3 ms·
It’s always a bummer when you go into these threads and you see all the doom and gloom folks talking about the end of the world and we need to use less not more
by infecto 3y ago
It’s always a bummer when you go into these threads and you see all the doom and gloom folks talking about the end of the world and we need to use less not more. I never know what their expectation is for the world. That we cut the population in 75%+ and go back to some kind of agrarian lifestyle?
I for one am pretty pumped for the future and excited for all the things to come. We should be aware of how we use our resources but it should not stop innovation.
- rco8786 3y agoYea I see the same things, from an otherwise intelligent and thoughtful HN crowd too. One of the comments is "Less people are better for the environment, no matter their lifestyle.". Like wtf? What are we supposed to do with that?
- petee 3y agoStop birthing 14 kids at a time, as the earth cannot sustain an infinite amount of humans indefinitely. There is a breaking point; seems pretty straightforward
- infecto 3y agoUnfortunately with your nasty comments nobody will listen to your position. It is also not as straightforward as you make it out to be. I know in your mind you think it is but especially when you take it to a global stage, the issue becomes quite complex.
- jahnu 3y agoFortunately we stopped increasing the number of kids in the world back around 2000. On a global scale it’s a solved problem (still pockets of the world where work continues and is important). The problem now is, how do we live more efficiently? I.e. within the means of the environment. And relatedly how to figure out proper distribution of stuff.
- vibrio 3y agoElon would like a word with you.
- rco8786 3y agoWe're done, we've done that. Global population is flatlining. What else do you want
- aziaziazi 3y agoIt’s always a bummer when you go into these threads and you see all the doom and imagination-less folks mixing up calls for sobriety (= voluntary consumption reduction) with innovation break or regression.
- infecto 3y agoLike I already hinted to in my original post. We should be actively aware of our consumption of resources. I know these sort of discussions devolve into a binary debate similar to gun regulation discussions. I take the middle ground, I know cars are not going anywhere for a lot of the world and I am happy to see any innovations we can get. We should definitely be exploring other forms of transportation but again, the conversation here was about EVs and not building bike lanes.
- aziaziazi 3y agoTotally agree with that. I wasn’t responding to bike lanes but to (should have pointed it in first post): > we cut the population in 75%+ and go back to some kind of agrarian lifestyle? This seems to assume a population control will directly lead to an agrarian life. That may happen as a secondary effect. Some people (me included) think that won’t. It is a controversial subject but we’re definitely moving forward through the Overton window. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window
- martindbp 3y agoThe current zeitgeist is extremely anti-human and anti-technology. You see this in comments like "we don't need more children, having children is selfish", when much of the developed world is already way below replacement rate, sometimes as low as 1-1.3. What they're saying is of course that _other_ people shouldn't exist but they should be allowed to remain and enjoy the now pristine nature. Global warming (which is very real) is used merely as a tool to further these ideas. They're the new Malthusians.
- hocuspocus 3y ago> We should be aware of how we use our resources but it should not stop innovation. The past 250 years of innovation are a direct consequence of not really minding about how we use our natural resources and most of the associated externalities. There's still no sign of any meaningful decoupling, fossil fuels consumption keeps increasing. We had a chance with nuclear maybe and mostly blew it.
- AstralStorm 3y agoCurrently the worldwide fossil fuel consumption is keeping more or less steady, not increasing. That is not good enough of course, but shows what could be done with more aggressive fixes and changes.
- aziaziazi 3y agoIt IS increasing https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-fossil-fuel-consumption https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-fossil-fuel-consum...