Ask HN: Is now the best time to be alive? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Is now the best time to be alive?

#21

Post by gremlinsinc » Tue, Jun 04, 2019, 8:32 AM UTC

badpun wrote: post #16

quickthrower2 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depending on where they live more adverse weather. Fire, flooding, drought, food supply issues.

Do you think it will really impact them significantly? I mean, some areas will become less hospitable, while others will probably improve. Food may become a little bit more expensive because of draughts, but we spend so little on food now that even 50% rise won’t be too terrible. All in all, I don’t see global warming having a dramatic impact on people’s lives, perhaps with the exception of people having to move beca…

Global warming could end life on earth, or at least cause an ELE where 90%+ of organisms are wiped out. The biggest threat I think is creating a feedback loop where warmth thaws permafrost, permafrost kicks up methane/carbon gases, causing more thawing and faster at that, then it'll get bad really fast.

Politically I think water wars could be big depending on how much water is lost as a result of evaporation and polution, I think this could be more pronounced in Africa and the Middle east, but we could have issues between Mexico, AZ, California and the south western USA where it's more draught ridden. Forest fires will continue to get bigger and more frequent causing a change in ecosystems where forests may turn to baren deserts.

Lack of water also will cause farming to be tougher. I'm hopeful we eventually science the shit out of all this stuff, but then we could get an asteroid the next year that wipes us out anyway, no use really fearing but doesn't hurt to prepare as best we can.

Re: Ask HN: Is now the best time to be alive?

#22

Post by gremlinsinc » Tue, Jun 04, 2019, 8:34 AM UTC

jryan49 wrote: post #7

Why do we always think climate change is going to be impossible to solve and it's some predestined, doomed dark future. I imagine some sort of new tech will be invented within the next 100 years that will easily solve it. Not saying we shouldn't start now though...

The higher the feeling of urgency the more people we can put on the problem, the faster we can solve it the more likely we are to solve it. The longer we wait the harder it becomes to solve because it creates a feedback loop.

If we just procrastinate and say let our children worry about it and they do the same it'll definitely be too late. We can't always just pass the buck and hope someone else figures out a fix.

Re: Ask HN: Is now the best time to be alive?

#23

Post by jryan49 » Wed, Jun 05, 2019, 2:44 PM UTC

gremlinsinc wrote: post #22

jryan49 wrote: post #7

Why do we always think climate change is going to be impossible to solve and it's some predestined, doomed dark future. I imagine some sort of new tech will be invented within the next 100 years that will easily solve it. Not saying we shouldn't start now though...

The higher the feeling of urgency the more people we can put on the problem, the faster we can solve it the more likely we are to solve it. The longer we wait the harder it becomes to solve because it creates a feedback loop. If we just procrastinate and say let our children worry about it and they do the same it'll definitely be too late. We can't always just pass the buck and hope someone else figures out a fix.

I agree we shouldn't wait, but maybe the people who aren't on board would be more receptive to "the world is ending we're all going to die" doomsday preacher style I see so often.

I really think thought it really comes down to economics. Even if they do believe it's happening and it's urgent, the people's livelihoods who are threatened by elimination of carbon are going to come up with an infinite amount of rationalizations to put it off. It's also easy when it's not your job/money on the line to say "yeah we should fix this".