4 ms·

I don't think there has ever been a time in all of human history with so many existential threats. Between catastrophic climate change and resource depletion,

I don't think there has ever been a time in all of human history with so many existential threats. Between catastrophic climate change and resource depletion, AI, the danger of nuclear war, COVID and other potential pandemics, economic insecurity for most of the population, and farmed irrational extremist political movements, we seem to have quite a lot to deal with. Might as well just have Carrington Event 2.0 and be done with it.

pirate787 3y ago
Actually, the world has never had greater economic security than it does in 2023.
- minsight 3y ago
  Hope you can eat that.
  - thfuran 3y ago
    Well, you sure as hell can't eat economic insecurity.
  - harry8 3y ago
    Ok this conversation can get pretty silly, let's try to avoid that. Now at 2023 we have lifted more people out of poverty and ill-health in both raw numbers and as a percentage of the population than any time in the planet's history. Without prescribing anything in so far as dealing with the world's problems, be careful flippantly trading that off. It may not be you, your friends and your family that previously watched their children die and now don't but I don't see that as making this quite frankly stunning achievement as an irrelevance. https://www.gapminder.org/fw/world-health-chart/ https://www.gapminder.org/fw/world-health-chart/
    - actionfromafar 3y ago
      When the oil is running out, how will you make the fertiliser?
      - pierat 3y ago
        With the billionaires?
    - generativenoise 3y ago
      Yes we have made great progress with maternal and basic health, these are really great and represent real meaningful knowledge and capability gains. However, there are other health trends that are not looking very promising at the moment that take a bit of the shine off. Poverty has some very definitional issues with the chosen metrics and I am hesitant to actually draw any conclusions on if it has brought net positive human fulfillment. In any case the whole system is a pretty precarious place at the moment with rapidly closing windows to maintain stability, and if we don't those "stunning achievements" are going not going to persist in a meaningful way.
    - NovaDudely 3y ago
      It is easy to look rich when you are maximizing the credit cards. It is easy to pull people out of poverty when short term thinking can overshoot beyond long term carrying capacity.
- hanniabu 3y ago
  It's all a mirage
- ClumsyPilot 3y ago
  I am pretty sure someone said that like 5 minutes before the WW2 began.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
goatlover 3y ago
COVID was never an existential threat. I'm not aware of any pandemic being that, even smallpox or the black death. Where existential means threatening the existence of the human species.
- ClumsyPilot 3y ago
  Even a global nuclear war would not kill every single human being, so by that logic there are no existential threats. However many of these threats can collapse organised civilisation and push us back to medieval level of development.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
bruce511 3y ago
I know I being picky, but nuclear war is the only existential threat there. It's unlikely that any pandemic would make humans go extinct. Covid showed that isolating population groups is possible, especially if bounded by water (Australia, new Zealand etc). Mass death sure, but not extinction. Climate change will probably reduce livable spaces (although people already live in extremes like Alaska and Sahara) but humans are adaptable and certain parts will still be temperate. Again huge impact, but not existential. Sure there's a lot of "other stuff" going on, but honestly it has always been thus. Two world wars for example caused several daily concerns for most of Europe, and much of Asia. Throw in revolutions in Russia and China, and independence for India, plus the technology booms, and life in 1950 was different to 1910. I could write a whole comment on economics, but again a 2 year blip in inflation (it's down again now) is not going to end anything. Given the economic improvements in Asia over the past 50 years (China, S Korea, Japan, Vietnam etc) "most" of the world is better off than before. There's a long way to go, but its been an upward trend for a long time.
- actionfromafar 3y ago
  Humans will survive. The global civilisation, might not.
- NovaDudely 3y ago
  Here in Australia we regularly talk about the tyranny of distance that impacts us. In Covid, it turned into the world largest moat. With the rise of ecological blow back, resource scarcity/hoarding, and seeing the seeds of authoritarian policies being planted - I suspect that this moat will be used in future to welcome immigrants with open arms. Those arms being rockets, machine guns and grenades. A grim future ahead if true.
- kkfdkerpoe 3y ago
  The potential huge impact of climate change could very well start the nuclear war. Masses of hungry, broke and desperate people don't do good for politics as we've seen again and again in the past. One can only hope that they turn against corporations and the 1% instead of electing fascists.
sacrosancty 3y ago
[dead]

pirate787 3y ago

Actually, the world has never had greater economic security than it does in 2023.

minsight 3y ago
Hope you can eat that.
- thfuran 3y ago
  Well, you sure as hell can't eat economic insecurity.
- harry8 3y ago
  Ok this conversation can get pretty silly, let's try to avoid that. Now at 2023 we have lifted more people out of poverty and ill-health in both raw numbers and as a percentage of the population than any time in the planet's history. Without prescribing anything in so far as dealing with the world's problems, be careful flippantly trading that off. It may not be you, your friends and your family that previously watched their children die and now don't but I don't see that as making this quite frankly stunning achievement as an irrelevance. https://www.gapminder.org/fw/world-health-chart/ https://www.gapminder.org/fw/world-health-chart/
  - actionfromafar 3y ago
    When the oil is running out, how will you make the fertiliser?
    - pierat 3y ago
      With the billionaires?
  - generativenoise 3y ago
    Yes we have made great progress with maternal and basic health, these are really great and represent real meaningful knowledge and capability gains. However, there are other health trends that are not looking very promising at the moment that take a bit of the shine off. Poverty has some very definitional issues with the chosen metrics and I am hesitant to actually draw any conclusions on if it has brought net positive human fulfillment. In any case the whole system is a pretty precarious place at the moment with rapidly closing windows to maintain stability, and if we don't those "stunning achievements" are going not going to persist in a meaningful way.
  - NovaDudely 3y ago
    It is easy to look rich when you are maximizing the credit cards. It is easy to pull people out of poverty when short term thinking can overshoot beyond long term carrying capacity.
hanniabu 3y ago
It's all a mirage
ClumsyPilot 3y ago
I am pretty sure someone said that like 5 minutes before the WW2 began.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

goatlover 3y ago

COVID was never an existential threat. I'm not aware of any pandemic being that, even smallpox or the black death. Where existential means threatening the existence of the human species.

ClumsyPilot 3y ago
Even a global nuclear war would not kill every single human being, so by that logic there are no existential threats. However many of these threats can collapse organised civilisation and push us back to medieval level of development.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

bruce511 3y ago

I know I being picky, but nuclear war is the only existential threat there. It's unlikely that any pandemic would make humans go extinct. Covid showed that isolating population groups is possible, especially if bounded by water (Australia, new Zealand etc). Mass death sure, but not extinction. Climate change will probably reduce livable spaces (although people already live in extremes like Alaska and Sahara) but humans are adaptable and certain parts will still be temperate. Again huge impact, but not existential. Sure there's a lot of "other stuff" going on, but honestly it has always been thus. Two world wars for example caused several daily concerns for most of Europe, and much of Asia. Throw in revolutions in Russia and China, and independence for India, plus the technology booms, and life in 1950 was different to 1910. I could write a whole comment on economics, but again a 2 year blip in inflation (it's down again now) is not going to end anything. Given the economic improvements in Asia over the past 50 years (China, S Korea, Japan, Vietnam etc) "most" of the world is better off than before. There's a long way to go, but its been an upward trend for a long time.

actionfromafar 3y ago
Humans will survive. The global civilisation, might not.
NovaDudely 3y ago
Here in Australia we regularly talk about the tyranny of distance that impacts us. In Covid, it turned into the world largest moat. With the rise of ecological blow back, resource scarcity/hoarding, and seeing the seeds of authoritarian policies being planted - I suspect that this moat will be used in future to welcome immigrants with open arms. Those arms being rockets, machine guns and grenades. A grim future ahead if true.
kkfdkerpoe 3y ago
The potential huge impact of climate change could very well start the nuclear war. Masses of hungry, broke and desperate people don't do good for politics as we've seen again and again in the past. One can only hope that they turn against corporations and the 1% instead of electing fascists.

sacrosancty 3y ago

[dead]