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this kind of slow motion and macro stuff is really eye opening, a perspective shift that gives us an opportunity to reflect on life - how intricate, beautiful a

this kind of slow motion and macro stuff is really eye opening, a perspective shift that gives us an opportunity to reflect on life - how intricate, beautiful and perfect the millions of different species we have on our planet are. I think we're unable to fully appreciate biodiversity - a lot of it is too small for us to take notice, or too large to comprehend at ecosystem level. Similarly we are also unable to fully appreciate the loss of it - it's too abstract and happens at timescales our biological planning capabilities haven't evolved for (decades instead of minutes or days). Such a shame to lose millions of years of amazing parallel optimisation by evolution, across so many species.

verisimi 5y ago
I like your point about the slow motion stuff being eye opening - I agree. I don't get why _every_ point about 'the wonder of nature' has to suffixed with a downer. It actually leaves the impression with me that you actually want to put everyone on a downer, while trying to signal to us how much you love nature. Its like saying the ice cream is great, but its so unhealthy for you to eat. The way I see it, eat the ice cream if you like, but don't also moan about how bad it is for you.
- dharma1 5y ago
  I recognise that! Did not want to put you on a downer though, just reflect on why it often feels like we are on a slow motion train wreck, incapable of doing much about it. Feels like we should generally have more positive narratives and stories of the future, like this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solarpunk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solarpunk
  - verisimi 5y ago
    The truth is also that this is not a problem you or I created. We leave our lives fairly simply I'm sure, choosing not to harm others. When we make choices, these choices are provisioned for us by the governance structure and the corporations. The same entities that cause environmental damage (eg wrt fires - cutting down pristine forests rather than farming them, poor forest management in not undertaking controlled burns, etc). This is not our fault. To me, this is directly equivalent to the Christian idea that we are born in sin. We are not. However, it is expedient that this is the message that we receive and so we are being blamed for 'climate change'. Those doing the blaming are those that caused the problem - corporations and governments. Rather than take a positive action to address the problem, even if there is a hit to the bottom line (money), it is far easier and cheaper to 'socialise' the risk. So corporation use lobbyists etc to make government put the costs on the general population (carbon taxes, 'smart' cities, etc). And, as it happens, this provides the same corporations with the opportunity to make even more money, providing us with the governmental solutions that they lobbied to achieve! Its a win/win for the corporations. Its lose/lose for the general public.
    - frosted-flakes 5y ago
      > the Christian idea that we are born in sin. I thought it was the opposite. Christians hold that babies are born innocent and pure.

verisimi 5y ago

I like your point about the slow motion stuff being eye opening - I agree. I don't get why _every_ point about 'the wonder of nature' has to suffixed with a downer. It actually leaves the impression with me that you actually want to put everyone on a downer, while trying to signal to us how much you love nature. Its like saying the ice cream is great, but its so unhealthy for you to eat. The way I see it, eat the ice cream if you like, but don't also moan about how bad it is for you.

dharma1 5y ago
I recognise that! Did not want to put you on a downer though, just reflect on why it often feels like we are on a slow motion train wreck, incapable of doing much about it. Feels like we should generally have more positive narratives and stories of the future, like this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solarpunk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solarpunk
- verisimi 5y ago
  The truth is also that this is not a problem you or I created. We leave our lives fairly simply I'm sure, choosing not to harm others. When we make choices, these choices are provisioned for us by the governance structure and the corporations. The same entities that cause environmental damage (eg wrt fires - cutting down pristine forests rather than farming them, poor forest management in not undertaking controlled burns, etc). This is not our fault. To me, this is directly equivalent to the Christian idea that we are born in sin. We are not. However, it is expedient that this is the message that we receive and so we are being blamed for 'climate change'. Those doing the blaming are those that caused the problem - corporations and governments. Rather than take a positive action to address the problem, even if there is a hit to the bottom line (money), it is far easier and cheaper to 'socialise' the risk. So corporation use lobbyists etc to make government put the costs on the general population (carbon taxes, 'smart' cities, etc). And, as it happens, this provides the same corporations with the opportunity to make even more money, providing us with the governmental solutions that they lobbied to achieve! Its a win/win for the corporations. Its lose/lose for the general public.
  - frosted-flakes 5y ago
    > the Christian idea that we are born in sin. I thought it was the opposite. Christians hold that babies are born innocent and pure.