5 ms·

I remember a New Agey book talking about California becoming an island, the Mississippi River flooding the Great Plains essentially splitting the US in two, and

I remember a New Agey book talking about California becoming an island, the Mississippi River flooding the Great Plains essentially splitting the US in two, and Florida being completely underwater... by like 1990. That said, just because some people take hysteria to the extreme doesn’t mean the threats aren’t real. The nuclear annihilation one in particular came down to a handful of people steering the ship blind and somehow not running into the rocks while their first mates were screaming at them to turn the other way.

kbelder 6y ago
True, but it means that you maybe shouldn't partake in extreme hysteria. I vividly remember my teacher in High School asking the students to raise their hands if they thought there would be a nuclear war with the USSR in their lifetime, and I was the only kid in my class who didn't think there would be. I imagine that there would be a similar response now, if you asked a bunch of kids if civilization was going to collapse due to global warming in their lifetime. Doesn't mean that global warming isn't a problem, just like nuclear war wasn't a problem; it just means that people have a hard time evaluating risk and likelihood.