3 ms·

So funny to constantly see these kinds of adjectives in titles about this topic. I thought that we had models that showed us just how shitty things are going to

So funny to constantly see these kinds of adjectives in titles about this topic. I thought that we had models that showed us just how shitty things are going to be, no? It can't be "unprecedented" decade after decade, either we have models we can rely on and we predicted it or we don't and need to accept that this whole idea of "tipping points" and climate change irreversibility is just a guess. If we used this language with any other subject, HN would be up in arms about how sensationalist the headline is.

greycol 3y ago
While unprecedented can mean unexpected or out of the norm it can also mean never before seen/done. So technically yes every point on the predictable upwards trendline is an unprecedented amount when we reach it in actuality. Even assuming that HN readers may feel the word is emotive it's pointless to quibble about it when realistically any discussion about the details of climate change are going to be more emotive with such clinically correct terms as "climate refugees", "ocean acidification", "deadly heatwaves", "longest cyclone season", "3rd once in a century storm in the last decade".