3 ms·
But if the loop is eventually not strong enough to have negative effects, why should we reinforce it? I am quite optimistic that the climate change crisis will
by atemerev 5y ago
But if the loop is eventually not strong enough to have negative effects, why should we reinforce it? I am quite optimistic that the climate change crisis will be eventually resolved by the combination of engineering to restore the environment and adapting our existing technologies to damage it less (like it’s already happening). Humans are very adaptive.
- microjim 5y agoAt the risk of us getting too abstract here, the trouble with said loop being weak is that it is difficult to link our actions and their impact on our environment. It is weak because the forces in question operate on a very long time scale, and the system hasn’t self corrected as early as one would hope. We are indeed very adaptive! It’s simply a case of us adapting our behaviour to mitigate the consequences, rather than just adapting to live with them.
- TruthIsHeresy 5y agoWhat happens when human adaptivity outpaces our species’ ability to accurately perceive and adequately understand the impact of our own adaptivity? We seem to be becoming increasingly reliant upon technology which is increasingly untested to solve problems that are increasingly a result of this adaptivity. It’s a vicious cycle in which humans identify a problem but lack the necessary perspective to identify and solve the root cause of the problem so we end up with inadequate solutions that mostly prolong and exacerbate the original problem rather than actually solving it. Adaptivity aside, I just don’t think humans are at a point in which we possess the necessary perspective for us to safely engage in large scale commercial genetic modification of life without it backfiring on us in some horribly spectacular way.