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I remember reading a horror book about rats in London after a nuclear war. One scene has stuck with me for 3 decades: A woman sits in her house pretending to h
by bloopernova 3y ago
I remember reading a horror book about rats in London after a nuclear war. One scene has stuck with me for 3 decades:
A woman sits in her house pretending to have a cup of tea. She's dying of radiation poisoning but goes through the motions of her pre apocalypse life rather than face what is happening. Bugs swarm through the dirty water in the tea mug, but she's denied reality so deeply that she doesn't see them.
It feels like industrial societies, especially governments and corporate leadership, are doing the same thing. Denying reality because the alternative is too big, too mind numbingly terrifying to accept.
I was walking my dog this morning, and had a flash of an imagined future. The grass was replaced by soil that was brown and cracked. Lush trees and foliage gone, only withered stumps remain. Houses were gone, just a few burnt beams left. No wildlife at all.
Maybe we should use all that AI power to generate a satellite and street view showing the potential future. Though I can't delude myself into thinking it would change anyone's mind.
To save you all the trouble: OK Doomer.
- bloopernova 3y agoIn reply to myself I wanted to share a thought. This one is less bleak but probably less palatable too: Governments should give their militaries a standing order: when society collapses, hunt down the billionaires hiding in their bunkers, ships, castles, wherever they may be hiding. Make it known that the richest 0.01% of the world has no chance to escape the doom of humanity. Maybe that would make them try to prevent it happening. The 0.01% are the ones with power, and all they do with it is hoard it and seek more.
- netsharc 3y agoThe higher your percentage at the top, the more connected you are with political leaders... Difficult to see this happening.
- musha68k 3y agoTerrifying thought, same as with aerosols as the predominant spread vector for SARS-CoV-2 being “invisible” I tended to think the “comprehension problem” probably is the invisibility of CO2. But yeah maybe it wouldn’t even be enough to make it “visible” with AR glasses etc. to make the necessary global shifts… Let’s quit the doomerism none the less though, this planet should still have just enough smart apes to make this work without taking everyone and everything else down with us.. How could we hack our ape minds to make this work? Maybe social dynamics could work? High status / high success in life = low carbon emissions? How to get there? New game rule set? Taxes etc? Chicken / egg issue though.
- courseofaction 3y agoMaybe I'm also just a doomer, but I have found it very difficult to participate in normal society my entire life because of this kind of double-minded insanity I have to take on in order for it to make any sense. Most 'production' is not productive, it is a waste of our precious limited resources in a time when we know we are rapidly running out.