5 ms·

Ironically, as terrifying as the climate news is, I don't think that's what's going to do us in. Increasingly, I think the delegitimization of political instit

Ironically, as terrifying as the climate news is, I don't think that's what's going to do us in. Increasingly, I think the delegitimization of political institutions (which failed to prevent this predictable calamity) is going to be the business end of the stick. It can seem weird to draw a line between our wobbling democracies and climate change, but when you recall that institutions derive their legitimacy from their ability to deliver repeatable results, and the opportunity to deliver (climate) results of any sort is diminishing, I imagine it will essentially stretch and then snap the overton window. Soon is the time of monsters.

SoftTalker 3y ago
Well look on the bright side, a global collapse of civilization that sets humanity back 500 years is one way to reduce carbon emissions!
- lm28469 3y ago
  The twist is that if we collapse we will most likely never come back since we already burned all the easy to reach fuel. Can't go from bronze age to CPUs without an industrial revolution somewhere in between
  - Paul-Craft 3y ago
    That's right. Absolute best case scenario, we'd probably be looking at 2-3000 years to recover the amount of progress we've made in the past 250 years. Worst case, we're never again able to progress past 18th century technology. Fossil fuels are a hell of a drug.
- 1attice 3y ago
  Not necessarily -- there are a lot more wood-burning stoves in a world without solar panels, and we don't have the population that we had 500 years ago. It's not like rewinding a tape or time travel. I would predict we start moving backward and simply do not stop -- not at 500 years, not at 1000 years. A positive feedback loop is just someone else's interrupted homeostasis.
  - lawlessone 3y ago
    >we don't have the population that we had 500 years ago. We will pretty quickly if societies collapse.
paulmd 3y ago
> Soon is the time of monsters. what historians refer to as "The Cool Zone"
ActorNightly 3y ago
Governments are largely representative of the people. People simply don't care about climate change. How many people would vote for representative that run on the platform of hardcore authoritarian regulations that makes everyone life worse?

SoftTalker 3y ago

Well look on the bright side, a global collapse of civilization that sets humanity back 500 years is one way to reduce carbon emissions!

lm28469 3y ago
The twist is that if we collapse we will most likely never come back since we already burned all the easy to reach fuel. Can't go from bronze age to CPUs without an industrial revolution somewhere in between
- Paul-Craft 3y ago
  That's right. Absolute best case scenario, we'd probably be looking at 2-3000 years to recover the amount of progress we've made in the past 250 years. Worst case, we're never again able to progress past 18th century technology. Fossil fuels are a hell of a drug.
1attice 3y ago
Not necessarily -- there are a lot more wood-burning stoves in a world without solar panels, and we don't have the population that we had 500 years ago. It's not like rewinding a tape or time travel. I would predict we start moving backward and simply do not stop -- not at 500 years, not at 1000 years. A positive feedback loop is just someone else's interrupted homeostasis.
- lawlessone 3y ago
  >we don't have the population that we had 500 years ago. We will pretty quickly if societies collapse.

paulmd 3y ago

> Soon is the time of monsters. what historians refer to as "The Cool Zone"

ActorNightly 3y ago

Governments are largely representative of the people. People simply don't care about climate change. How many people would vote for representative that run on the platform of hardcore authoritarian regulations that makes everyone life worse?