5 ms·

I think the issue is that we face truly existential environmental crises in the near-to-mid term, which has not been the predominant cause of strife for our his

by iab 6y ago

I think the issue is that we face truly existential environmental crises in the near-to-mid term, which has not been the predominant cause of strife for our history thus far (world wars, the thread of nuclear exchanges, etc.). So it is hard to say it is impossible, but it is even harder to say that it will be achievable.

vagrantJin 6y ago
> existential environmental crises in the near-to-mid term, Nah. This just comes off as alarmist. We might accelerate a naturally occuring process ever so slightly but it is by no means an exinction event. You underestimate the homo sapiens ability to adapt to their surroundings. Berbers live in deserts, eskimo in ice tundra - arguably the very extremes of human habitats. You can throw everything at them short of a super volcano really. When the polluters have to pay the piper - they'll get their just desserts. Unfortunately a world war for resources isnt out of the question. We're not even close to that yet. Not when Apple Inc is still the most valuable company in the world. What I hate is the destruction of millenia year old forests and the biology that inhabits it. That's just driven by mindless greed when fucking Doritos is more important than the home of the last wild jungle elephants or 2 millenia old trees just cut with impunity. Not to mention the people to whom those forests are holy land and home.
- iab 6y ago
  Adaption will happen, for sure. But you agree with my fears in this paragraph, in concluding that resource wars aren't out of the question. In this context, how could anyone envision that we will have the means, and will, to successfully colonize another planet on a timescale where the most continuous extra-terrestrial presence we have had is in low-earth-orbit? The timelines just don't marry up.
  - vagrantJin 6y ago
    A lot of will is required for sure.
- Tiktaalik 6y ago
  Good thing you're a human and not a resident orca

by iab 6y ago

vagrantJin 6y ago

> existential environmental crises in the near-to-mid term, Nah. This just comes off as alarmist. We might accelerate a naturally occuring process ever so slightly but it is by no means an exinction event. You underestimate the homo sapiens ability to adapt to their surroundings. Berbers live in deserts, eskimo in ice tundra - arguably the very extremes of human habitats. You can throw everything at them short of a super volcano really. When the polluters have to pay the piper - they'll get their just desserts. Unfortunately a world war for resources isnt out of the question. We're not even close to that yet. Not when Apple Inc is still the most valuable company in the world. What I hate is the destruction of millenia year old forests and the biology that inhabits it. That's just driven by mindless greed when fucking Doritos is more important than the home of the last wild jungle elephants or 2 millenia old trees just cut with impunity. Not to mention the people to whom those forests are holy land and home.

iab 6y ago
Adaption will happen, for sure. But you agree with my fears in this paragraph, in concluding that resource wars aren't out of the question. In this context, how could anyone envision that we will have the means, and will, to successfully colonize another planet on a timescale where the most continuous extra-terrestrial presence we have had is in low-earth-orbit? The timelines just don't marry up.
- vagrantJin 6y ago
  A lot of will is required for sure.
Tiktaalik 6y ago
Good thing you're a human and not a resident orca