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It makes me proud of the Hacker News community that there have been so many climate change articles posted at an increasing rate. This is a very important issue

It makes me proud of the Hacker News community that there have been so many climate change articles posted at an increasing rate. This is a very important issue, more important than technology since technology won't exist when the climate collapses and destroys civilization. We need to make a serious effort educating the public about climate change, so we need to work together to ensure that, at minimum, the top article on Hacker News is always a climate change story. It would be even better if we keep multiple climate change articles on the front page at all times.

crimsonalucard 7y ago
Seems biased. Isn't the purpose to choose something that is news worthy and interesting to the community? I think we should let it come naturally.
guscost 7y ago
There should be a user option similar to “show dead”: “show climate stuff”. If it’s enabled (make it the default if you want) then N stories get included on the front page (make N configurable if you want). Then I can turn it off and go back to ignoring this stuff, along with maybe 30% of the people here.
Mirioron 7y ago
While I agree with you that it's nice that climate change related topics are discussed, this is hyperbole: >more important than technology since technology won't exist when the climate collapses and destroys civilization. The type of climate collapse you're talking about here would have to be something so extreme that most disaster movies would pale in comparison. The defining trait of our species is tool (technology) use. As long as there are humans around, our technology will matter. In fact, improvements in technology are likely our only way out of the mess of climate change. I think that hyperbole about climate charge hurts the cause. Some people will believe you, but once they learn that you were wrong (or lying) they won't trust you or anyone else on the matter anymore.
- r00fus 7y ago
  There was an HN comment a while back about how hard it is for most creatures to evaluate exponential growth. About how a petri dish colony took 2 weeks to get to 50% full but then they all died off in the next 2 hours because their growth was exponential and the environment static. Once the climate starts worsening visibly, it will get much worse quicker. The world is literally on fire now (california, australia, the arctic) - guess what's lined up for the next decade.
  - jes5199 7y ago
    It will get worse, but maybe not as worse as we’ve been thinking: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/12/climate-change-worst-case-scenario-now-looks-unrealistic.html https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/12/climate-change-worst...
  - vixen99 7y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushfires_in_Australia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushfires_in_Australia is informative and provides perspective!
foobazbar70 7y ago
Public doesn't visit HN, why should we bias HN? What's next?

crimsonalucard 7y ago

Seems biased. Isn't the purpose to choose something that is news worthy and interesting to the community? I think we should let it come naturally.

guscost 7y ago

There should be a user option similar to “show dead”: “show climate stuff”. If it’s enabled (make it the default if you want) then N stories get included on the front page (make N configurable if you want). Then I can turn it off and go back to ignoring this stuff, along with maybe 30% of the people here.

Mirioron 7y ago

While I agree with you that it's nice that climate change related topics are discussed, this is hyperbole: >more important than technology since technology won't exist when the climate collapses and destroys civilization. The type of climate collapse you're talking about here would have to be something so extreme that most disaster movies would pale in comparison. The defining trait of our species is tool (technology) use. As long as there are humans around, our technology will matter. In fact, improvements in technology are likely our only way out of the mess of climate change. I think that hyperbole about climate charge hurts the cause. Some people will believe you, but once they learn that you were wrong (or lying) they won't trust you or anyone else on the matter anymore.

r00fus 7y ago
There was an HN comment a while back about how hard it is for most creatures to evaluate exponential growth. About how a petri dish colony took 2 weeks to get to 50% full but then they all died off in the next 2 hours because their growth was exponential and the environment static. Once the climate starts worsening visibly, it will get much worse quicker. The world is literally on fire now (california, australia, the arctic) - guess what's lined up for the next decade.
- jes5199 7y ago
  It will get worse, but maybe not as worse as we’ve been thinking: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/12/climate-change-worst-case-scenario-now-looks-unrealistic.html https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/12/climate-change-worst...
- vixen99 7y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushfires_in_Australia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushfires_in_Australia is informative and provides perspective!

foobazbar70 7y ago

Public doesn't visit HN, why should we bias HN? What's next?