Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ur-tribalist, perhaps.
Wow, I just learned that I despise the prefix "ur-" far more than is reasonable. Seriously though, why not call it "tribalist"?
Not ultra- enough, in Lovecraft's case.
Scientists In Alaska Find Mammoth Amounts Of Carbon In The Warming Permafrost
241–250 of 305 posts
Re: Scientists In Alaska Find Mammoth Amounts Of Carbon In The Warming Permafrost
#242Earlier quoted context omitted.
>There could be anything underneath all the permafrost, including new biodiversity which we haven't catalogued yet. Hey, that was the plot of H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness ! http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/mm.aspx Spoilers: "...But we were not on a station platform. We were on the track ahead as the nightmare plastic column of foetid black iridescence oozed tightly onward through its…
> crushing the frantic penguins There are no penguins in the Arctic (Antarctica only) so nothing to fear.
Penguin is also an old name for an auk or puffin; it didn't become a name for what are now called penguins until after Europeans got down there to see them, and didn't become exclusively the name for them until quite recently. So no reason, really, not to be afraid. Lovecraft would have preferred it that way.
Re: Scientists In Alaska Find Mammoth Amounts Of Carbon In The Warming Permafrost
#243There could be anything underneath all the permafrost, including new biodiversity which we haven't catalogued yet. NPR ran a story[0] where Russian animals such as reindeer infected with Anthrax had thawed out, and caused outbreaks where people had to get preventative treatments against it. As a future threat model, what if there's new viruses or bacterium contained under previously frozen earth for which modern medi…
Such bacteria will probably be susceptible to penicillin.
Re: Scientists In Alaska Find Mammoth Amounts Of Carbon In The Warming Permafrost
#244Earlier quoted context omitted.
Dinosaurs are now birds? Do Velociraptors climb trees?
You got it backwards, birds are now dinosaurs. The world just got that much cooler. If you're not convinced, look through YouTube for videos of my favorite dinosaur, the raven.
Hah, poor dumb kid. Velociraptors evolved into birds, birds are safe from grounded velociraptors... Read gp again, see it fits? Heard of Socrates?
Re: Scientists In Alaska Find Mammoth Amounts Of Carbon In The Warming Permafrost
#245Earlier quoted context omitted.
If nobody knows than why do you assume the cost _likely_ staggering?
We're uncertain about the rarity of global collapse due to climate change. The more uncertain we are about our uncertainty of the rarity of a global catastrophe, the more rational it is for us to assume we are likely presently under-estimating its rarity, rather than over-estimating it, because examples of global catastrophe are pretty hard to come by. If nobody knows if it's gonna happen, but the consequence of cata…
> The more uncertain we are about our uncertainty of the rarity of a global catastrophe, the more rational it is for us to assume we are likely presently under-estimating its rarity
So the opposite of Occam's razor?
Re: Scientists In Alaska Find Mammoth Amounts Of Carbon In The Warming Permafrost
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
Our systems of civil society are fairly robust, but at some point those major problems become greater than our ability to cope. Unfortunately, "almost no chance" and "no chance" are not the same thing.
It just seems highly unlikely to me. Even if 90% of the world becomes uninhabitable there is still plenty of space left for a lot of people. You can lose 90% or even 99% of world population and will still have a lot of people left. Not saying this is a good thing but I just don't believe civilization will get totally wiped out. Emphasis is on "totally".
If 90% of the world becomes uninhabitable, you and your millions of very close neighbors will have nothing to eat.
Re: Scientists In Alaska Find Mammoth Amounts Of Carbon In The Warming Permafrost
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
99.9% of all creatures to exist on earth are now extinct. [1] We're not special. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction
We're not special With big brains and tools, humans can live in a much broader set of environmental conditions than any other species. While it doesn't make us extinction-proof, it makes us pretty hardy. It is hard to imagine what would destroy all the ecological niches that humans could survive in. I would bet on the humans.
>humans can live in a much broader set of environmental conditions than any other species.
Absolutely not. Most lifeforms simpler than us have an easier time surviving because it is easier for them to reproduce quickly. You're basically ignoring insects, crustaceans, algea, bacteria, most plants, and pretty much everything else.
Sure we're hardy and adaptable when you ignore most of life on earth. And then you want to bet on the only species that has almost purposefully engineered its own demise? Talk about bias...
Re: Scientists In Alaska Find Mammoth Amounts Of Carbon In The Warming Permafrost
#248Earlier quoted context omitted.
Completely agree. It’s all natural cycles, transformations ... but accepting this is not really easy as long as one fears death. There is so much eternal beauty that we are part of and that we could focus on instead of wars and Desasters.
Personally, I think dying by something as unique as climate change would be a spectacular way to go. Think of all the other mundane ways people die everyday: disease, a bullet, or even just tripping off a sidewalk wrong and hitting your head on the curb. Is that really any better of a fate?
I don't know why you think dead people care how they got that way. I've never met one that did.
Re: Scientists In Alaska Find Mammoth Amounts Of Carbon In The Warming Permafrost
#249There is also the East Siberian Arctic Shelf, which is already thawing and releasing methane at an increasing pace.
Re: Scientists In Alaska Find Mammoth Amounts Of Carbon In The Warming Permafrost
#250It seems the only way to combat the thawing permafrost problem is to deploy world-scale carbon capturing schemes of some sort. Here's to hoping that we can develop something like that in time.
> the only way to combat the thawing permafrost problem is to deploy world-scale carbon capturing schemes of some sort
I think this is a big misunderstanding. The world-scale carbon capturing schemes were deployed already. The problem isn't the capture, the problem is how to prevent them to leak the stored carbon back to the atmosphere.