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Can I take the cynical extreme long term view for a second? No matter how much we destroy our planet, it's damage will be a blink of an eye in cosmological ter

Can I take the cynical extreme long term view for a second? No matter how much we destroy our planet, it's damage will be a blink of an eye in cosmological terms. Even if we nearly exterminate all other species, plenty of genetic material will survive by dumb chance alone, and in a few million years there will be a whole other ecosystem/society to worry about. Earth doesn't care about biodiversity, beauty, or longevity, even if we mess it up, it'll be able to recover in its lifetime.

crispinb 8y ago
We depend on the evolved complex systems that sustain a planetary-scale agricultural society. Taking a sufficiently large-scale view, perhaps not even the survival of the planet "matters" (surely there are other planets? other ecologies?). But that's no-one's actual viewpoint. We live here.
Espressosaurus 8y ago
It's a long view, sure, but it's one that doesn't include humans. Most people would like humans to be around. The conditions under which we live won't be in play if the fisheries all collapse and the clathrate gun fires.
- speedplane 8y ago
  People want people around. People want endangered species around. However, civilization has been around for roughly 20,000 years, and modern civilization for roughly 100 years. If earth was a person and we all lived on it's tummy, everything humans ever existed would still be an eye-blick.
  - lotsofpulp 8y ago
    >If earth was a person and we all lived on it's tummy, everything humans ever existed would still be an eye-blick. This does not make any sense to me.
  - spiritcat 8y ago
    Earth seems to be an extreme anomaly in an extremely violent and cold and hot and dead universe. I'd prefer not to test it's resilience.
spiritcat 8y ago
A Nuclear war/accident taking out most multi-cellular life would take more than a few million years to recover from. Then on those time scales sun's luminosity will start to shift, might not be time for intelligent life to evolve again.
justinator 8y ago
Or quoting George Carlin, Besides, there is nothing wrong with the planet. Nothing wrong with the planet. The planet is fine. The PEOPLE are fucked. Difference. Differe nce. The planet is fine. Compared to the people, the planet is doing great. Been here four and a half billion years. Did you ever think about the arithmetic? The planet has been here four and a half billion years. We've been here, what, a hundred thousand? Maybe two hundred thousand? And we've only been engaged in heavy industry for a little over two hundred years. Two hundred years versus four and a half billion. And we have the CONCEIT to think that somehow we're a threat? That somehow we're gonna put in jeopardy this beautiful little blue - green ball that's just a - floatin' around the sun? The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through all kinds of things worse than us. Been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drift, solar flares, sun spots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles...hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors, worlwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages...And we think some plastic bags, and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference? The planet...the planet...the planet isn't going anywhere. WE ARE! https://umdgrb.umd.edu/~goodman/Physics105/George_Carlin.pdf https://umdgrb.umd.edu/~goodman/Physics105/George_Carlin.pdf

crispinb 8y ago

We depend on the evolved complex systems that sustain a planetary-scale agricultural society. Taking a sufficiently large-scale view, perhaps not even the survival of the planet "matters" (surely there are other planets? other ecologies?). But that's no-one's actual viewpoint. We live here.

Espressosaurus 8y ago

It's a long view, sure, but it's one that doesn't include humans. Most people would like humans to be around. The conditions under which we live won't be in play if the fisheries all collapse and the clathrate gun fires.

speedplane 8y ago
People want people around. People want endangered species around. However, civilization has been around for roughly 20,000 years, and modern civilization for roughly 100 years. If earth was a person and we all lived on it's tummy, everything humans ever existed would still be an eye-blick.
- lotsofpulp 8y ago
  >If earth was a person and we all lived on it's tummy, everything humans ever existed would still be an eye-blick. This does not make any sense to me.
- spiritcat 8y ago
  Earth seems to be an extreme anomaly in an extremely violent and cold and hot and dead universe. I'd prefer not to test it's resilience.

spiritcat 8y ago

A Nuclear war/accident taking out most multi-cellular life would take more than a few million years to recover from. Then on those time scales sun's luminosity will start to shift, might not be time for intelligent life to evolve again.

justinator 8y ago

Or quoting George Carlin, Besides, there is nothing wrong with the planet. Nothing wrong with the planet. The planet is fine. The PEOPLE are fucked. Difference. Differe nce. The planet is fine. Compared to the people, the planet is doing great. Been here four and a half billion years. Did you ever think about the arithmetic? The planet has been here four and a half billion years. We've been here, what, a hundred thousand? Maybe two hundred thousand? And we've only been engaged in heavy industry for a little over two hundred years. Two hundred years versus four and a half billion. And we have the CONCEIT to think that somehow we're a threat? That somehow we're gonna put in jeopardy this beautiful little blue - green ball that's just a - floatin' around the sun? The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through all kinds of things worse than us. Been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drift, solar flares, sun spots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles...hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors, worlwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages...And we think some plastic bags, and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference? The planet...the planet...the planet isn't going anywhere. WE ARE! https://umdgrb.umd.edu/~goodman/Physics105/George_Carlin.pdf https://umdgrb.umd.edu/~goodman/Physics105/George_Carlin.pdf