile. Don't worry, we appreciate the work of others, and a link is always welcome :)
- joeax 10y agoThank you guys for the support. I'm also giving away free pre-release copies of book 2 in the series for people who join the email list on http://www.timecrossers.com http://www.timecrossers.com
- ehsanu1 10y agoWhat did you think of Seveneves, if you've read it?
- dkarapetyan 10y agoOr complete chaos. Pillaging, plundering, and warring.
- kobeya 10y ago> Yet these threats also present an unusual opportunity for nations to band together Yes, that has worked so well for climate change.
- andrewflnr 10y agoAn asteroid is a lot more of a concrete threat than climate change, and there's no economic upside to getting hit like there is for CO2 emission.
- nck4222 10y agoBut there is a "everything's fine, no need to worry, I can't admit the horrible truth to myself" aspect that is similar in both circumstances.
- banhfun 10y agoWe'll probably have politicians blatantly denying the existence of the meteor despite the fact that it's literally right above us.
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- drivingmenuts 10y agoWell, 2016 couldn't get much worse, so bring it, Universe!
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]