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>It's Earth, not deployment you can rollback, we don't get to play that game. >We're talking hundreds or thousands of years before we'll know how bad we fucked

>It's Earth, not deployment you can rollback, we don't get to play that game. >We're talking hundreds or thousands of years before we'll know how bad we fucked up. Almost every life forms on the planet are linked one way or another, every changes has an impact. >Remember when DDT, asbestos and lead plumbing were harmless to humans ? Then they were classified as "could" be dangerous or "may" be harmful. Now they're straight up banned everywhere. This is exactly the kind of emotional appeals the GP is complaining about. There are tons of different substances you come into contact with on a day to day basis. Most of them will not be harmful in any reasonable quantity. If paper or cotton clothing was invented today the parchment and wool industries would be talking up how it's not proven to not be harmful. Yes, some plastics are probably bad even in small concentrations. Just from a common sense point of view it's highly unlikely that all plastics are bad in all concentrations. No you shouldn't ingest it intentionally. Yes, I'd like to see less plastics in the world. No I don't think it's going to be a massive future problem. If it really does turn out to be a serious problem we'll find a way to solve it. Remember when CFCs were going to deplete the ozone and give us all skin cancer?

lm28469 8y ago
I hate to be that guy but, did you read any of the links I provided ? It's not as if a weird hippie guy was predicting the end of the world. It's scientifically proven, measurable, it's right here, right now. And it's just the beginning of a very long process.
- dsfyu404ed 8y ago
  I read the first few and skimmed the rest. Yes plastics are a problem, the same way that smog in cities (mostly solved in developed nations) and CFCs were problems. None of them present an existential crisis to humanity. Sure we might spend a fraction of a percentage of global wealth dealing with the trade-offs of spewing plastic everywhere but we'll be fine in the long run.
  - lm28469 8y ago
    > the same way that smog in cities (mostly solved in developed nations) and CFCs were problems. "were" ? Unless you live in the country side it _is_ an immediate problem to your health and a time bomb for the planet. https://www.who.int/airpollution/en/ https://www.who.int/airpollution/en/ > mostly solved in developed nations That's exactly the type of thinking that will destroy us. It's always China, or Russia, or developing countries, or your neighbours, or the damn democrats/republicans. Nobody wants to take responsibility. Let's continue to act like 8 years old while our home is slowly burning.
    - lexpar 8y ago
      I think their point was that technological advancements have 'solved' the problem of smog in the cities that have the legal and physical infrastructure (i.e. developed) to implement the solutions. They did not seem to be saying that pollution is someone else's fault.
      - welearndnothing 8y ago
        I live it one of these cities. In California. Beautiful landscape. Fields and mountains and ocean. My car is always covered in filth from the air. As is my balcony. I often stand atop a mountain and look out over the thick, visible layer of smog that tops the city - a city that has made vast progress in the last 4 decades. That progress has gotten us from nearly inhabitable to simply disgusting and unhealthy. Where are these solutions, exactly?
        lexpar 8y ago
        I don't live in a city with a smog problem, and this is not my area of expertise. I was just clarifying what I thought @dsfyu404ed was saying, since it seemed to me that @lm28469 had taken it out of context and jumped to a nasty reply that wasn't really pertinent to what was being claimed.
        8y ago
gldalmaso 8y ago
First we have to wait for the science, then we have to wait for the establishment to deny the science, then we have to wait for the establishment to lobby against the science. In the post-truth, post-science zeitgeist, should we acquiesce to all these demands? We got lucky with CFCs because there was a cheap alternative, so the industry didn't really push against it. We are seeing a very different outcome with climate change, and now we enter another very similar debate with microplastics. > * If it really does turn out to be a serious problem we'll find a way to solve it.* We can only dodge so many bullets, that is even if we can dodge the current bullet. If society can only solve problems after they become a tragedy, it just takes a slow building tragedy to end it.
adamsea 8y ago
> This is exactly the kind of emotional appeals the GP is complaining about. According to the book “Emotional Intelligence” rational thought and emotion are two sides of the same coin.
macawfish 8y ago
https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/sites/default/files/cstream-node/proj_inc_asr_Mal.png https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/sites/default/files/cstream...

lm28469 8y ago

I hate to be that guy but, did you read any of the links I provided ? It's not as if a weird hippie guy was predicting the end of the world. It's scientifically proven, measurable, it's right here, right now. And it's just the beginning of a very long process.

dsfyu404ed 8y ago
I read the first few and skimmed the rest. Yes plastics are a problem, the same way that smog in cities (mostly solved in developed nations) and CFCs were problems. None of them present an existential crisis to humanity. Sure we might spend a fraction of a percentage of global wealth dealing with the trade-offs of spewing plastic everywhere but we'll be fine in the long run.
- lm28469 8y ago
  > the same way that smog in cities (mostly solved in developed nations) and CFCs were problems. "were" ? Unless you live in the country side it _is_ an immediate problem to your health and a time bomb for the planet. https://www.who.int/airpollution/en/ https://www.who.int/airpollution/en/ > mostly solved in developed nations That's exactly the type of thinking that will destroy us. It's always China, or Russia, or developing countries, or your neighbours, or the damn democrats/republicans. Nobody wants to take responsibility. Let's continue to act like 8 years old while our home is slowly burning.
  - lexpar 8y ago
    I think their point was that technological advancements have 'solved' the problem of smog in the cities that have the legal and physical infrastructure (i.e. developed) to implement the solutions. They did not seem to be saying that pollution is someone else's fault.
    - welearndnothing 8y ago
      I live it one of these cities. In California. Beautiful landscape. Fields and mountains and ocean. My car is always covered in filth from the air. As is my balcony. I often stand atop a mountain and look out over the thick, visible layer of smog that tops the city - a city that has made vast progress in the last 4 decades. That progress has gotten us from nearly inhabitable to simply disgusting and unhealthy. Where are these solutions, exactly?
      - lexpar 8y ago
        I don't live in a city with a smog problem, and this is not my area of expertise. I was just clarifying what I thought @dsfyu404ed was saying, since it seemed to me that @lm28469 had taken it out of context and jumped to a nasty reply that wasn't really pertinent to what was being claimed.
        8y ago

gldalmaso 8y ago

First we have to wait for the science, then we have to wait for the establishment to deny the science, then we have to wait for the establishment to lobby against the science. In the post-truth, post-science zeitgeist, should we acquiesce to all these demands? We got lucky with CFCs because there was a cheap alternative, so the industry didn't really push against it. We are seeing a very different outcome with climate change, and now we enter another very similar debate with microplastics. > * If it really does turn out to be a serious problem we'll find a way to solve it.* We can only dodge so many bullets, that is even if we can dodge the current bullet. If society can only solve problems after they become a tragedy, it just takes a slow building tragedy to end it.

adamsea 8y ago

> This is exactly the kind of emotional appeals the GP is complaining about. According to the book “Emotional Intelligence” rational thought and emotion are two sides of the same coin.

macawfish 8y ago

https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/sites/default/files/cstream-node/proj_inc_asr_Mal.png https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/sites/default/files/cstream...