4 ms·

It does call in to question the wisdom of saving for retirement. Given the arctic is releasing methane and cities have, what, three days of food on average? How

It does call in to question the wisdom of saving for retirement. Given the arctic is releasing methane and cities have, what, three days of food on average? How long can civilisation persist?

raziel2701 6y ago
I see hints of this rationale all the time on wallstreetbets. It comes with a heavy dose of nihilism and maybe a bit of hedonism. Why invest and wait 30-40 yrs for retirement if there's not going to be a world to retire into? Hence, they go all in on risky option plays.
- kortilla 6y ago
  The explanation is simpler than that, they like to gamble.
  - CalRobert 6y ago
    Saving in a 401k, IRA, etc relies on government stability and willingness not to raid funds (see Poland) for many decades, which seems less likely with the possibility of crop failures.
nullsense 6y ago
>How long can civilisation persist? Can we use the number of seasons of The Walking Dead as a proxy to estimate that?
- smcl 6y ago
  That's a nice idea - but unfortunately I think civilisation broke down pretty quickly
tropdrop 6y ago
Let's not forget the very real phenomenon in 1999 of many assuming the world ends in 2000 (some shadow of that again in 2012 with the Mayan calendar). It did not happen. In fact, whatever happens, life finds a way...
- jandrese 6y ago
  It seems a bit disingenuous to conflate global warming with complete nonsense like the Mayan calendar rolling over.
- CalRobert 6y ago
  In 1999 and 2012, the more research you did the more obvious it was there was nothing to worry about. Now, the more research I do the more worried I get. I'm not a climate scientist but I majored in physics and like to think I'm not completely ignorant. The IPCC reports have a lot of systemic nudges towards underplaying risks, as part of attaining consensus.
  - titzer 6y ago
    Yeah, this is a real problem. Scientists closest to studying climate change phenomenon are falling into despair. IPCC reports also systematically shy away from considering potential feedback loops like Arctic methane. Plotting IPCC predictions against reality for the past few decades, we've been consistently hitting the high end of the predictions. 20 years ago there was room for doubt. I was out there in the trenches arguing against global warming, because I was, in retrospect, a denialist. Now, frankly, I'm terrified. We are in real trouble.
- porb121 6y ago
  I must have missed all the IPCC forecasts about the Mayan calendar.
brandmeyer 6y ago
> cities have, what, three days of food on average? This is a widely held belief, but I would need to see some solid evidence to believe that its true. Anecdata: Shelf turnover from the brief period when I worked retail, and the typical contents of my pantries. Also, the panic buying at the beginning of the pandemic stressed the system, but certainly didn't crash it.

It does call in to question the wisdom of saving for retirement. Given the arctic is releasing methane and cities have, what, three days of food on average? How long can civilisation persist?

raziel2701 6y ago

I see hints of this rationale all the time on wallstreetbets. It comes with a heavy dose of nihilism and maybe a bit of hedonism. Why invest and wait 30-40 yrs for retirement if there's not going to be a world to retire into? Hence, they go all in on risky option plays.

kortilla 6y ago
The explanation is simpler than that, they like to gamble.
- CalRobert 6y ago
  Saving in a 401k, IRA, etc relies on government stability and willingness not to raid funds (see Poland) for many decades, which seems less likely with the possibility of crop failures.

nullsense 6y ago

>How long can civilisation persist? Can we use the number of seasons of The Walking Dead as a proxy to estimate that?

smcl 6y ago
That's a nice idea - but unfortunately I think civilisation broke down pretty quickly

tropdrop 6y ago

Let's not forget the very real phenomenon in 1999 of many assuming the world ends in 2000 (some shadow of that again in 2012 with the Mayan calendar). It did not happen. In fact, whatever happens, life finds a way...

jandrese 6y ago
It seems a bit disingenuous to conflate global warming with complete nonsense like the Mayan calendar rolling over.
CalRobert 6y ago
In 1999 and 2012, the more research you did the more obvious it was there was nothing to worry about. Now, the more research I do the more worried I get. I'm not a climate scientist but I majored in physics and like to think I'm not completely ignorant. The IPCC reports have a lot of systemic nudges towards underplaying risks, as part of attaining consensus.
- titzer 6y ago
  Yeah, this is a real problem. Scientists closest to studying climate change phenomenon are falling into despair. IPCC reports also systematically shy away from considering potential feedback loops like Arctic methane. Plotting IPCC predictions against reality for the past few decades, we've been consistently hitting the high end of the predictions. 20 years ago there was room for doubt. I was out there in the trenches arguing against global warming, because I was, in retrospect, a denialist. Now, frankly, I'm terrified. We are in real trouble.
porb121 6y ago
I must have missed all the IPCC forecasts about the Mayan calendar.

brandmeyer 6y ago

> cities have, what, three days of food on average? This is a widely held belief, but I would need to see some solid evidence to believe that its true. Anecdata: Shelf turnover from the brief period when I worked retail, and the typical contents of my pantries. Also, the panic buying at the beginning of the pandemic stressed the system, but certainly didn't crash it.