Live data from Hacker News

It’s official: July was Earth’s hottest month on record

noaa.gov

491–500 of 578 posts

Re: It’s official: July was Earth’s hottest month on record

#491
post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is a myth? If there were far fewer people less carbon would be used/extracted. Less trees and natural space would be destroyed. Less plastic would be around. Etc. There are not enough resources for everyone to live like we Americans. As the world gets richer we’ll collectively destroy more of the environment. This is not disputable.

> If there were far fewer people less carbon would be used/extracted. 1 American releases the same amount of co2 as ten people in Benin, let alone the amount of trash and general consumption This is not about the "amount of people" , it is about percapita numbers and consumption If everyone consumed like Americans do, we'd need like 4, 5 earth's just to maintain that Again, it is a matter of co2/per capita

Poverty is on the decline globally and this means consumption correspondingly increases. People in Benin and elsewhere have the same desires as everyone else and they too want to consume at a greater rate. They want things too. Americans are the worst for sure. I think that there are far too many people given humans’ proclivity toward consumption.

Re: It’s official: July was Earth’s hottest month on record

#492
post #387
post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I see things the only solution is that humans need to stop reproducing so much. There are far too many people for the resources of the planet given current technology.

This kind of discourse is simply disregarding facts to promote a not-my-problem ideology. The countries that contribute most significantly to greenhouse gas emissions almost always have very low demography. Because of that, if we were to change demography to reach strict population equilibrium in every country without changing countries' emissions per capita, we would actually emit more greenhouse gases.

What facts am I disregarding? As global poverty declines consumption correspondingly goes up. Globalization ensures that the message of consumption wins out. Profits need to be had. Humans are local optimization machines. The only real solution given human psychology is for there to be far fewer people. Until that happens the damage will continue to be done and at an increasing rate.

Re: It’s official: July was Earth’s hottest month on record

#493
post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure why you are being down-voted for voicing your position. Thanks for sharing it. I think that if we (as a society) can't find a way to communicate basic truths to all of us, we are probably doomed; There has to be a way for everyone to be able to say "1 + 1 = 2" and not have endless debate about it. Trusting the leaders that we elect is probably part of that equation... but that also means those leaders ne…

I think it's because people are skeptical of the source of his skepticism. They believe he is being disingenuous and trying to couch his position in something that will excuse his behavior. They're also pointing out the core inconsistency in his logic. He claims his basis for climate skepticism was that politicians said it and politicians lie. But others pointed out that there were always politicians on both sides of…

I can't speak for api's intentions but I think the point is that scientists are people too. The perception of scientists themselves as being politically bent in one direction is definitely not unfathomable. This is especially so in a culture (or sub-culture) of politicians/news that may portray them that way for political gain.

At the end of the day, we all have to decide what information sources we will put money behind. None of them are always correct. Science does have an upper hand when done right... but that's a large caveat that even seasoned scientists may not always discern properly. Also, there is a lot of bad science "out there" sometimes funded by competing interests.

None of this is to say that I doubt climate change but certainly I don't buy wholesale into emerging ideas until they have been sussed out a bit. In 1995, the language was still:

> Any human-induced effect on climate will be superimposed on the background "noise" of natural climate variability, which results both from internal fluctuations and from external causes such as solar variability or volcanic eruptions. Detection and attribution studies attempt to distinguish between anthropogenic and natural influences. [1]

Which could be (and was, when politically beneficial) read to mean "we don't have a clear picture."

[1] https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/ipcc_sar_wg_...

Re: It’s official: July was Earth’s hottest month on record

#494

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well I'm religious (although I guess I 'believe' in man-made climate change), so here goes. Of course, every religion will have different answers. The general Christian jist, often twisted by evangelicals and fundamentalists (in my opinion), but still preserved and well-recorded in the annals of Catholic thought is that God is both personal but also perfect. Let's go back in time. Aristotle, from whom a lot of (Weste…

Yeah sorry there is no internal consistency here for me, I do thank you for trying in a honest way. God created everything including free will and what it means to have it. God blames and punishes his own creations for excising free will in a way he's deems incorrectly. He's wants us to learn from him and accept him, yet he created us and designed us down to the quark. Basically for me the buck stops with God, yet he…

> Most responses here seem to revolve around God not following logic, fine there is nothing more to say then, and is truly nonsense, 2 + 2 does not have to equal 4.

That is the exact opposite of what I am saying. God does follow his logic, including his logic that people remain free of his own coercion.

> God blames and punishes his own creations for excising free will in a way he's deems incorrectly. He's wants us to learn from him and accept him, yet he created us and designed us down to the quark.

No one is 'blaming' you. You have internalized your own notion of the Christian God and are arguing against it.

God does not blame you. Never has anyone entitled God a 'blamer'. God does not even punish. Satan is the accuser (In fact that's another name for him), not God.

Rather one is punished by his own sin. Here's an example. I am raising my children in an upper-middle class lifestyle. They will be educated well and raised to understand how to live well. If my child decides to abandon this teaching and instead decides to become a drug addict, they cannot blame me for punishing them. They have punished themselves by turning away from my teachings.

The same is true of God. When we reject God, by rejecting his instructions on how to live life, we punish ourselves. Should you refuse God and rebuke him, he is not going to force you into his plan for eternal life. Isn't that what this whole thing was about? Free will? Well here's the ultimate example. If you don't follow God and corrupt your own soul, you will torment yourself when you see the perfection of God. Have you read the Christmas Carol? Scrooge is not tormented by the spirits. Rather seeing his own behavior in comparison to the good behavior of those around them is enough to indict him in his own mind. So too is it on earth. There is no coercion. No spirit is going to come down and force you to behave.

You can choose joy, or you can choose death. As a Christian, I evangelize because I see what it has done in my own life. When I see others who have gone through similar sufferings as myself (not going to get into this) deal with what life has dealt them and they seem upset, I want to share with them the good news of the gospel and the joy that is to be found in conforming with God's will. No one is going to force you and no one is going to smite you down with lightning. Christianity utterly rejects the notion of karma or that an individual sin leads to individual destitution (book of Job puts this one to rest). The only person who will punish you is yourself when you don't follow the will of God, just as those who refuse to follow the rule of physics and decide they can fly off tall buildings have no one 'punishing' them but themselves. To a Christian, the rule of life prescribed by Christianity is similar to living our life in accord with the rules of physics. There is no difference, since both have the same source, and the laws regarding sin are manifest and obvious to those undertaking the study of the natural world.

Re: It’s official: July was Earth’s hottest month on record

#495
post #372
post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Proudly! His policy positions resulted in us being energy independent, reformed our prisons, and ended the forever-wars. Then there's the vaccine that Democrat leadership advised their constituents not to take. The Trump haters believe that an election should be a popularity contest, and not a contest of policy and ideas.

"This site is sadly run by militant commies who are triggered by the existence of better men." I lol'd at this part from your profile. I mean, you believe this and are literally trolling right now. This should be flagged.

Most of my posts get flagged. Not trolling, but I could see how it would seem that way to the extremely confused.

Re: It’s official: July was Earth’s hottest month on record

#496
post #293
post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Proudly! His policy positions resulted in us being energy independent, reformed our prisons, and ended the forever-wars. Then there's the vaccine that Democrat leadership advised their constituents not to take. The Trump haters believe that an election should be a popularity contest, and not a contest of policy and ideas.

There’s a lot I wish I could write here. But it wouldn’t change your mind and no doubt you’ve been told it before. Trump was a net negative for the USA in a lot of metrics. You can cherry pick some, but ultimately the swamp was not drained, allies where alienated and the pandemic killed more people than it otherwise could have. Proudly restricting your viewpoint and ignoring objective reality whilst thinking that doi…

You are free to continue ignoring the objective reality that Trump's policies had an objectively positive impact. Feel free to "cherry pick" some negative Trump impacts that weren't wholly manufactured by the swamp.

Re: It’s official: July was Earth’s hottest month on record

#497
post #468

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The difference is that an asteroid is an existential threat to humanity while climate change is just short of that. And you can see an asteroid heading straight for you, anyone skeptical could just get, or borrow, a scope. I don't think an asteroid collision would induce a politicized disinfo campaign personally, it's too concrete.

I think it's hard to know. I would have thought the earth being round was "too concrete" to dispute, but here we are.

Well, to be fair, you can't see curvature with your own eyes like you can an asteroid, at least not feasibly/easily. Your ancestors lived in a world where thinking it was round was stupid..

Re: It’s official: July was Earth’s hottest month on record

#498

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a severely underestimated group of religious people who think that only God controls the weather, His reasons for what he does with it are not for you to evaluate, and that saying that humans can change the weather is blasphemy. It's easy to make fun of, but the most direct experience that people have of a God who controls the universe would be the weather. These people need to be approached theologically; s…

I have never been able to get my head around the religious paradox of God has a plan and free will. Can we make choices that effect the outcome of things or is it all part of Gods plan? It can't be both right? Did God create everything including free will or does it exist outside of his control? I don't blame my program when it does something wrong, I mean I wrote the code that tells it how to behave.

It might be a bit more complicated once you hear about the story of Adam and Eve, among other sometimes contradictory stories. Was free will given at creation, or maybe after they ate that one apple? Even old Stoics grappled with a variation of the problem[1], but most religious people I think follow an understanding that free will was conferred to humans and that can allow you to disobey god's plan, but that it ultimately will not end well and/or is futile against the predetermined and eventual good outcome.

1: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compatibilism

Re: It’s official: July was Earth’s hottest month on record

#499

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah sorry there is no internal consistency here for me, I do thank you for trying in a honest way. God created everything including free will and what it means to have it. God blames and punishes his own creations for excising free will in a way he's deems incorrectly. He's wants us to learn from him and accept him, yet he created us and designed us down to the quark. Basically for me the buck stops with God, yet he…

> Most responses here seem to revolve around God not following logic, fine there is nothing more to say then, and is truly nonsense, 2 + 2 does not have to equal 4. That is the exact opposite of what I am saying. God does follow his logic, including his logic that people remain free of his own coercion. > God blames and punishes his own creations for excising free will in a way he's deems incorrectly. He's wants us t…

>God does follow his logic, including his logic that people remain free of his own coercion.

Again this makes no sense, he created everything, the rules of the universe, how our minds operate, there is nothing free from his coercion unless you are saying there is something he didn't create?

>God does not blame you. Never has anyone entitled God a 'blamer'. God does not even punish. Satan is the accuser (In fact that's another name for him), not God.

Genesis 3:13

>To the woman he said,

>“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children.

>Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

>To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

>“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.

That sure sounds like blame and punishment to me and thats just the very beginning.

>If my child decides to abandon this teaching and instead decides to become a drug addict, they cannot blame me for punishing them. They have punished themselves by turning away from my teachings.

You did not design your children or the universe in which they live, God however supposedly did, there is no other place for blame to go. He's is the alpha and the omega, you as a parent are not, there are many outside influences that can be blamed including your children's choices since you did not design their brain, you are only an influence on them among many.

Re: It’s official: July was Earth’s hottest month on record

#500
post #496
post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s a lot I wish I could write here. But it wouldn’t change your mind and no doubt you’ve been told it before. Trump was a net negative for the USA in a lot of metrics. You can cherry pick some, but ultimately the swamp was not drained, allies where alienated and the pandemic killed more people than it otherwise could have. Proudly restricting your viewpoint and ignoring objective reality whilst thinking that doi…

You are free to continue ignoring the objective reality that Trump's policies had an objectively positive impact. Feel free to "cherry pick" some negative Trump impacts that weren't wholly manufactured by the swamp.

Disregarding that nonsense, I really have to ask something - when you say “better men” in your profile, are you referring to yourself?
Post reply on HN