Get ready for many more record-shattering heatwaves • Hacker News Board

Re: Get ready for many more record-shattering heatwaves

#31

Post by dfxm12 » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 7:18 PM UTC

fragmede wrote: post #29

dfxm12 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are different definitions of "we" there. Do you think of "we" as the human race or "we" as in yourself and your partner or maybe your immediate family? Not everyone thinks of "we" in the same way. If you're so narcissistic/nihilistic/whatever as to fall into the latter group, what do you care? Appeals to future generations won't work on people who only care about themselves. They also won't work on people who o…

Maybe I'm not rich enough to get it, but let's say I do only care about me, and no one else. In the event of catastrophic climate collapse, sure, I could hypothetically escape on my evil villian billionaire yacht to Oceania, but even if I'm personally fine, my estate (as rich people call their houses) is going to be destroyed. My Miami beachfront condo is literally underwater, as is my Venice summer home, and NYC con…

I didn't really bring up rich vs not rich, because it's more about empathetic vs narcissistic or societal vs anti-social. The event of a catastrophic climate collapse that you describe is probably not going to happen in our lifetimes, so if you're of the anti-social mindset, what do you care what happens to the Earth or society at large, especially after you're gone? Some people aren't going to change their behavior for the benefit of people they'll never even meet (separated by space or time), let alone never care about.

Re: Get ready for many more record-shattering heatwaves

#32

Post by jfengel » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 7:42 PM UTC

dfxm12 wrote: post #21

newt_slowly wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ten years? Just think of 60 years from now, a time that would be expected to be within the natural lifespan of children born today. I don't know how people don't understand that we face, without exaggeration, an existential crisis.

There are different definitions of "we" there. Do you think of "we" as the human race or "we" as in yourself and your partner or maybe your immediate family? Not everyone thinks of "we" in the same way. If you're so narcissistic/nihilistic/whatever as to fall into the latter group, what do you care? Appeals to future generations won't work on people who only care about themselves. They also won't work on people who o…

I am actually one of those nihilists, in that I have no stake in the next generation and only a faint interest in "the good of humanity", but what I care about is the fact that climate change denialism is part of a constellation of anti-intellectualism that makes my life worse today, right now.

Climate change denialism has enormous overlap with the people who promote COVID denialism. Even before that crisis, they were responsible for creationism and anti-same-sex-marriage (which has since become legal without the world collapsing).

These aren't matters of opinion, values, or world-view. They're Just Plain Wrong. Nor am I talking about fringe opinions; these are political party platforms and talking points that candidates rely on to attract voters.

There are tons of other areas where I am quite certain they're wrong, but more importantly, they argue about them using the same poor forms that they use for climate change. They cherry-pick, they are manipulated by deliberate disinformation, and they place their own ignorance over knowledge.

That creates a hostile, toxic atmosphere in which there is no way for me to convince them, even on the things that are as conclusively scientific as it's possible for a thing to be. That makes it beyond impossible in areas where there might actually be room for legitimate disagreement.

So yeah, I care a lot about climate change, but not because I'll be alive, nor my direct descendants. The way we talk about climate change makes my life a lot worse, today. I believe that we've seen a deliberate inculcation of an anti-intellectual bent in the US that has become weaponized.

Re: Get ready for many more record-shattering heatwaves

#33

Post by tstrimple » Wed, Jul 28, 2021, 4:06 PM UTC

vidanay wrote: post #30

murat131 wrote: post #23

Societies globally are expected to collapse around 2040s-2050s and I hope that'll be the wake up call that won't be too late for the very few children of today who are going to survive it.

Society has been going to collapse in 50 years for the last 500 years.

Many societies have collapsed over the last 500 years.

Re: Get ready for many more record-shattering heatwaves

#34

Post by azth » Wed, Jul 28, 2021, 7:06 PM UTC

jfengel wrote: post #32

dfxm12 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are different definitions of "we" there. Do you think of "we" as the human race or "we" as in yourself and your partner or maybe your immediate family? Not everyone thinks of "we" in the same way. If you're so narcissistic/nihilistic/whatever as to fall into the latter group, what do you care? Appeals to future generations won't work on people who only care about themselves. They also won't work on people who o…

I am actually one of those nihilists, in that I have no stake in the next generation and only a faint interest in "the good of humanity", but what I care about is the fact that climate change denialism is part of a constellation of anti-intellectualism that makes my life worse today, right now. Climate change denialism has enormous overlap with the people who promote COVID denialism. Even before that crisis, they wer…

> anti-same-sex-marriage (which has since become legal without the world collapsing).

It doesn't happen overnight: https://www.kirkdurston.com/blog/unwin

I'm not a Christian either.