4 ms·

"probably owing to stress in my life" Sounds more like depression, hope you're in a better place now. To more directly answer your point. Things always seem to

"probably owing to stress in my life" Sounds more like depression, hope you're in a better place now. To more directly answer your point. Things always seem to be bad until they're not. And we are on virtually any measure you'd care to look at, better off than we were a century ago. The temperature may rise x celcius, empires may fall, there may be wars, but this has been an unusually peaceful period of history, wars happen anyway, and people probably wont mourn the non existent ice caps that they heard used to exist, just like we don't mourn the dodo. If we say went back to something equivalent to 1918 Europe. Yes we would have lost a lot, both life and infrastructure, with Spanish flu still on the horizon, but we will rebuild and get on with life, would you expect climate change to be worse than that? And look where we are, a century later.

qubex 8y ago
I know it’s not garden-variety depression because I’ve been treated for that. There’s several people around me that are subject to the same influence that are in remarkably similar emotional states, including my sister and some senior executives in the firm. Unfortunately, no, I am not in a “better place”. But I really appreciate the effort to be understanding. Turing to your comparison between 1918 and now, I daresay global climate change will be a great deal more severe than the cumulative effects of both the First World War and the Spanish Influenza combined. The magnitude of geopolitical strife we have set ourselves up for is of an almost unimaginable scale.
- benj111 8y ago
  "But I really appreciate the effort to be understanding" The worst thing about depression is that you can't see a way out, until you are out, and then the path is astoundingly obvious, and the journey so easy. I could say it will get better, but you probably wouldn't believe me. Please do believe me when I say it doesn't take effort to be understanding though. On to a sunnier subject. I can't see us going mad max, I think worst case doesnt interrupt civilization, which implies keeping at least our current know-how. Could there be a lower standard of living, yes. Lower than a century ago? (while keeping antibiotics, computers etc) Maybe. But that would still be a higher standard of living than we've had for the majority of human history.
blastbeat 8y ago
You cannot compare a locally restricted war with the global disruption of the ecological, economical and social environment, which lies in front of us.
- benj111 8y ago
  Why not? Genuine question, seems like a reasonable proxy, though you could disagree about scale of destruction etc. Would you like to suggest a better comparison.
  - blastbeat 8y ago
    Because the World War 1 allowed recovery. The war caused trauma, but basically everything proceeded like before after that. Climate change has the potential to induce a bifurcation, making it impossible to revert back to the world we know today. Think about the Neolithic Revolution, but backwards.
    - ryanwaggoner 8y ago
      What?? WWI was one of the biggest turning points in history. Virtually everything about global civilization for the last 100 years has been deeply influenced by that conflict. After WWI, nothing proceeded as it had before.
      - blastbeat 8y ago
        I agree, but population growth continued, technology advance continued, wealth accumulated. There was no necessity to doubt on the superiority of mankind (those doubts increased after WW2, facing nuclear annihilation). Now, in the worst case, climate change will lead to a massive population die-off on a global scale, due to starvation, drought and wars. And stall any progress in technology, wealth, society and culture, due to negative feedback loops, which are discovered gradually. This will finally crush the narrative of the superior man, which we all grew up with. I think the psychological effect of experiencing the limits of growth for the first time in modern history, is completely underrated. After WW1, people knew what mechanized slaughter is. After WW2, people realized the holocaust and the balance of terror. During climate change, people will experience the end of growth and expansion on a global scale, which formed the human mindset of the last 3000 years.

qubex 8y ago

I know it’s not garden-variety depression because I’ve been treated for that. There’s several people around me that are subject to the same influence that are in remarkably similar emotional states, including my sister and some senior executives in the firm. Unfortunately, no, I am not in a “better place”. But I really appreciate the effort to be understanding. Turing to your comparison between 1918 and now, I daresay global climate change will be a great deal more severe than the cumulative effects of both the First World War and the Spanish Influenza combined. The magnitude of geopolitical strife we have set ourselves up for is of an almost unimaginable scale.

benj111 8y ago
"But I really appreciate the effort to be understanding" The worst thing about depression is that you can't see a way out, until you are out, and then the path is astoundingly obvious, and the journey so easy. I could say it will get better, but you probably wouldn't believe me. Please do believe me when I say it doesn't take effort to be understanding though. On to a sunnier subject. I can't see us going mad max, I think worst case doesnt interrupt civilization, which implies keeping at least our current know-how. Could there be a lower standard of living, yes. Lower than a century ago? (while keeping antibiotics, computers etc) Maybe. But that would still be a higher standard of living than we've had for the majority of human history.

blastbeat 8y ago

You cannot compare a locally restricted war with the global disruption of the ecological, economical and social environment, which lies in front of us.

benj111 8y ago
Why not? Genuine question, seems like a reasonable proxy, though you could disagree about scale of destruction etc. Would you like to suggest a better comparison.
- blastbeat 8y ago
  Because the World War 1 allowed recovery. The war caused trauma, but basically everything proceeded like before after that. Climate change has the potential to induce a bifurcation, making it impossible to revert back to the world we know today. Think about the Neolithic Revolution, but backwards.
  - ryanwaggoner 8y ago
    What?? WWI was one of the biggest turning points in history. Virtually everything about global civilization for the last 100 years has been deeply influenced by that conflict. After WWI, nothing proceeded as it had before.
    - blastbeat 8y ago
      I agree, but population growth continued, technology advance continued, wealth accumulated. There was no necessity to doubt on the superiority of mankind (those doubts increased after WW2, facing nuclear annihilation). Now, in the worst case, climate change will lead to a massive population die-off on a global scale, due to starvation, drought and wars. And stall any progress in technology, wealth, society and culture, due to negative feedback loops, which are discovered gradually. This will finally crush the narrative of the superior man, which we all grew up with. I think the psychological effect of experiencing the limits of growth for the first time in modern history, is completely underrated. After WW1, people knew what mechanized slaughter is. After WW2, people realized the holocaust and the balance of terror. During climate change, people will experience the end of growth and expansion on a global scale, which formed the human mindset of the last 3000 years.