Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Most life on Earth is dormant, after pulling an 'emergency brake'

quantamagazine.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 253 posts

Re: Most life on Earth is dormant, after pulling an 'emergency brake'

#131

Post by lukan »

Jach wrote: post #51
onionisafruit wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real trick is being somebody that a future generation will go to the trouble of defrosting.

If we found a crypt of a hundred well-preserved mummies from a few thousand years ago who for all we could tell were basically peasants in their lifetimes, not grand or interesting people, and we had the ability to revive them into the modern world, I still think we would. The "interest" factor of future generations reviving cryonics customers when it's possible to do so is like the weakest factor in trying to predic…

Because one crypt and some humans would be a curiosity. But a cluster of crypts containing thousands or even millions of those old weird people who will be likely just a burden to a way more advanced society? I am sceptical.

Re: Most life on Earth is dormant, after pulling an 'emergency brake'

#132

Post by histriosum »

dkdbejwi383 wrote: post #105
WJW wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> With the amount of technology today, we should be the happiest generation alive. Only if you think that wealth is what makes people happy, but we just need to take a look at all the unhappy wealthy people all around us to see that that is not the case. Poverty can make people unhappy of course, especially the stress that comes from uncertainty. But prosperity alone is not sufficient for happiness. Generations of so…

I'd wager a lot of it comes down to the difference between material wealth vs. a wealth of time. That's the one thing money can't buy.

Except that money DOES buy time. When I have money, I can convert it to time to do things I enjoy. When I don't have money, I need to spend my time to get money in order to survive. I find the statement that "money can't buy time" something that only a fairly wealthy person would believe, and not at all accurate in practice.

Re: Most life on Earth is dormant, after pulling an 'emergency brake'

#133

Post by batch12 »

flakeoil wrote: post #44
therein wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't quote The Bible often but I think we can have some space for a quote here: "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" Matthew 6:26

I'm curious, what does that quote really mean? I can attempt to draw a few conclusions, but I'm not quite sure of either and they can also almost be the opposite of each other.

Most verses aren't intended to be read alone, they weren't written that way originally. The indexes were added later. The whole section (25-34) is about not worrying. With the summary being "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Re: Most life on Earth is dormant, after pulling an 'emergency brake'

#134

Post by kasey_junk »

leobg wrote: post #79
wayoverthecloud wrote: post #25

When you get caught up on the hustle of modern society and lose yourself in modern technology, it's so easy to forget that you are a part of a larger whole and there is more life on Earth besides human. For some reason knowing that other animals exist just for the sake of existing and even sleep off when life gets harder gives a new perspective. I feel that we humans use too much knowledge and complicate problems eve…

Had a very similar thought this morning. With the amount of technology today, we should be the happiest, wealthiest generation alive. My grandmother, born in the 1920s, still experienced hunger as a child, fled from the Russians through the ruins of bombed out cities, and, up until not too long ago, had to make a fire in order to have warm water for the bathtub. But I’ve never heard the word “depression” from her eve…

At least as measured by suicide rates in the US your grandmothers likely generation new quite well what depression was even if the word didn’t matter. Between the 1920s and the end of WW2 the suicide rate per 100000 was lowest at 15 but reached almost 22.

The pandemic rate which caused (rightly) lots of angst and introspection was 14.3.

We should investigate what is causing increased levels of depression currently but we shouldn’t assume it was absent in other generations when we do it.

https://jabberwocking.com/raw-data-us-suicide-rates-since-19...

Re: Most life on Earth is dormant, after pulling an 'emergency brake'

#135

Post by iamEAP »

leobg wrote: post #79
wayoverthecloud wrote: post #25

When you get caught up on the hustle of modern society and lose yourself in modern technology, it's so easy to forget that you are a part of a larger whole and there is more life on Earth besides human. For some reason knowing that other animals exist just for the sake of existing and even sleep off when life gets harder gives a new perspective. I feel that we humans use too much knowledge and complicate problems eve…

Had a very similar thought this morning. With the amount of technology today, we should be the happiest, wealthiest generation alive. My grandmother, born in the 1920s, still experienced hunger as a child, fled from the Russians through the ruins of bombed out cities, and, up until not too long ago, had to make a fire in order to have warm water for the bathtub. But I’ve never heard the word “depression” from her eve…

> But I’ve never heard the word “depression” from her even once. Then you look at today’s younger generations, and you see it everywhere.

Reminds me of Act 2 from this “This American Life” episode. Sub “Toska” for “depression” and maybe you’ll see things in a different light.

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/822/transcript

Re: Most life on Earth is dormant, after pulling an 'emergency brake'

#136

Post by hxriv »

kasey_junk wrote: post #134
leobg wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Had a very similar thought this morning. With the amount of technology today, we should be the happiest, wealthiest generation alive. My grandmother, born in the 1920s, still experienced hunger as a child, fled from the Russians through the ruins of bombed out cities, and, up until not too long ago, had to make a fire in order to have warm water for the bathtub. But I’ve never heard the word “depression” from her eve…

At least as measured by suicide rates in the US your grandmothers likely generation new quite well what depression was even if the word didn’t matter. Between the 1920s and the end of WW2 the suicide rate per 100000 was lowest at 15 but reached almost 22. The pandemic rate which caused (rightly) lots of angst and introspection was 14.3. We should investigate what is causing increased levels of depression currently bu…

Should have let the op continue their victim blaming tirade. Was just getting good.

Re: Most life on Earth is dormant, after pulling an 'emergency brake'

#137

Post by batch12 »

wruza wrote: post #83
js6i wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting how people come and mock without having any framework of understanding the thing. It's almost like a lost language. Consider air - it is immaterial, the spirit/principle/reason/meaning/pattern of things. It's also the vehicle for speech, and when we stop breathing it we die. I don't think the quote (or the broader text) means a single concrete thing - it's saying something about how the world works,…

A purpose of a religious text is to control people. They do that through well-known ways. It says “blah-blah, but look at this fallacy you aren’t aware of, so believe in god”, at different zoom levels. Every one of these is trivially deconstructible cause their main target was uneducated masses which had no scrutiny. Those who had it were religiously “educated” and accounted for. Religions that didn’t do that didn’t…

Actually the purpose of that whole chapter is about not being a hypocrite, being authentic, not being greedy, and having faith. It's a quick < 5-minute read.

Re: Most life on Earth is dormant, after pulling an 'emergency brake'

#138

Post by robertlagrant »

histriosum wrote: post #132
dkdbejwi383 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd wager a lot of it comes down to the difference between material wealth vs. a wealth of time. That's the one thing money can't buy.

Except that money DOES buy time. When I have money, I can convert it to time to do things I enjoy. When I don't have money, I need to spend my time to get money in order to survive. I find the statement that "money can't buy time" something that only a fairly wealthy person would believe, and not at all accurate in practice.

> I find the statement that "money can't buy time" something that only a fairly wealthy person would believe, and not at all accurate in practice.

Most people with money are old, because that's how you get money in general: provide value over a long period of time. But they would probably all trade that money for being 22 again, and having a lifetime ahead.

Re: Most life on Earth is dormant, after pulling an 'emergency brake'

#139

Post by [deleted] »

wruza wrote: post #83
js6i wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting how people come and mock without having any framework of understanding the thing. It's almost like a lost language. Consider air - it is immaterial, the spirit/principle/reason/meaning/pattern of things. It's also the vehicle for speech, and when we stop breathing it we die. I don't think the quote (or the broader text) means a single concrete thing - it's saying something about how the world works,…

A purpose of a religious text is to control people. They do that through well-known ways. It says “blah-blah, but look at this fallacy you aren’t aware of, so believe in god”, at different zoom levels. Every one of these is trivially deconstructible cause their main target was uneducated masses which had no scrutiny. Those who had it were religiously “educated” and accounted for. Religions that didn’t do that didn’t…

[deleted]

Re: Most life on Earth is dormant, after pulling an 'emergency brake'

#140

Post by adrian_b »

HPsquared wrote: post #92
ReptileMan wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>it's so easy to forget that you are a part of a larger whole and there is more life on Earth besides human. Humans actually utilize quite a big chunk of the biomass.

It depends how you count it, whether you include plants etc. Humans are only 0.01% of all biomass, but humans and livestock completely dominate the "mammals" category. Funnily enough, the livestock population weighs about twice as much as the human population.

Humans and livestock completely dominate not only the "mammals" category, but the entire "terrestrial vertebrates" category.

There are only a few other terrestrial animals of comparable biomass with humans, e.g. ants and termites.

Post reply on HN