Well first of all let me begin by saying I enjoyed reading about a wise druid explaining all the structural problems of the empire to Marcus Aurelius.
My thoughts then drifted to your post about renewables being a new butterfly. Our current efforts to generate renewable energy are making grid management even more complicated. But what if the future involves having electricty in the daytime in summer instead of all the time. We'd certainly be living more in tune with the natural cycles of nature and it would make a huge difference how far away you are from the equator.
It's also important to remember the changes we have set in motion are going to play out for a very long time especially the changes in climate. The collapse of our own system could simply be one of many collapses until we reach some sort of steady state which could be rather primative.
At this point, we still (probably) have a choice. Once conditions decay past the point where (several, two is one & one is none) viable, self supporting human colonies can be established off the surface of the earth, the window closes and our species lasts only as long as local conditions allow.
Any geologist could tell you of multiple incidents where local conditions on earth have changed rather drastically and quite suddenly, leading to over 50% of all multicellular life forms going extinct, several times that we know of, 90% of species and THEIR WHOLE FAMILIES of species disappeared from the fossil records virtually at once. We are not "special", if the environment goes, we can go too.
My feelings on off earth colonies is no matter how bad Earth gets it will still be more viable to survive here than Mars. Any advanced technology required to live on Mars can also be applied on Earth with the added bonus of having primitive technology to fall back on. So for example it would be very expensive and challenging to set up a colony on Antarctica but would Mars really be better?
Some of the superrich are buying up land in New Zealand which is certainly habitable but could be an attractive target for invasion.
We certainly run the risk of extinction and the only consolation from previous mass extinctions is life has eventually rebounded and come back stronger.
But that life which rebounds ain't gonna be US. And the many centuries in development brain candy which many of us believe to matter about as much as our genetic heritage will go away when we do. So no, not considering that philosophical long view "planet will be fine" really relevant to which oligarch tool I might feel an existential need to grease today.
Well first of all let me begin by saying I enjoyed reading about a wise druid explaining all the structural problems of the empire to Marcus Aurelius.
My thoughts then drifted to your post about renewables being a new butterfly. Our current efforts to generate renewable energy are making grid management even more complicated. But what if the future involves having electricty in the daytime in summer instead of all the time. We'd certainly be living more in tune with the natural cycles of nature and it would make a huge difference how far away you are from the equator.
It's also important to remember the changes we have set in motion are going to play out for a very long time especially the changes in climate. The collapse of our own system could simply be one of many collapses until we reach some sort of steady state which could be rather primative.
At this point, we still (probably) have a choice. Once conditions decay past the point where (several, two is one & one is none) viable, self supporting human colonies can be established off the surface of the earth, the window closes and our species lasts only as long as local conditions allow.
Any geologist could tell you of multiple incidents where local conditions on earth have changed rather drastically and quite suddenly, leading to over 50% of all multicellular life forms going extinct, several times that we know of, 90% of species and THEIR WHOLE FAMILIES of species disappeared from the fossil records virtually at once. We are not "special", if the environment goes, we can go too.
My feelings on off earth colonies is no matter how bad Earth gets it will still be more viable to survive here than Mars. Any advanced technology required to live on Mars can also be applied on Earth with the added bonus of having primitive technology to fall back on. So for example it would be very expensive and challenging to set up a colony on Antarctica but would Mars really be better?
Some of the superrich are buying up land in New Zealand which is certainly habitable but could be an attractive target for invasion.
We certainly run the risk of extinction and the only consolation from previous mass extinctions is life has eventually rebounded and come back stronger.
But that life which rebounds ain't gonna be US. And the many centuries in development brain candy which many of us believe to matter about as much as our genetic heritage will go away when we do. So no, not considering that philosophical long view "planet will be fine" really relevant to which oligarch tool I might feel an existential need to grease today.