3 ms·

A lot of people seem to misunderstand the 12 (now 11) year deadline. It's not that suddenly an apocalypse will occur in 2030. It's that after that point, we'll

A lot of people seem to misunderstand the 12 (now 11) year deadline. It's not that suddenly an apocalypse will occur in 2030. It's that after that point, we'll no longer have any realistic hope of avoiding the worst effects of climate change that will arrive in the following decades and centuries. Maybe we need to explain it to people like cancer treatment: if we'd caught it early, maybe chemotherapy alone would have been sufficient. Today, we need invasive surgery, plus chemo, plus radiation therapy, and we also need to hope that untested immunotherapy treatments will work. If we continue to leave it untreated, then our prognosis is very grim indeed. We won't die immediately, but our cancer will be inoperable.

bambax 7y ago
Our behavior doesn't seem to change in the least. At the individual level the only option seems to be to brace for impact. Maybe move to colder regions of the globe. Or enjoy the present. No individual, no civilization, no species are immortal. Our extinction is in the order of things. What is most upsetting, maybe, is it's our own fault and that, in theory, we could have prevented it (just like a smoker who didn't stop smoking while there was still time).
- avip 7y ago
  To quote someone [0] The good news is the human race probably won't go extinct. The bad news is that was the good news. [0] can't remember where I've heard that
ryandvm 7y ago
People have a hard enough time caring about humans suffering and dying on the other side of the world. Trying to get them to worry about humans that don't currently exist is a total lost cause.
- ForHackernews 7y ago
  You might have thought they'd care about their own kids and grandkids, but here we are.
  - saganus 7y ago
    In my experience, most people don't even care about their own future, i.e. retirement and such, and instead buy cars and other stuff that they can't afford, because short term satisfaction is more compelling than long term one. So while I agree with you that I care about ny children and grand-children, I don't see this as being a mainstream thought.
- ttonkytonk 7y ago
  Maybe a strategy would be getting people to take the possibility of rebirth seriously?

bambax 7y ago

Our behavior doesn't seem to change in the least. At the individual level the only option seems to be to brace for impact. Maybe move to colder regions of the globe. Or enjoy the present. No individual, no civilization, no species are immortal. Our extinction is in the order of things. What is most upsetting, maybe, is it's our own fault and that, in theory, we could have prevented it (just like a smoker who didn't stop smoking while there was still time).

avip 7y ago
To quote someone [0] The good news is the human race probably won't go extinct. The bad news is that was the good news. [0] can't remember where I've heard that

ryandvm 7y ago

People have a hard enough time caring about humans suffering and dying on the other side of the world. Trying to get them to worry about humans that don't currently exist is a total lost cause.

ForHackernews 7y ago
You might have thought they'd care about their own kids and grandkids, but here we are.
- saganus 7y ago
  In my experience, most people don't even care about their own future, i.e. retirement and such, and instead buy cars and other stuff that they can't afford, because short term satisfaction is more compelling than long term one. So while I agree with you that I care about ny children and grand-children, I don't see this as being a mainstream thought.
ttonkytonk 7y ago
Maybe a strategy would be getting people to take the possibility of rebirth seriously?