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Post by juju on Dec 9, 2015 18:00:20 GMT
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Yuki
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Post by Yuki on Dec 9, 2015 20:27:48 GMT
If we keep doing what we're doing today, and there are no significant breakthroughs that would curb the effects of climate change. Similar doomsday predictions have been made in the past and failed because they always underestimated the power of human ingenuity.
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Yuki
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Post by Yuki on Dec 9, 2015 20:48:38 GMT
I watched this earlier, and thought it would be good to share. Just sticking with the theme.
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Post by tangent on Dec 10, 2015 0:22:40 GMT
Unnecessarily pessimistic, I would say alarmist. Climate change will leave 50,000 or so human survivors close to the north pole but human ingenuity will stop us becoming extinct altogether. It will be a learning experience.
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Yuki
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Post by Yuki on Dec 12, 2015 21:25:40 GMT
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Yuki
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Posts: 632
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Post by Yuki on Jan 23, 2016 9:37:42 GMT
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Post by tangent on Jan 25, 2016 18:36:27 GMT
It's hard to see how the human race can become extinct solely through a lack of resources. When the population dwindles to 50,000, there will be very little demand on resources compared with today's demand. It is only if the earth is left in a physical state that is incompatible with animal life - for example if the global temperature rises by 15C -that extinction becomes likely.
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Yuki
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Post by Yuki on Jan 27, 2016 16:48:52 GMT
Perhaps if the resources are hard to find and/or there aren't any who have the knowledge to find, extract or use them for the benefit of humans. Or the humans who are left are scattered into small groups which can barely survive, and possibly reverted to a more primitive state of civilization. I definitely hope we don't get to this point, and I also hope Elon Musk will succeed in his efforts to create a self-sustaining Mars colony (his true motive behind the SpaceX endeavor) before our civilization collapses, if it does (in one interview, he himself expressed his uncertainty if human civilization will survive to the next century).
But in our situation I think optimism is a must, because otherwise our feeling of helplessness will make us passive in the face of the impending destruction of our civilization. I don't mean the dreamy rose-lens sort of optimism where we passively wait for the better future to come on its own, because that's almost as bad as anxious passivity. I mean the rational sort of optimism where we calculate our options, and try to improve our chances of saving as many human lives as possible, with as much economic and social stability as possible.
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