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We're going to see headlines like this with increasing frequency. Look up wet bulb temperature. At a certain temp and humidity it becomes literally impossible f
by dcchambers 3y ago
We're going to see headlines like this with increasing frequency. Look up wet bulb temperature. At a certain temp and humidity it becomes literally impossible for the human body to cool itself off (cooling via evaporating sweat doesn't work) and humans just cook unless they can get into an air conditioned area. We can survive some pretty high temps if it's dry enough, but throw in extreme humidity and that goes out the window.
This is already becoming a reality in some areas and it's certainly possible that entire regions of the world, many that are HIGHLY populated, will become uninhabitable during parts of the year. Scary stuff.
- kayodelycaon 3y agoFor the lazy: Theoretical survival limit is 35 °C (95 °F), equivalent to a heat index of 70 °C (160 °F). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-bulb_temperature https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-bulb_temperature
- giraffe_lady 3y agoMy most conspiracy-brain belief is that this is well understood and is essentially "the plan" from here on. It's incredibly obvious that the standard of living enjoyed by US, western europe, parts of east asia and middle east simply cannot be extended to the whole world. I think we're going to let billions die over decades in these regions, banking on increasingly capable automation to replace the labor from that population that our quality of life depends on. We disproportionately created this situation, we disproportionately benefit from it, and we will disproportionately survive it, all at the expense of the majority of humanity in the increasingly "less habitable" parts of the world.
- idontwantthis 3y agoGood thing developing nations have agency too and don’t need to rely on “us” to survive.
- giraffe_lady 3y agoYeah good point I would rephrase. Our participation will be much more active than "letting" anything.
- netsharc 3y agoI'm not sure if it could be called a plan or if it's just an inertial thing because of everyone's selfishness. The rich of the world (the whatever percentage where a phone doesn't cost a year or more of their salary) still want the shiny gadgets for the lowest prices, to fly to places they saw on Instagram, and they would moan if someone said we couldn't have those luxuries anymore, and they'd say the boomers/billionaires could/can have them, why can't we?
- wly_cdgr 3y agoClearly, yes