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I fear we are approaching a time where the only means to stave off holocaust is for actions to be undertaken that would get one banned in polite forums such as
by revscat 8y ago
I fear we are approaching a time where the only means to stave off holocaust is for actions to be undertaken that would get one banned in polite forums such as this one were they to be openly suggested.
- ars 8y agoThere's not going to be a holocaust, or mass deaths, or anything like that. Even the worst case predictions do not predict that. The predict some species extinction, migration off the coast, and changes in the the weather - yes. But not "a holocaust" or anything like that.
- hsavit1 8y agoWhat are you talking about?? Mass extermination of life on Earth is genocide.
- eanzenberg 8y agoCitation?
- yakshaving_jgt 8y agoTechnically, that isn't true. Genocide: the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation. Emphasis my own.
- unimpressive 8y agoI'm worried about the tails. Recent revelations like the bug biomass loss should sober anybody up. https://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2017/10/insect-biomass-declines-75-percent-over-three-decades-europe https://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2017/10/insect-biom...
- eanzenberg 8y agoIt’s like, right there, in the actual link... >>>The changing climatic conditions, from temperature to wind speed, didn’t appear to impact the species.
- oscilloscope 8y agoI do truly hope insect biomass decline is uncorrelated to global climate change, and has more to do with local land use (farming, concrete, fertilizer, etc). That would mean we could make significant progress on restoring land-based insect biodiversity even with smaller community initiatives.
- unimpressive 8y agoMy point was more that this is a thing which has apparently been going on for decades...and we just didn't notice. What else might we not be noticing?
- eanzenberg 8y agoA whole lot that probably doesn't matter.
- brianberns 8y agoClimate change could be a civilization-ending event. Even if the odds of catastrophe are low, say 10%, do you really want to bet the future of humanity on your assumption?
- groestl 8y ago> migration off the coast Do you have any idea what democracies are capable of becoming when faced with mass migration and resource shortage?
- nharada 8y agoCompletely disagree, we could solve climate change with today's technology if the political/popular will existed.
- eanzenberg 8y agoMore importantly, we should ask, should we? If the worst outcome is 3ft rise in sea level in 100 years, what’s the point of spending $50t+?
- brianberns 8y agoDo you enjoy breathing oxygen? If so, you might want to read the linked article.
- eanzenberg 8y agoI forgot I live in the ocean..
- brianberns 8y agoThe ocean produces 70% of the oxygen that you breathe.
- ehnto 8y agoYou live in the oceans ecosystem. I am also just baffled you would put some monetary tokens we literally made up as higher priority than the real, physical environment you live in. We will spend countless more money surviving and adapting. It will be an economic disaster as well as an environmental one.
- anigbrowl 8y agoLooks like the oxygen deprivation is already having an impact.
- ehnto 8y agoSea levels rising is just one of the symptoms. Complete ecosystems dying, including many we rely on for food, is another. Extreme weather patterns including higher frequencies of devastating natural disasters is another. This isn't just in other places either, no matter where you live, highland, lowland, tropical, arid, you will be affected. What good is $50t when the economy that accepts it is going haywire as countless resources are "refactored" by the environment.
- Tharkun 8y agoYou know that the holocaust was the deliberate and methodical extermination of people, right? The word does not apply here, at all.
- 2ion 8y ago> does not apply here It does. Because culling the human population by, say 50% in one step, would that lead to positive or negative effects in the context of climate change, ecosystems and overpopulation? Esp. if you choose the "right" half of people who are least essential for the global economy?
- ehnto 8y agoNo one is essential. Not to mention, you think there will be a global economy after half the worlds population dies off? Like everyone will just go on like everything is normal just there are fewer people now? Societies would fall apart and rebuild over the course of centuries. Governments would be toppled, countries broken down. Infrastructure would fall apart as it was built for a different scale of humanity, now half of them are gone and the metrics don't make sense. It would be messy.
- perfmode 8y ago> Esp. if you choose the "right" half of people who are least essential for the global economy? Could you clarify what you mean by “least essential for the global economy”
- flukus 8y ago
- polynomial 8y agohmm, it sounds like you are trying to sneak a taboo topic into the discussion.
- dang 8y agoPlease don't post grand ideological comments to HN, especially not the dark insinuation kind. This is the sort of thing that seems substantive but isn't. Plus it's flamebait and we don't want flamewars here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html