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We have a pretty good track record keeping it running though; The Internet has never gone down! I'd be far more concerned with agricultural logistics, though w

We have a pretty good track record keeping it running though; The Internet has never gone down! I'd be far more concerned with agricultural logistics, though we've never starved to extinction, either. Perhaps we've reached a point of positive no return: We can no longer cease to exist!

adventured 5y ago
In this context it's a very important point that there isn't one Internet and there isn't one "we." Unless you strictly mean the human race has yet to go extinct due to starvation. A lot of starvation events have of course occurred across many different nations, peoples, civilizations. Europe, as one example, was numerous times ravaged by extreme starvation events that collectively killed millions of people across the 19th and 20th centuries. I think your agriculture concerns are well placed. The various Internets have gone down routinely for all sorts of reasons.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
setpatchaddress 5y ago
We absolutely can. Imagine a US president outwardly Trump-like but who was also a True Believer instead of a cynical, mentally-ill real estate huckster. They would have the unilateral capability to start a global nuclear war. And they might actively desire to do this, on the basis of religious delusion (“it’s time for armageddon!”). We are frighteningly close to this scenario in 2025. It’s a bad idea to assume that the gop candidate will be a fascist-wannabe in on the joke (someone like desantis or cruz). We can survive run-of-the-mill fascism, although it won’t be fun. But it could instead be someone truly existentially dangerous.
- throwawayboise 5y ago
  Since we're imagining things, imagine a befuddled geriatric sock puppet president installed via fraud and controlled by a globalist cabal with a stated desire to depopulate the planet. See how crazy that sounds?
  - bobthebuilders 5y ago
    Not really. You'd be surprised with what 3 letter agencies do.
- lliamander 5y ago
  Breathe
cgh 5y ago
There’s a strong probabilistic argument that says otherwise: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_argument https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_argument Note that the argument is not dependent on any sort of cause, such as climate change or whatever. It is entirely probabilistic.

adventured 5y ago

In this context it's a very important point that there isn't one Internet and there isn't one "we." Unless you strictly mean the human race has yet to go extinct due to starvation. A lot of starvation events have of course occurred across many different nations, peoples, civilizations. Europe, as one example, was numerous times ravaged by extreme starvation events that collectively killed millions of people across the 19th and 20th centuries. I think your agriculture concerns are well placed. The various Internets have gone down routinely for all sorts of reasons.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

setpatchaddress 5y ago

We absolutely can. Imagine a US president outwardly Trump-like but who was also a True Believer instead of a cynical, mentally-ill real estate huckster. They would have the unilateral capability to start a global nuclear war. And they might actively desire to do this, on the basis of religious delusion (“it’s time for armageddon!”). We are frighteningly close to this scenario in 2025. It’s a bad idea to assume that the gop candidate will be a fascist-wannabe in on the joke (someone like desantis or cruz). We can survive run-of-the-mill fascism, although it won’t be fun. But it could instead be someone truly existentially dangerous.

throwawayboise 5y ago
Since we're imagining things, imagine a befuddled geriatric sock puppet president installed via fraud and controlled by a globalist cabal with a stated desire to depopulate the planet. See how crazy that sounds?
- bobthebuilders 5y ago
  Not really. You'd be surprised with what 3 letter agencies do.
lliamander 5y ago
Breathe

cgh 5y ago

There’s a strong probabilistic argument that says otherwise: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_argument https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_argument Note that the argument is not dependent on any sort of cause, such as climate change or whatever. It is entirely probabilistic.