Time flies in Google Earth’s biggest update in years • Hacker News Board

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

#411

Post by newsbinator » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 5:44 PM UTC

DoreenMichele wrote: post #257

stared wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a c…

Somewhere, some overlord in a galaxy far, far away is looking at us through a faster-than-light telescope and going "Yeppers. They are about to hit critical mass. Either a population crash is imminent or they start colonizing their solar system. Schedule a diplomatic mission for their corner of their galaxy to invite them to the intergalactic council should they survive this completely normal, though adolescently awk…

Somewhere outside the ancestor simulation we’re in our descendants are about to learn what life and decisions were like during the near-extinction event that nearly prevented their creation.

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

#412

Post by navaati » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 5:46 PM UTC

pantalaimon wrote: post #188

OrbitRock wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, to me it’s fascinating. We’re another level of the fractal of life, replicating patterns seen in bacterial biofilms, slime molds, circulatory systems, nervous systems, leaves, all manner of multicellular architectures. It’s certainly a bad thing that we are growing in a sort of zero-sum manner against many original ecosystems though. We need to learn to restrain our own growth (a tough one that we’re in the proc…

That would be great. My fear is that we are more like yeast in a bottle of juice.

I hope at least someone will drink the resulting booze…

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

#413

Post by navaati » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 5:56 PM UTC

justatdotin wrote: post #320

FredPret wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re right, fuck it, let’s just all die without trying instead

I remain unable to comprehend the kind of brain damage that leads some to dismiss the challenge of living sustainably on a fit-for-purpose planet but embrace the challenge of abandoning it.

Decentralisation, basically.

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

#414

Post by brofallon » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 6:09 PM UTC

FabiansMustDie wrote: post #246

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 deferring to reason is a nouveau fad among men of letters -- as if it's some truth machine; wherein one inputs one's observations and, by the grace of reason, out pops "what should be done." This ignores the very basest of truths that all men's* reason is self-centered, generating only courses of action that benefit him -- no matter how indirectly (ex. donating to a charity does help others, but it also helps…

In response to your final question: To my ear using "men" as a substitute for "all people" doesn't flow better, I found it rather jarring and antiquated and, yeah, a little insensitive. I'm also not convinced it's a purely stylistic decision, as you claim... There's a rather long history of using men as a substitute for everyone in, say, medicine, politics, finance, and many (most?) disciplines, with outcomes most of us agree were not so great. It can also muddy the interpretation of your arguments, as (asterisks aside) it's not perfectly clear when you say "men" if you're referring to everyone or just actually just males. It's an easy thing to change, and your rhetoric will be clearer, more persuasive, and less likely to be immediately dismissed by a fraction of your audience.

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

#415

Post by FabiansMustDie » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 7:32 PM UTC

brofallon wrote: post #414

FabiansMustDie wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think deferring to reason is a nouveau fad among men of letters -- as if it's some truth machine; wherein one inputs one's observations and, by the grace of reason, out pops "what should be done." This ignores the very basest of truths that all men's* reason is self-centered, generating only courses of action that benefit him -- no matter how indirectly (ex. donating to a charity does help others, but it also helps…

In response to your final question: To my ear using "men" as a substitute for "all people" doesn't flow better, I found it rather jarring and antiquated and, yeah, a little insensitive. I'm also not convinced it's a purely stylistic decision, as you claim... There's a rather long history of using men as a substitute for everyone in, say, medicine, politics, finance, and many (most?) disciplines, with outcomes most of…

I thank you for your take; yet I refuse to yield to your sensibilities.

I think where we differ is in our approach to language. I see it as a medium of art -- like a song or a painting. "Man" is but a certain, evocative hue of brown that I believe fits best into the feelings I'm trying to elicit; and "human" is a lesser, albeit passable substitute.

I think this scientificization, making it more rigorous and "comprehensible," has done the opposite. Words have connotations, denotations, and all sorts of deeper meanings behind them. "Human" is such a sterilized, unnevocative word; and I refuse to use it.

However, certainly you've felt something from its usage -- even if that feeling was not the one I felt (compare it to: human -- which only the most scientifically-obsessed would have their hearts sing from its utterance).

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

#416

Post by gbrown » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 9:23 PM UTC

heartbeats wrote: post #401

gbrown wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a very common line of reasoning which I would call magical thinking. Sure, there’s not really any risk that humans will go extinct in the near future, but our technological global civilization is much more fragile. First, we look at the numbers concerning best case scenarios and see that a few degrees of warming is basically inevitable. Then, we ask how likely it is that well make rapid corrections now - perso…

> our technological global civilization Good riddance. If our technological global civilization results in conditions that make technological global civilization impossible, then so be it. It wasn't fit to exist to begin with. It's a self-regulating problem. > There’s a long scholarship concerning resource conflict and the destabilizing effects of mass migration. We don’t have a good track record of dealing with this…

> Good riddance.

Matter of preference I guess. I like to hope humanity will continue to learn things about and explore the broader universe rather than descent into feudal oppression (or some-such) in the ashes of our former civilization, but whatever.

> I don't know what you mean here - are you suggesting mass migration is inevitable?

At this point, that's the conclusion, yes. Climate impacts cause incredible destabilization for folks who rely more closely on their local environment (subsistence farmers and the global poor generally), and yes - disruption leads to mass migration.

> No, I mean spraying dust into the atmosphere to make it darker, so less sunlight comes in.

.... yes, an emergency uncontrolled experiment to solve some of the symptoms of a global problem. The global economy as it currently exists is geoengineering at an absolutely monumental scale.

Also, your reply is just incredibly baffling and frustrating, to the point that I half think you're not being serious. "Oh, we'll just spray some dust in the air and reflect more sunlight to solve the problem" - it's ludicrous, and nobody serious who studies geoengineering shares your attitude. I do believe we're going to have to engage in geoengineering, but it's not something to be taken lightly (and the experts who study it generally agree). Never mind the fact that even if your "solution" worked, it wouldn't solve things like ocean acidification, and would at best buy us some time... while having potentially unforeseen consequences on cancer rates, crop production, solar efficiency, etc.

> It's like people procrastinating their homework until 5 minutes before the deadline. Eventually they'll get it done.

Talk about unearned optimism. Not everything is a problem you can just go "fix".

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

#417

Post by Grimm1 » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 9:48 PM UTC

gbrown wrote: post #406

eric_cc wrote: post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OP asked for you to provide research and yet you've entirely evaded doing so.

I made a more specific offer which received no response, meanwhile others have posted a number of research articles in this very thread. Nothing I’ve said disagrees with the scientific consensus, so you could also just Google it rather than whining that someone on the internet isn’t holding your hand.

Hi OP here way too many different talking points going on in the thread, your offer went right past me. I'd love to know more about our energy generation and how that is working against our climate change goals. I know that at the start of 2020 we produced 25% of our energy from renewable in the US and that we're moving more of that percentage yearly but understand we have more to do globally among other nations. I figure that's a perfectly specific topic that if you have all this damning research that we won't get there you can just quickly drop it on me.

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

#418

Post by jiofih » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 10:04 PM UTC

Grimm1 wrote: post #386

jiofih wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about these lines then: > Even if we stopped emitting greenhouse gases today, global warming would continue to happen for at least several more decades, if not centuries or > In the absence of major action to reduce emissions, global temperature is on track to rise by an average of 6 °C There is not much major action going on (except for the electrification of vehicles which is being driven by commercial venture)…

You keep picking half sentences that leave off the part saying we can do things to prevent catastrophe. At this point I can only believe you aren’t coming from a place of intellectual honesty. You also keep saying scientific consensus and data points but considering I keep finding information to the contrary and you’ve provided nothing I really think you mean your own personal and emotion driven stance. Of which I do…

I’m puzzled. The sentences I quote are straight from the article, and it doesn’t go much further than that. It’s five paragraphs long. It doesn’t show any possibilities for reversal or offer an alternative scenario.

All it offers is a meaningless “it’s up to us what happens next”. Where is the information to the contrary you see?

Here is an extensive report, from the same source, on the effects of predicted global warming: https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2865/a-degree-of-concern-why-g...

Read it carefully, and note that the 1.5C scenario is extremely optimistic and assumes humanity will zero out emissions completely by 2050.

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

#419

Post by jimmySixDOF » Sat, Apr 17, 2021, 4:27 AM UTC

goldenchrome wrote: post #346

jayd16 wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can say that but Microsoft just landed a $21B AR contract, the Quest2 has sold 2-3 million units and Apple is poised to enter the wearable market. I'm not surprised when Google walks away from things, but this seems premature and short sighted.

Yeah the Microsoft contract is up to $21B, and it's over 10 years. It's also a military contract, which is a different beast from consumer goods. And if the Quest 2 has sold 2-3 million units so far, that's unremarkable. The Apple Watch was considered a failure in its first year and it made 10 million sales. We've already passed Christmas so you're not going to see a further spike in sales. If Apple enters the market…

And yet there was a recent re-org at Facebook so now the AR/VR focused Reality Labs division headcount is approx 10,000

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

#420

Post by ix101 » Sat, Apr 17, 2021, 6:04 AM UTC

heartbeats wrote: post #334

sellyme wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've never understood why people wouldn't just figure something out as global warming gets worse. We've just seen first-hand evidence that millions of people could be dying and some would find it politically expedient to pretend that it wasn't actually occurring. We absolutely have the resources and capability to solve these problems. We just don't have the will or the policy.

> We've just seen first-hand evidence that millions of people could be dying and some would find it politically expedient to pretend that it wasn't actually occurring. I'm sorry, I don't follow, who do you mean? Colonialism? The Uighurs in China? People in India/Pakistan? Possible victims of global warming? The Holocaust? >We just don't have the will or the policy. Right, that's what I mean. The minute things get any…

Maybe he's referring to what has been dominating news headlines for the past 14 months.