Earlier quoted context omitted.
We have been agressively terraforming the earth into a form less accomodating of current complex life for some time now, and we show no signs of slowing. That's the whole problem
Agressively? We increased CO2 concentration by about 200 parts-per-million (a factor of about 2x), and increased the average temperature by about 1-2°C. Rain patterns are slightly different. Ocean PH levels dropped by about 0.04 . Sure, given how delicate the biosphere is, these small changes have a significant effect. However, if we look at Earth on the same scale as any other object in the solar system, the environ…
Long before trees overtook the land, Earth was covered by prototaxites (2013)
161–170 of 295 posts
Re: Long before trees overtook the land, Earth was covered by prototaxites (2013)
#162I think it’s wild and deeply inspiring to imagine how the surface of the earth had radically different forms over billions of years. Huge landscapes of unrotted dead plants. Then massive landscapes of fungus and decomposing bacteria breaking that down into dirt. And on and on. I think it is wise to understand that earth has been through many eras and is not as homeostatic as our narrowly imagined “natural” state we s…
Changes are static or not depending on the scale of time you consider. In a time span of billions (even millions) of years, our planet indeed went through different eras. For a duration of one human life, the state of nature is expected to remain quite static. The problem with climate change is that we started to witness the planet entering in a new era in such a small time frame - roughly 200 years.
I often use https://xkcd.com/1732/ when someone says "well, temperature has always varied...this is just part of a natural cycle".
Re: Long before trees overtook the land, Earth was covered by prototaxites (2013)
#163Earlier quoted context omitted.
During the Trump era, conspiracy theories became a prominent part of mainstream conversation, while scientific knowledge was often dismissed as just one perspective among many. In my opinion, a societal culture that treats truth as malleable poses a greater threat than individuals on the internet who are hesitant to publicly express anti-scientific beliefs.
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Some days I wish I could contemplate the possibility of roughly 80,000,000 deaths with such equanimity.
Re: Long before trees overtook the land, Earth was covered by prototaxites (2013)
#164I think it’s wild and deeply inspiring to imagine how the surface of the earth had radically different forms over billions of years. Huge landscapes of unrotted dead plants. Then massive landscapes of fungus and decomposing bacteria breaking that down into dirt. And on and on. I think it is wise to understand that earth has been through many eras and is not as homeostatic as our narrowly imagined “natural” state we s…
It's something George Carlin has touched on as well. Paraphrasing a bit: We're not really trying to save the planet. The planet has been here for billions of years, it'll be here for billions of years after we're all dead and gone. The planet will be fine. The people? The people are fucked. That's what we're trying to save. We're trying to keep the planet hospitable to us.
Well billions may be stretching it, by some estimates in 1 billion years Earth will be be hotter by cca 25 degress. All kinds of runaway greenhouse effects will happen way before that, ocean will become probably unhospitable warm chemical gunk and some of it may evaporate out of Earth's atmosphere and then taken by solar winds out of gravity well.
Some primitive form of life will probably thrive for another billion years till Earth is slowly sterilized by Sun, but not complex life like us.
Re: Long before trees overtook the land, Earth was covered by prototaxites (2013)
#165What if Fungi were the key to our technological advancement? If we could make fungal computers we could become a bio-technical race like Species 8472 in Star Trek Voyager Season 3 Episode 26.
I watched a documentary that proposed eating mushrooms, and the ensuing hallucinations that happened, as the cause of our Neanderthal ancestors developing free thought and the underpinning of creativity that lead to tool development.
The Dune navigator theory of evolution
Re: Long before trees overtook the land, Earth was covered by prototaxites (2013)
#166Wait so Super Mario Bros is factually historical?
Re: Long before trees overtook the land, Earth was covered by prototaxites (2013)
#167Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes aggressively. Raising the average (I don't understand why you'd bring up noise when discussing average) temperature of the entire Earth by 1-2 degrees C in a period of 100 years, from 1 single organism is remarkable. Any why specify CO2 as if that's the only thing we're polluting with? What about methane? Remember when we disrupted the ozone layer? What about pollution with plastics, and industrial chemicals in l…
If we want to make the temperature on Mars like the one on Earth, it’s not going to take 2C and a feedback loop. It’s going to take like 75C.
This is such a dangerous perspective. Why would we want to make the temperature on Mars like the one on Earth!?! We already have 7 Billion people here to take care of and we're already witnessing mass heat, flooding, and famine deaths from climate change. People focusing on colonizing Mars when we have such an immediate problem to address TODAY are delusional and actively endangering the most vulnerable people in the world.
Re: Long before trees overtook the land, Earth was covered by prototaxites (2013)
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s really up to China and, increasingly, India at this point. The Western countries are not emitting much anymore so the impact here is limited.
We can stop buying things from China and India then.
A World War 3 is definitely one way to cut emissions and save the Earth. It seems more likely than the world working together on a reasonable plan.
Re: Long before trees overtook the land, Earth was covered by prototaxites (2013)
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
AWOBMOLG was more about mythologization of tech as oracular & all powerful, leading us to think that we can handle anything. Techno-utopianism. A lot of the series is about the belief that we could, with technologies predictive powers & neoliberal market ethos... And how it doesn't pan out. We have "New Economies" greatly bloom in the world. And about how instead we got the 1997 Asian financial crisis. We thought we…
> Curtis rarely comes out and makes broad conclusions Indeed; his films (and their titles!) are oblique and suggestive. They are about politics, but it's very hard to discern his own political posture clearly. I wonder what kind of a man he would be to meet.
He's still a bit reserved somewhat in interviews but they are fun to watch.
Just my take, but I think the core concept is really that there is no one actually genuinely leading, no one left with a compelling believable vision in any position of power, and that total power vacuum keeps letting mad scenes play out across history.
The need for hope, to show a willingness to go in authentically good direction at scale, is a fuel that powers the public spirit, and we keep suffering long eras where it's simply unavailable.
Re: Long before trees overtook the land, Earth was covered by prototaxites (2013)
#170> The largest organism on Earth, says ABC, is still a huge fungal mat, a single organism spread over 2,200 acres of forest in eastern Oregon. Largest by area. By mass you need to go a bit south, to the faint grove of Aspens in Utah known as "Pando". ofc, Aspens are weird enough that they may be thought of more like a fungus with tree-like fruiting bodies rather than trees per se.
Another super interesting fact that never occurred to me is that trees are not a taxonomic grouping of their own. Rather a broad set of characteristics that have separately evolved into a convergent set of traits. So, it's unnecessary to say Aspens are not like other trees because they aren't actually related to other trees. The MCRA of all trees would not remotely be a tree.