What if we stopped pretending the climate apocalypse can be stopped? • Hacker News Board

Re: What if we stopped pretending the climate apocalypse can be stopped?

#141

Post by berrynice » Wed, Sep 11, 2019, 5:09 PM UTC

perl4ever wrote: post #112

berrynice wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not going to be able to kill capitalism before things go really wrong, modern capitalism still has a stranglehold on us all and it probably won't fall until climate change kicks into high gear and eradicates huge portions of the western population. At least the anprims will be happy.

I'm not clear on why people are particularly angry at capitalism. It seems like just a label that allows people to focus on the US fossil fuel industry, as the US is the archetype of capitalism, while vaguely associating all the other major fossil fuel producers with the West/US/capitalism. Is the reason Russia and KSA are producing fossil fuels because they were infected with a specific ideology? I feel like there's…

Modern capitalism puts itself at the center of society and greatly punishes anything that attempts to draw people away from holding capital gain as being the epitome of self-interest. Yes, Russia and the KSA do indeed bend to the will of capitalism, with varying degrees of resistance. If people were not rewarded for this behavior it would not continue.

Re: What if we stopped pretending the climate apocalypse can be stopped?

#142

Post by perl4ever » Thu, Sep 12, 2019, 2:29 AM UTC

berrynice wrote: post #141

perl4ever wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not clear on why people are particularly angry at capitalism. It seems like just a label that allows people to focus on the US fossil fuel industry, as the US is the archetype of capitalism, while vaguely associating all the other major fossil fuel producers with the West/US/capitalism. Is the reason Russia and KSA are producing fossil fuels because they were infected with a specific ideology? I feel like there's…

Modern capitalism puts itself at the center of society and greatly punishes anything that attempts to draw people away from holding capital gain as being the epitome of self-interest. Yes, Russia and the KSA do indeed bend to the will of capitalism, with varying degrees of resistance. If people were not rewarded for this behavior it would not continue.

"Modern capitalism puts itself at the center of society"

Does it insist upon itself?

Re: What if we stopped pretending the climate apocalypse can be stopped?

#143

Post by faissaloo » Thu, Sep 12, 2019, 4:36 PM UTC

perl4ever wrote: post #142

berrynice wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Modern capitalism puts itself at the center of society and greatly punishes anything that attempts to draw people away from holding capital gain as being the epitome of self-interest. Yes, Russia and the KSA do indeed bend to the will of capitalism, with varying degrees of resistance. If people were not rewarded for this behavior it would not continue.

"Modern capitalism puts itself at the center of society" Does it insist upon itself?

It's moreso that too many people with too much control over resources insist on it.

Re: What if we stopped pretending the climate apocalypse can be stopped?

#144

Post by pharke » Thu, Sep 12, 2019, 5:30 PM UTC

AstralStorm wrote: post #116

pharke wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There seem to be a bunch of self-centered pessimists replying to you so I'll try to give a real response. If you don't already work in an industry that is doing research towards or creating a product that makes a difference, change careers. The solution to this, both on an individual and collective level, is not to give up and hide in a hole hoping you die quietly in your sleep. The solution is to fucking solve the p…

Even if we can't fix it we can make it much better and less misery for everyone involved. The question is, how many people do you want to sacrifice to eat your delicious cow and drive a SUV?

Prohibition doesn't change the sum total of misery in the world, it just evenly distributes it. The only way to reduce the total amount of misery is to increase the standard of living of more people. Everyone should be able to eat delicious cow and drive SUVs if they want to. The problem to solve is in how we reduce the harm those things currently have on the environment, there are many options for that other than "just take away the SUVs and cows so no one has them".

Re: What if we stopped pretending the climate apocalypse can be stopped?

#145

Post by aerophilic » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:59 AM UTC

aerophilic wrote: post #69

One solution, which I admit is out there, is what if we actively cook the earth? While yes, it would be an engineering challenge, I think it is quite reasonable to create an “adjustable solar shade”. Basically build up enough reflectors at the Lagrange point to selectively “cool” parts of earth. Yes, it would be a massive undertaking, but could potentially be done mostly autonomously. If our timeline is 30 years, thi…

Heh,

Realize I meant “shade” not cook =p. In any case, hopefully intent is clear.