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Time flies in Google Earth’s biggest update in years

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Re: Time flies in Google Earth’s biggest update in years

#261

Post by nate_meurer »

Seanambers wrote: post #224
gbrown wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd be more interested in what you think it "should" look like for an "advanced" species besides optimal? In a word, sustainable. An advanced civilization should be able to develop in a coordinated and self sustaining way, rather than as a grand experiment in tragedy of the commons. Microbes don’t coordinate their growth, and therefore fall into boom-bust cycles that dominate and exhaust their local environment. Hu…

An advanced civilization.. Like where do you think we are? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale Seems to me like you are expecting too much. Worst part is, if that kind of thinking - do not exploit nature wins out - we might not even get there. Exploitation is key for scientific advancement in capitalism.

> Exploitation is key for scientific advancement in capitalism.

In capitalism? You mean, compared to the sustainable and non-exploitive nature of communism, for example?

Re: Time flies in Google Earth’s biggest update in years

#262

Post by jonas21 »

rexreed wrote: post #170

I'd love to see a timelapse over the past 20 years showing Google's energy usage / consumption across all their data centers and offices.

Maybe not exactly what you're looking for, but it does have a timeline:

https://sustainability.google/commitments

And if you open the PDF at the bottom, I think it has the data you wanted.

Re: Time flies in Google Earth’s biggest update in years

#263

Post by nate_meurer »

DeusExMachina wrote: post #162
beachy wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, that's my interpretation of "advanced". Yours could be one that retreats into hermetic shelters and plays Call of Duty between themselves all day long.

Mine isn't either of those, or any other variation. The point is that since you are not them, you can't know what they would do. Your "interpretation" is just making them after your self image, thinking that that is what it means to be "advanced".

A more charitable interpretation is that an advanced civilization would be more likely to ensure it's own longevity and durability by engaging in serious, disciplined conservation of resources. Pretty simple observation, really.

Re: Time flies in Google Earth’s biggest update in years

#264

Post by xwolfi »

keithwhor wrote: post #61

What's really striking to me about timelapse videos of the Earth is how, at a grand enough scale, the growth of human settlements on Earth really looks no different than the growth of bacterial and fungal colonies on Petri dishes. We think of ourself as special, as having conquered environments, technology and more - and when zoomed out you could explain everything we've built and accomplished as the achievements of…

But we know about it and we can't exchange on how unspecial we are, you maybe in the US and me here in China.

Potentially, one of us could even decide to stop being a parasite and scale down, move to the forest and live naked as a result.

My personal theory is that we're nature way of extending beyond earth. Yes we're a funghi, but a clever enough one we can be the earth's tentacle to go spread beyond.

Re: Time flies in Google Earth’s biggest update in years

#265

Post by tkinom »

drivebycomment wrote: post #239
gbrown wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd be more interested in what you think it "should" look like for an "advanced" species besides optimal? In a word, sustainable. An advanced civilization should be able to develop in a coordinated and self sustaining way, rather than as a grand experiment in tragedy of the commons. Microbes don’t coordinate their growth, and therefore fall into boom-bust cycles that dominate and exhaust their local environment. Hu…

I think humanity is, and has been going through a collective learning experience over thousands of years, and any "advanced" civilization will necessarily have to go through a similar phase to get to that "advanced" stage. So while it's true humanity can do better, I think this - the global coordination challenge - is fundamental and irremovable in any collection of self-interested individuals.

Google needs to start the "Google Mars" time-lapse database now.

Re: Time flies in Google Earth’s biggest update in years

#266

Post by ishjoh »

gbrown wrote: post #185
Grimm1 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can say the same thing about ant colonies. I think it's probably just what anything that groups and branches around resource deposits looks like. If I recall slime molds are optimal planners regarding surrounding resources so it just sounds like a natural optimality to me. I'd be more interested in what you think it "should" look like for an "advanced" species besides optimal? Looking at it is disparagingly is we…

> I'd be more interested in what you think it "should" look like for an "advanced" species besides optimal? In a word, sustainable. An advanced civilization should be able to develop in a coordinated and self sustaining way, rather than as a grand experiment in tragedy of the commons. Microbes don’t coordinate their growth, and therefore fall into boom-bust cycles that dominate and exhaust their local environment. Hu…

Are you suggesting government mandated population control?

Re: Time flies in Google Earth’s biggest update in years

#267

Post by timeslip1523 »

anigbrowl wrote: post #195
Grimm1 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can say the same thing about ant colonies. I think it's probably just what anything that groups and branches around resource deposits looks like. If I recall slime molds are optimal planners regarding surrounding resources so it just sounds like a natural optimality to me. I'd be more interested in what you think it "should" look like for an "advanced" species besides optimal? Looking at it is disparagingly is we…

The level of doom and gloom and misanthropy I's not misanthropy to note that we're not so different from other species and that our growth/behavior is in many respects similar to other natural phenomena involving complex systems. Our long term success is correlated with our ability to shift resources away from negative-sum behaviors so as not to exceed the carrying capacity of our environment.

Better to increase carrying capacity through innovation.

Re: Time flies in Google Earth’s biggest update in years

#268

Post by timeslip1523 »

nate_meurer wrote: post #263
DeusExMachina wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mine isn't either of those, or any other variation. The point is that since you are not them, you can't know what they would do. Your "interpretation" is just making them after your self image, thinking that that is what it means to be "advanced".

A more charitable interpretation is that an advanced civilization would be more likely to ensure it's own longevity and durability by engaging in serious, disciplined conservation of resources. Pretty simple observation, really.

Why conserve when there are so many resources to acquire? Better to efficiently spend the available resources as quickly as possible to expand to space and start on the exponential growth.

Unless your scale of 'conserving resources' involves putting out the stars to save their hydrogen for later use, you're doing it wrong.

Re: Time flies in Google Earth’s biggest update in years

#269

Post by MarkLowenstein »

calylex wrote: post #245

What's this whole guilt shaming all about? And must the voice in the video be British and the sound of a girl on the verge of crying? Finally I don't think there is anything wrong with more farmlands in poor countries in South America. That's extremely hypocritical when the West did the same thing only a couple of hundred years ago and continues to do to this day, but oh if the poor South Americans learn how to farm…

Regardless of the spin put on by the video producers, the tool itself is very useful for letting people see reality, which may work to temper alarmism. If the reality is that most of the earth hasn't changed that much, then that is now available for view. And if the reality is that the Brazil rainforests really were a vast sea of dark green not long ago but are already medium-brown-looking today, then that is also now available for view.

I'm curious to see people search for the growth of the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch". I'm pretty sure most people will be surprised to find that there is nothing to see. But I'll try it out.

Re: Time flies in Google Earth’s biggest update in years

#270

Post by skeletonjelly »

BenoitEssiambre wrote: post #40

I kinda wish that there was a timelapse for Google search. Search seems to be heavily biased towards stuff popular right now. It seems older things disappear fairly quickly. I've been in a position where I wanted to search for a website that was popular in 2012 without having the exact name, and having to find an old forum post that linked to it to find it.

https://twitter.com/searchliaison/status/1115706765088182272

Does this help?

foobar before:2012

It's not perfect but quick and easy for what I mostly do which is trying to find older news articles on stories that have changed

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