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Given recent events, I'm starting to think we are going to blow ourselves up one way or another. First a lab leaked virus, then one man with a giant ego and a
by 323 5y ago
Given recent events, I'm starting to think we are going to blow ourselves up one way or another.
First a lab leaked virus, then one man with a giant ego and a nuclear button.
As tech becomes more powerful, it becomes easier and easier for one accident or deranged person to kill us all.
- thicknessing 5y ago
- techer 5y agoMaybe kill…but probably enslave??
- wussboy 5y agoI definitely understand your sentiment. But I can't help but think whatever nuclear angst we are experiencing right now can't have been anything compared to what was experienced in the 50s and 60s.
- stormbrew 5y agoI think we're still far more likely to kill ourselves slowly than quickly, though the slow but accelerating erosion of our ecosystem could certainly accelerate things that would lead to a quicker end. Either way, 800k years feels very optimistic right now. We need to stop thinking about a trillion potential future people over a million years and start making things better for the few billion or so who will live in the next 20-100 years if those trillions are ever going to exist. We're really really bad at this near-medium horizon, endlessly shuffling the costs of our choices onto them and their children as if we can amortize it forever.
- somewhereoutth 5y agoLab leaked? I'm more concerned with the rise of 'Idiocracy' to be honest
- rmah 5y agoCivilization is far more resilient than most people today seem to believe. History shows that utter devastation can tear through a civilization, killing as much as one in three people, but civilization will rebound within a generation or three. If an apocalypse happens, it will certainly be horrific for those who experience it, but humanity will not just survive, it will rebuild quite rapidly. You may not live to see the new renaissance, but will happen.
- imiric 5y agoI would like to see things as positively as you, but until the 20th century humankind had never before faced the dangers of nuclear destruction. We just don't know the extent of the damage power hungry rulers are willing to unleash on the world when they are cornered and feel they have nothing to lose, while controlling more destructive power than ever before in history. Your figure of 1/3 deaths, or up to 3 generations to rebound might be too optimistic. We just don't know. Given how reliant we are on existing supply chains, their complete breakdown could send us back into the stone age. We've certainly seen how even a relatively mild pandemic can disrupt our lives for years. The effects of something far worse would be difficult to predict. Us measly tax payers can only hope for the best.
- qiskit 5y ago> History shows that utter devastation can tear through a civilization, killing as much as one in three people, but civilization will rebound within a generation or three. That news to the ancient egyptian civilization, mesopotamian civilization, incan civilization, aztec civilization, etc.
- nitrogen 5y agoAnd yet here we all are, and there the future they will all be.
- musha68k 5y agoAre you sure you know enough about knock-on effects of nuclear war? I can recommend the writings of William J. Perry [1] and for blunt emotional effect the BBC movie "Threads" [2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._Perry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._Perry [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threads_(1984_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threads_(1984_film)