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Mount Everest is visible from Kathmandu for first time in living memory

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Re: Mount Everest is visible from Kathmandu for first time in living memory

#111

Post by PeterStuer »

baddox wrote: post #24
mmaunder wrote: post #9

This is why we need less humans on this planet. No one says that, because having as many kids as you like seems to be considered a basic human right. But imagine Earth with a stable 10% of our current population. Clean, abundant, and without the catastrophic extinction event already underway.

There’s a very real chance that strategy would significantly increase the likelihood of human extinction in the medium to distant future. We need minds to solve problems. Of course, that’s not to say that it’s impossible to have too many people, or even that decreasing the likelihood of human extinction is necessarily one of the most important goals.

Since this is HN, surely you have heard of 'The mythical manmonth'?

Re: Mount Everest is visible from Kathmandu for first time in living memory

#112

Post by trevyn »

oliveshell wrote: post #78
justforfunhere wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Care to explain why not for rats, raccoons and cockroaches?

They’re hardy scavengers that benefit from human settlement and food waste.

Benefit in the most horrific of ways. I once watched a cockroach eat a dead cockroach. It was very... enlightening.

Re: Mount Everest is visible from Kathmandu for first time in living memory

#113

Post by HenryBemis »

dkns wrote: post #82
justforfunhere wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Care to explain why not for rats, raccoons and cockroaches?

Waste/garbage created by humans is probably an easy source of food for them.

Plus rodents survive in hiding. If they come back up to the surface to seek food, then they will become targets of owls, foxes, etc. But Thule they live in the sewers, that gives them protection.

Re: Mount Everest is visible from Kathmandu for first time in living memory

#114

Post by onion2k »

mmaunder wrote: post #9

This is why we need less humans on this planet. No one says that, because having as many kids as you like seems to be considered a basic human right. But imagine Earth with a stable 10% of our current population. Clean, abundant, and without the catastrophic extinction event already underway.

Unless you're advocating some sort of genocidal cull of the population, which would be quite extreme, population reduction isn't going to work fast enough to solve the climate problem. Even if you could globally enforce that every couple could only have one child it would take 6 or 7 generations to reduce the population to ~10%. We don't have the 100+ years that would take. It needs fixing now.

Re: Mount Everest is visible from Kathmandu for first time in living memory

#116

Post by onion2k »

tarkin2 wrote: post #81
mmaunder wrote: post #9

This is why we need less humans on this planet. No one says that, because having as many kids as you like seems to be considered a basic human right. But imagine Earth with a stable 10% of our current population. Clean, abundant, and without the catastrophic extinction event already underway.

Humans emit different levels of pollution. Your rich cheap-airline flying, consumerist car owner will emit far more than many families in the developing world.

To be fair, mmaunder didn't say which 10% he thinks should be allowed to live. He may be in favour of eliminating the rich cheap-airline flying, consumerist car owners first.

Re: Mount Everest is visible from Kathmandu for first time in living memory

#117

Post by ComputerGuru »

rndgermandude wrote: post #95
411111111111111 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last study I read put a 99% correlation on vitamin d deficiency and getting a severe case of covid19. Which was significantly more than age correlated on the same dataset.

Vitamin-D deficiency may cause severe covid-19, or severe covid-19 may cause vitamin-D deficiency (covid-19 affects the kidneys second worst after lungs it seems, and you need kidneys for vitamin-D processing), or a little bit of both. Which one it is, is not yet known.

Vitamin D is fat soluble and “buffered” in the body; all of which is to say that no one goes from good vitamin D levels to being vitamin D deficient in the time it takes to get infected and develop serious Covid-19 symptoms.

Re: Mount Everest is visible from Kathmandu for first time in living memory

#118

Post by mistermann »

teruakohatu wrote: post #89
throwaway888abc wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, F*ck :( Greedy human race Signed: bleeding coral reef with sad penguin

It's the tragedy of the commons. The only way to change it is for local/state/national governments to remove the tragedy.

Even assuming they are capable of that (I am doubtful), reaching consensus on the idea seems quite a bit of a long shot. Something likely needs to be done though, somehow.

Re: Mount Everest is visible from Kathmandu for first time in living memory

#119

Post by [deleted] »

rudolph9 wrote: post #76
ponker wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, the day that humans manage to wipe themselves off the face of the planet will be a day of rejoicing for all species other than rats, raccoons, and cockroaches.

It’s unlikely humans will wipe themselves off the face of the planet without taking most species with them. Cockroaches are a likely exception.

[deleted]

Re: Mount Everest is visible from Kathmandu for first time in living memory

#120

Post by TeMPOraL »

zapita wrote: post #104
teruakohatu wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the tragedy of the commons. The only way to change it is for local/state/national governments to remove the tragedy.

But nowadays private interests can cross international borders with ease, while governments cannot.

Which means large corporations get to influence policies, even without any lobbying. "Dear senator, what do you mean those environmental protection regulations apply to us? The regulations of the neighbour country $x, that also invited us to build our 10 000 jobs worth plant on their soil, are nowhere near as onerous. We might need to take them up on their offer. Perhaps at least you can cut us a tax break?"
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