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The further I read, the smaller some of the issues we face today seem. I could spend my life fighting to prevent global warming or fix the world, but this list

The further I read, the smaller some of the issues we face today seem. I could spend my life fighting to prevent global warming or fix the world, but this list just makes me want to enjoy the time I have here with my loved ones... I don't know how I feel about these feelings.

21 8y ago
> According to Berger and Loutre, the current interglacial period ends[14] sending the Earth back into a glacial period of the current ice age, regardless of the effects of anthropogenic global warming. According to that guy, there will be a new ice age in 50k years regardless of the current global warming being stopped or not.
- mockingbirdy 8y ago
  Climate change? Sounds like a problem for patient man! https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/the-superhero-we-need https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/the-superhero-we-need
- Robotbeat 8y ago
  If there are industrial humans then, it wouldn’t be hard to engineer supergreenhouse gases to mitigate that.
aswanson 8y ago
You mean, it doesnt make you want to get into an inconsequential political argument with someone on Twitter?
- cknoxrun 8y ago
  It's truly a shame that more people don't realize how much better you can feel about life and humanity when you stop getting drawn into arguments on social media.
maxerickson 8y ago
Maybe try to make room for both? Life can have purpose without consisting solely of it. They are even connected. Making the world incrementally better now will impact the lives that your loved ones and their loved ones are able to lead.
- cknoxrun 8y ago
  I agree, I guess I'm just expressing my feeling as I read this list. It is about balance, and I do my best, but thanks for reminding me of the connection between the two.
Joeri 8y ago
Well, if you take the long view then the earth will be consumed by the expanding sun and the entire history of everything on it will be erased as if it never existed. So nothing any human has done or likely will do matters. Hitler is as insignificant as gandhi. But ... there are many lifetimes between now and then, and the quality of those lifetimes (at least the earliest ones) is something we can have an influence on, so what we do matters a lot. So, really, it boils down to what scale you choose to measure the consequences of your actions by.
Robotbeat 8y ago
Well... the odd thing about humans is we actually can do things about the events here, at least in the beginning of the timeline. Not us, but our descendants formed and molded by us today, just as you and I are the direct descendants of some microscopic organisms, actually a continuous living organism alive since life first sprung on Earth. Things like moving the Earth, moving to other Star Systems and galaxies, and more exotic ideas like engineering the course of the cosmos itself. You and your loved ones are part of that.

21 8y ago

> According to Berger and Loutre, the current interglacial period ends[14] sending the Earth back into a glacial period of the current ice age, regardless of the effects of anthropogenic global warming. According to that guy, there will be a new ice age in 50k years regardless of the current global warming being stopped or not.

mockingbirdy 8y ago
Climate change? Sounds like a problem for patient man! https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/the-superhero-we-need https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/the-superhero-we-need
Robotbeat 8y ago
If there are industrial humans then, it wouldn’t be hard to engineer supergreenhouse gases to mitigate that.

aswanson 8y ago

You mean, it doesnt make you want to get into an inconsequential political argument with someone on Twitter?

cknoxrun 8y ago
It's truly a shame that more people don't realize how much better you can feel about life and humanity when you stop getting drawn into arguments on social media.

maxerickson 8y ago

Maybe try to make room for both? Life can have purpose without consisting solely of it. They are even connected. Making the world incrementally better now will impact the lives that your loved ones and their loved ones are able to lead.

cknoxrun 8y ago
I agree, I guess I'm just expressing my feeling as I read this list. It is about balance, and I do my best, but thanks for reminding me of the connection between the two.

Joeri 8y ago

Well, if you take the long view then the earth will be consumed by the expanding sun and the entire history of everything on it will be erased as if it never existed. So nothing any human has done or likely will do matters. Hitler is as insignificant as gandhi. But ... there are many lifetimes between now and then, and the quality of those lifetimes (at least the earliest ones) is something we can have an influence on, so what we do matters a lot. So, really, it boils down to what scale you choose to measure the consequences of your actions by.

Robotbeat 8y ago

Well... the odd thing about humans is we actually can do things about the events here, at least in the beginning of the timeline. Not us, but our descendants formed and molded by us today, just as you and I are the direct descendants of some microscopic organisms, actually a continuous living organism alive since life first sprung on Earth. Things like moving the Earth, moving to other Star Systems and galaxies, and more exotic ideas like engineering the course of the cosmos itself. You and your loved ones are part of that.