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Yeah, I'm thinking about this every time I see puffs of smoke from exhaust or airplanes pass by... It probably took the earth a few hundred thousand years to bi

Yeah, I'm thinking about this every time I see puffs of smoke from exhaust or airplanes pass by... It probably took the earth a few hundred thousand years to bind that carbon, and here we are puffing it off in a matter of decades. Human short-sightedness never ceases to amaze. It's an evolutionary problem I believe as we're to smart in a micro-sense, but as a whole we fail to take the holistic approach. A bit like driving at 100MPH -- the human brain is not evolved for that scenario and perspective gets skewed.

KozmoNau7 8y ago
The human brain has remarkable plasticity, though. Most people can train themselves to competently drive and react to inputs at 100MPH. The issue is that most people won't put in the necessary effort, either because they're unaware of the risks and consequences, or because they prioritize other things. Similarly, we can adapt to realize and adequately visualize our impact on the environment, and collectively act to lessen our impact, but most people consider it irrelevant or even downright unpleasant to even think about, so they don't.
- jordanbeiber 8y ago
  The fact that we prioritise different things is a testament to this evolutionary vs. smarts discrepancy IMHO. We can train and mould our brains, true, but at what scale does this actually have a noticeable impact and and how to achieve this at scale? It's either through some form of enlightenment or through a totalitarian regime. The former at scale can, again IMHO, only happen through reaching a point of resonable equality, so at this point the latter with China spearheading the way seems most plausible, which is terrifying.
- james_s_tayler 8y ago
  If we follow the metaphor of driving at 100MPH then we are in agreement that it is a skill we learn to do, however I would like to add the caveat that you cannot learn to drive around a hairpin bend at 100MPH because you cannot drive around a hairpin bend at 100MPH and it may well be the case that we are approaching the bend and are going too fast and cannot muster the necessary coordination to successfully navigate the turn. It would be nice if this weren't the case, but it might be.

KozmoNau7 8y ago

The human brain has remarkable plasticity, though. Most people can train themselves to competently drive and react to inputs at 100MPH. The issue is that most people won't put in the necessary effort, either because they're unaware of the risks and consequences, or because they prioritize other things. Similarly, we can adapt to realize and adequately visualize our impact on the environment, and collectively act to lessen our impact, but most people consider it irrelevant or even downright unpleasant to even think about, so they don't.

jordanbeiber 8y ago
The fact that we prioritise different things is a testament to this evolutionary vs. smarts discrepancy IMHO. We can train and mould our brains, true, but at what scale does this actually have a noticeable impact and and how to achieve this at scale? It's either through some form of enlightenment or through a totalitarian regime. The former at scale can, again IMHO, only happen through reaching a point of resonable equality, so at this point the latter with China spearheading the way seems most plausible, which is terrifying.
james_s_tayler 8y ago
If we follow the metaphor of driving at 100MPH then we are in agreement that it is a skill we learn to do, however I would like to add the caveat that you cannot learn to drive around a hairpin bend at 100MPH because you cannot drive around a hairpin bend at 100MPH and it may well be the case that we are approaching the bend and are going too fast and cannot muster the necessary coordination to successfully navigate the turn. It would be nice if this weren't the case, but it might be.