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We're going to go extinct because we're clearly incapable of prioritizing the survival of our species over short term conveniences.
by yogthos 7y ago
We're going to go extinct because we're clearly incapable of prioritizing the survival of our species over short term conveniences.
- dvh 7y agoCarbon is The great filter
- wcoenen 7y agoIt might be carbon for us, but in general it might just be exponential growth. Exponential growth will always hit some kind of limit in a finite world. e.g. if we got a magical free energy source and dealt with carbon emissions, we'd still run into direct issues with waste heat eventually. Even at a seemingly modest 2% yearly growth, energy usage would reach the level of energy Earth receives by the sun in just 500 years or so.
- NeedMoreTea 7y agoNot to worry, there's only about 7m of sea level rise locked up in Greenland. Someone will be along in a moment to tell us this will be beneficial as we'll have somewhere new to holiday or explore for oil...
- pier25 7y agoSea rise, while significant, is the least of our problems regarding climate change. Agriculture will be severely affected by drought, heatwaves and cold waves. This will have very serious consequences. For example, the 2010 heatwave in Russia produced wildfires which reduced its wheat harvest by 30%. Russia decided to stop exporting wheat which in turn increased global food prices. This incident is considered the be one of the causes of the Arab spring revolts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Russian_wildfires https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Russian_wildfires Imagine something like this on a global scale.
- throwaway6668 7y agoThe internet gives a disproportionate weight to contrarian opinions. The thing about climate change online debate is that a nexus seems to have formed between corporate interests, trolls and contrarians, and politicians who don’t understand the nature of the disinformation beast, and allow themselves to be influenced by it. Climate change may well bring some regional benefits, but a good way of dealing with climate trolls is to point out that they, personally, would probably lose out, once the regional impacts are clearer, while the rich would be able to buy themselves safety, their self-appointed internet footsoldiers would be left to fend for themselves.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- icedchai 7y agoLooks at it this way: it will encourage us to get off the planet.
- Analemma_ 7y agoThat’s not a positive, in any way. FTL travel is impossible, there are no habitable planets anywhere near us, and proposals like terraforming Mars are total fantasies. Earth is our only option for the foreseeable future.
- icedchai 7y agoWe have another 20 to 50 years left, so we better figure it out. It's amazing what becomes possible when you don't have any other options.
- SomeOldThrow 7y agoThe amount of fantasy required to consider colonizing mars an option for escaping extinction is mind boggling.
- icedchai 7y agoTell that to Elon Musk. I agree it is unlikely... but it's good to have dreams.
- polotics 7y agoDreams may be good in times of peace. Ask a Syrian what he dreams. You can then tell that to Elon Musk I guess.
- SomeOldThrow 7y agoYou know there’s great music coming out of Syria for the last decade. Fantasy is in fact a core part of hope. It’s not a replacement for a material plan, however.