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There have been very very few, if any, cohorts of humans who have not faced existential dread head on. Whether it was the tribe across the valley that wants to
by natalyarostova 7y ago
There have been very very few, if any, cohorts of humans who have not faced existential dread head on. Whether it was the tribe across the valley that wants to kill you, the barbarians raiding from foreign lands, the meat grinder of trench warfare, plagues that wipe out 60% of your society, burning fire dropped on your head from a warring nation, or just the dull, banal, existential dread of personal tragedy and the fragility of life.
Your ancestors managed to get through it, and have children, and their children managed to solve problems that they couldn't fathom at the time. They didn't just give up. This modern fatalism is pathetic.
- CapricornNoble 7y agoThe first thing that came to mind reading some of these comments was Bill Pullman's speech from Independence Day: "We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We’re going to live on! We’re going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day!” https://youtu.be/9t1IK_9apWs https://youtu.be/9t1IK_9apWs To just roll over and say "Meh, screw life and the very instinct of overcoming adversity to survive under any conditions, I'll just concede defeat instead.".....you described it accurately: pathetic.
- antisthenes 7y agoWe are not fundamentally giving anything up if we reduce our energy usage. All the stuff on the hierarchy of needs - love, accomplishment, community, knowledge, none of it is especially energy intensive. Food and housing are, somewhat, but it's pretty clear that the pendulum in that area has swung too far in the other direction (obesity/mcmansions, etc.) I think you're right and we'll be just fine. We'll just use less stuff. And stuff will generally be more energy efficient.
- natalyarostova 7y agoI think what will probably happen* is things will get really really bad, then humanity will finally band together, and teams of engineers will put 50-100 year advances of technology to use and figure out how to solve this problem, along the way creating some heroes of humanity that will go down in history. * This will probably not happen, as forecasts 50-100 years in the future never come true.
- perfunctory 7y agoWe don't have 50-100 years to solve the problem.
- natalyarostova 7y agoSure we do. Things might get pretty bad, but we have plenty of time.
- EForEndeavour 7y agoI think the point was to try to take action before "things get pretty bad."
- perfunctory 7y ago> This modern fatalism is pathetic. I disagree with this assessment. The parent is actually trying to do something to solve the problem. Yes, the problem with the climate problem is that the solution will not look glorious.