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How about solving the actual root cause; making a sustainable economic system which does not exploit earth’s limited resources infinitely?

mLuby 5y ago
> making a sustainable economic system which does not exploit How about solving the actual actual root cause: humans are currently wired to seek dominance over any and all resources? Barring that, our alternatives are: 1) Open the final frontier to the nearly unlimited mass and energy resources of the solar system (and then on to the stars). 2) Massively reduce the population via increased death or birth control. 3) Put everyone into Matrix-like virtual reality tubes where they use minimal real-world resources. I prefer option 1, as it's the only one that doesn't require a totalitarian state (however beneficent).
- mmazing 5y ago
  I'd hate to inflict us any further on the universe, to be honest.
- pempem 5y ago
  There are plenty of cultures and practices that did not seek dominance over any and all resources. Would be worth revisiting and adding that as an alternative. Reshaping culture is not as bizarre as it seems (i.e. womens rights, democracy, egalitarianism, voting, an 8 hr workday, public education, all recent inventions/shifts)
  - mLuby 5y ago
    > There are plenty of cultures and practices that did not seek dominance over any and all resources. Maybe so (I'm skeptical of that claim), but anyway it only takes one culture that does to take over. At some level, a specific group of humans controls each resource, regardless of whether they're generous with it. Agreed on your second point; it's not an alternative, it's the root cause. If we're able to improve our wiring, that's great. I'm not knowledgeable or optimistic about that prospect, hence the alternatives.
- gregorygoc 5y ago
  Define “seek dominance”. Also, look at the EU. They force significant reduction of the carbon based energy by 2030 or something. Some countries (such as Poland) rely heavily on this energy type, but they signed an agreement to stop that. As you can see “humans” don’t have to seek dominance in anything, we just need to cooperate.
MattGrommes 5y ago
The point of most geo-engineering projects is to give us more time to fix the real problems, not to be a permanent solution. Most of the ones getting real attention are things that only work while we're actively doing them so they'll fade (in theory of course).

mLuby 5y ago

> making a sustainable economic system which does not exploit How about solving the actual actual root cause: humans are currently wired to seek dominance over any and all resources? Barring that, our alternatives are: 1) Open the final frontier to the nearly unlimited mass and energy resources of the solar system (and then on to the stars). 2) Massively reduce the population via increased death or birth control. 3) Put everyone into Matrix-like virtual reality tubes where they use minimal real-world resources. I prefer option 1, as it's the only one that doesn't require a totalitarian state (however beneficent).

mmazing 5y ago
I'd hate to inflict us any further on the universe, to be honest.
pempem 5y ago
There are plenty of cultures and practices that did not seek dominance over any and all resources. Would be worth revisiting and adding that as an alternative. Reshaping culture is not as bizarre as it seems (i.e. womens rights, democracy, egalitarianism, voting, an 8 hr workday, public education, all recent inventions/shifts)
- mLuby 5y ago
  > There are plenty of cultures and practices that did not seek dominance over any and all resources. Maybe so (I'm skeptical of that claim), but anyway it only takes one culture that does to take over. At some level, a specific group of humans controls each resource, regardless of whether they're generous with it. Agreed on your second point; it's not an alternative, it's the root cause. If we're able to improve our wiring, that's great. I'm not knowledgeable or optimistic about that prospect, hence the alternatives.
gregorygoc 5y ago
Define “seek dominance”. Also, look at the EU. They force significant reduction of the carbon based energy by 2030 or something. Some countries (such as Poland) rely heavily on this energy type, but they signed an agreement to stop that. As you can see “humans” don’t have to seek dominance in anything, we just need to cooperate.

MattGrommes 5y ago

The point of most geo-engineering projects is to give us more time to fix the real problems, not to be a permanent solution. Most of the ones getting real attention are things that only work while we're actively doing them so they'll fade (in theory of course).