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Anything we can realistically give them by investing in science will be dwarfed by the toxic legacy of climate change. It’s like your dad leaving you a really
by pavlov 4y ago
Anything we can realistically give them by investing in science will be dwarfed by the toxic legacy of climate change.
It’s like your dad leaving you a really nice suit and one billion in debt in your name with no option for bankruptcy.
- agloeregrets 4y agoThe best choice would have been to curb climate change, yes...but we are materially beyond the point of no return now. We could maybe give one more generation a better life with cuts, but putting a team together to find answers to big questions is much much easier than to make billions of people change their actions. It is far more efficient.
- klodolph 4y agoThat's an age-old question. "Should we solve other problems besides what we think are the most important problems?" One problem with answering this question is that we don't know what avenues of research will produce important outcomes. Historically, we have been very bad at it. The mathematicians working on group theory in the late 19th century had no idea how important it would be to 20th-century scientists and engineers. Spaceflight, in particular, is an important part of the specific problem of solving climate change. Imagine trying to understand climate change without the use of satellites!
- agloeregrets 4y agoBingo. Also I would note that it is incredibly not a zero-sum game. A person could dedicate their life to playing Video games, zex, drugs, charity, religion, science, the environment, etc. Spending time and money on science does not remove time and work from climate, in fact it may increase the amount by adding public interest.
- ch4s3 4y agoWe'll leave them with a whole array of low and no carbon energy sources, and the seeds for technology to draw down carbon. At some level our decedents will be born into a different world where people have adapted, they won't know anything else, but they'll have the tools to make the world they want. The future is full of possibility if we only look up a bit and try to imagine something better.
- Scarblac 4y agoExtinct species won't be back though.
- soraki_soladead 4y agoTrue but new species will emerge. There have be numerous mass extinction events on Earth.
- ch4s3 4y agoSome won't but there's no reason to believe we won't be able to revive some species. It's unfortunate, but some loss is unavoidable. All we can do is prioritize, protect what we can, and move forward.
- snikeris 4y agoUltimately all species will perish due to the heat death of the sun unless we take them with us off this planet.
- bckr 4y agoThere's this idea that we should be sad about this. I say, if you're sad about it, I understand. I feel a little sad, too. But I'm also curious about what comes next. What will only get a chance to live thanks to the things that have died? What will humans be able to do in the aftermath? It sounds morbid, but if you just let yourself play with these thoughts they can lead somewhere different and interesting. The future is not full of only despair[] . [] https://youtu.be/LxgMdjyw8uw https://youtu.be/LxgMdjyw8uw
- ambrose2 4y agoThis argument always upsets me. You’re curious about what new species will come about in hundreds of thousands of years, millions? It’s certainly not going to be anytime soon. With the loss of biodiversity, we either have less life or more of life which isn’t preferable. I forget the best examples, but invasive species will spread further, and wreak further havoc, and then what? What kind of better world are you imagining this will enable?