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> the fundamentally unsustainable nature of industrial society Nothing that goes against entropy is fundamentally sustainable. That doesn’t mean we can’t keep
by FredPret 3y ago
> the fundamentally unsustainable nature of industrial society
Nothing that goes against entropy is fundamentally sustainable. That doesn’t mean we can’t keep it going for time that is essentially infinite on human scales (unsustainable life has been kicking around on Earth for 3.7 billion years now). Defeatism is even more dangerous than hallucinating optimism.
- valar_m 3y agoDo you mind explaining what your comment means in layman's terms?
- FredPret 3y agoEvery process of life - breathing, moving, learning - takes energy. This is as true for the ants building their colonies as it is for us building our cities. Due to thermodynamics, this is a one-way process. In our case, it’s all fueled by the sun, which will keep burning for another few billion years. But even that counts being not not truly sustainable, since one day it must end. The whole universe is destined to die a cold heat death where nothing at all happens anymore. But that is a long time away and until then, we can build a beautiful civilization; we can learn and grow; and we can do so with nuclear & solar power. People saying that we’re all as good as dead are technically correct, but in a very unhelpful way.