5 ms·

How is this not already critical tech?

by peterpost2 3y ago

rolph 3y ago
we dont have to abandon the surface quite yet, but soon
- atoav 3y ago
  If you're talking about climate change, the number one threat is going to be food. Climate change is correlated with worse crops because it brings more droughts and harsher weather extremes and this will become a real problem.
  - rolph 3y ago
    yes crops will have to be included, as well as a, cohort of supportive biotypes. very much a noahs ark scenario, but we may best use a number of avenues, such as exoplanetary colonies.
    - ben_w 3y ago
      There is nothing that we can do to this planet that would render the environment a tenth as inhospitable as any known other planet. IIRC we've not even found one that has free oxygen in the atmosphere yet. Even if we did, anything with that and water would be extremely exiting by the standards of exoplanets, even if it had an average temperature of 75 C which would kill humans.
      - thombat 3y ago
        Being the splendidly reactive stuff that it is, molecular oxygen doesn't survive very long in any atmosphere: generally there's always something that needs oxidising. So it's thought to be a good indicator of life, only arising on Earth after photosynthesis began: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Oxidation_Event https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Oxidation_Event
      - atoav 3y ago
        Oh, we can do a lot to make that planet inhospitable. You are right that it would take quite a while to reach anything resembling martian levels and we still have a magnetic core which helps with many things. But I wouldn't underestimate the multitude of ways in which this planet could be made inhospitable by us. We are trusting a lot on the self-correcting power of nature on this planet, but we just don't know if there isn't some tipping point after which there is no return.
      - rob74 3y ago
        > There is nothing that we can do to this planet that would render the environment a tenth as inhospitable as any known other planet That's yet to be proven - although not in my lifetime, I hope. One would hope that humankind would finally manage to do something before it gets as bad as on Venus, but I wouldn't bet on it...
        ben_w 3y ago
        Getting as bad as Venus would require as a minimum crashing a quarter of the entire asteroid belt into planet Earth, and that's assuming there's enough oxygen and carbon in those rocks. Even if we burned 100% of all biomass on Earth, leaving it dead, it's still not close to Venus, where the "air" is so thick it's passed the critical point and no longer distinguishable from a liquid. Even if we did that, the day length on Venus is longer than its year.
      - BlueTemplar 3y ago
        Free oxygen is not something that happens naturally, it requires a specific kind of life to constantly replenish as it gets consumed by surface oxidization.
    - atoav 3y ago
      No. We need to get our shit together. It becomes really tangible just how much we drank the kool aid of capitalism when people can more easily imagine moving ontonexoplanet colonies than a future where the gain of the few capitalists isn't literally priorized above the survival of the human race. Why do you think the next planet won't fall victim to the same mechanisms?

How is this not already critical tech?

rolph 3y ago

we dont have to abandon the surface quite yet, but soon

atoav 3y ago
If you're talking about climate change, the number one threat is going to be food. Climate change is correlated with worse crops because it brings more droughts and harsher weather extremes and this will become a real problem.
- rolph 3y ago
  yes crops will have to be included, as well as a, cohort of supportive biotypes. very much a noahs ark scenario, but we may best use a number of avenues, such as exoplanetary colonies.
  - ben_w 3y ago
    There is nothing that we can do to this planet that would render the environment a tenth as inhospitable as any known other planet. IIRC we've not even found one that has free oxygen in the atmosphere yet. Even if we did, anything with that and water would be extremely exiting by the standards of exoplanets, even if it had an average temperature of 75 C which would kill humans.
    - thombat 3y ago
      Being the splendidly reactive stuff that it is, molecular oxygen doesn't survive very long in any atmosphere: generally there's always something that needs oxidising. So it's thought to be a good indicator of life, only arising on Earth after photosynthesis began: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Oxidation_Event https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Oxidation_Event
    - atoav 3y ago
      Oh, we can do a lot to make that planet inhospitable. You are right that it would take quite a while to reach anything resembling martian levels and we still have a magnetic core which helps with many things. But I wouldn't underestimate the multitude of ways in which this planet could be made inhospitable by us. We are trusting a lot on the self-correcting power of nature on this planet, but we just don't know if there isn't some tipping point after which there is no return.
    - rob74 3y ago
      > There is nothing that we can do to this planet that would render the environment a tenth as inhospitable as any known other planet That's yet to be proven - although not in my lifetime, I hope. One would hope that humankind would finally manage to do something before it gets as bad as on Venus, but I wouldn't bet on it...
      - ben_w 3y ago
        Getting as bad as Venus would require as a minimum crashing a quarter of the entire asteroid belt into planet Earth, and that's assuming there's enough oxygen and carbon in those rocks. Even if we burned 100% of all biomass on Earth, leaving it dead, it's still not close to Venus, where the "air" is so thick it's passed the critical point and no longer distinguishable from a liquid. Even if we did that, the day length on Venus is longer than its year.
    - BlueTemplar 3y ago
      Free oxygen is not something that happens naturally, it requires a specific kind of life to constantly replenish as it gets consumed by surface oxidization.
  - atoav 3y ago
    No. We need to get our shit together. It becomes really tangible just how much we drank the kool aid of capitalism when people can more easily imagine moving ontonexoplanet colonies than a future where the gain of the few capitalists isn't literally priorized above the survival of the human race. Why do you think the next planet won't fall victim to the same mechanisms?