7 ms·

Yet more bad news on the climate change front. Based on previous discussions on HN, I'm sure there will be plenty of people proposing ambitious and creative te

Yet more bad news on the climate change front. Based on previous discussions on HN, I'm sure there will be plenty of people proposing ambitious and creative technological solutions. I fear that there's an anthropic bias[0] at work where humans are convinced we will solve this problem because we've always solved other problems before. But we forget that if we hadn't solved those previous issues, we wouldn't be here to talk about it (and it has been very touch-and-go[1] before). That leads us to overestimate our chances of eventually sorting this out, too. But maybe this is start of the great filter? [2] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropic_bias https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropic_bias [1] https://io9.gizmodo.com/close-calls-three-times-when-the-human-race-barely-esc-1730998797 https://io9.gizmodo.com/close-calls-three-times-when-the-hum... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Filter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Filter

etaty 8y ago
We already have solved the issue. We know how to produce massive amount of energy, all day long. We just don't want to implement it, because of local incident risk. And because of this we are in the middle of a global incident. Technology available in 5 years are already too late.
- prolikewh0a 8y ago
  >We just don't want to implement it, because of local incident risk. More likely due to capital. It's always capital. We're going to kill all life for capital.
- spuz 8y ago
  > We already have solved the issue. We know how to produce massive amount of energy, all day long. We just don't want to implement it That means we haven't solved the issue. The solution might require as much of a change in human psychology as a change in technology.
- Diederich 8y ago
  > We know how to produce massive amount of energy, all day long. Are you hinting at nuclear power? If so, I (somewhat) agree with you. The environmentalists that I used to hang out with believed with a burning passion that nuclear power was an absolute evil. I understand that perspective, though I disagree with it. If one takes the position that The Main Future Threat is related to and rooted in human released greenhouse gases, then nuclear power is right back on the table, front and center, even given its challenges, risks and long-term side effects. About those, though: my understanding is that it has been possible, for some time now, to produce nuclear power plants that are exceptionally safe and cost effective. And with substantial research dollars, the plethora of possible 'next gen' fission reactor technologies would yield all kinds of fruit to, for example, mitigate or remove the long term side effects. Given all of that, I think solar+battery (along with hydro, wind and their up and coming friends) is now the way to go, given how much costs have come down. Going all into nuclear power probably made sense a couple of decades ago.
prolikewh0a 8y ago
The endless growth of runaway Capitalism with no plans to put a halt to is potentially our great filter. We'll need to send another Sagan vinyl up to warn about the dangers of Capitalism among societies. IPCC claims we need to expand beyond capitalism to solve this [1]. [1] https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/10/18/the-hope-at-the-heart-of-the-apocalyptic-climate-change-report/amp/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/10/18/the-hope-at-the-heart-o...
- tuskan 8y ago
  China produces nearly twice the carbon dioxide emissions as the second largest carbon dioxide producer, USA. China is a communist state. https://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/science-and-impacts/science/each-countrys-share-of-co2.html#.W9rh9mhKhPY https://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/science-and-impacts/sc...
  - leonroy 8y ago
    > China is a communist state. Yet its market operates more like a capitalistic one. It's also not entirely fair to point the finger wholly at China on CO2 output when Europe and the US have effectively outsourced their manufacturing and most polluting processes to companies over there.
  - prolikewh0a 8y ago
    Do the workers own the means of production? No, therefore China is not a communist state. It is one in name only. Its economy is extremely capitalistic.
  - lexs 8y ago
    how would that statistic look like if it attributed the carbon where the end product was consumed? At least China isn't calling global warming a hoax...
    - lorenzorhoades 8y ago
      I've never thought about it like that... Your completely right, and i'm sure it would show the US is doing alot more harm than previously thought.

etaty 8y ago

We already have solved the issue. We know how to produce massive amount of energy, all day long. We just don't want to implement it, because of local incident risk. And because of this we are in the middle of a global incident. Technology available in 5 years are already too late.

prolikewh0a 8y ago
>We just don't want to implement it, because of local incident risk. More likely due to capital. It's always capital. We're going to kill all life for capital.
spuz 8y ago
> We already have solved the issue. We know how to produce massive amount of energy, all day long. We just don't want to implement it That means we haven't solved the issue. The solution might require as much of a change in human psychology as a change in technology.
Diederich 8y ago
> We know how to produce massive amount of energy, all day long. Are you hinting at nuclear power? If so, I (somewhat) agree with you. The environmentalists that I used to hang out with believed with a burning passion that nuclear power was an absolute evil. I understand that perspective, though I disagree with it. If one takes the position that The Main Future Threat is related to and rooted in human released greenhouse gases, then nuclear power is right back on the table, front and center, even given its challenges, risks and long-term side effects. About those, though: my understanding is that it has been possible, for some time now, to produce nuclear power plants that are exceptionally safe and cost effective. And with substantial research dollars, the plethora of possible 'next gen' fission reactor technologies would yield all kinds of fruit to, for example, mitigate or remove the long term side effects. Given all of that, I think solar+battery (along with hydro, wind and their up and coming friends) is now the way to go, given how much costs have come down. Going all into nuclear power probably made sense a couple of decades ago.

prolikewh0a 8y ago

The endless growth of runaway Capitalism with no plans to put a halt to is potentially our great filter. We'll need to send another Sagan vinyl up to warn about the dangers of Capitalism among societies. IPCC claims we need to expand beyond capitalism to solve this [1]. [1] https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/10/18/the-hope-at-the-heart-of-the-apocalyptic-climate-change-report/amp/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/10/18/the-hope-at-the-heart-o...

tuskan 8y ago
China produces nearly twice the carbon dioxide emissions as the second largest carbon dioxide producer, USA. China is a communist state. https://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/science-and-impacts/science/each-countrys-share-of-co2.html#.W9rh9mhKhPY https://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/science-and-impacts/sc...
- leonroy 8y ago
  > China is a communist state. Yet its market operates more like a capitalistic one. It's also not entirely fair to point the finger wholly at China on CO2 output when Europe and the US have effectively outsourced their manufacturing and most polluting processes to companies over there.
- prolikewh0a 8y ago
  Do the workers own the means of production? No, therefore China is not a communist state. It is one in name only. Its economy is extremely capitalistic.
- lexs 8y ago
  how would that statistic look like if it attributed the carbon where the end product was consumed? At least China isn't calling global warming a hoax...
  - lorenzorhoades 8y ago
    I've never thought about it like that... Your completely right, and i'm sure it would show the US is doing alot more harm than previously thought.