Astronomy / Space NASA Accidentally Destroys NYC In Attempt To Save Denver (Thankfully It Was Just A Simulation)

[lysan]

@lysan
Imagine a world with no atm and credit cards, no communication, no fuel, no transportation, no water and as you mentioned no electricity. They all depend heavily on the Internet today. Water supply depends on electricity. Just the distribution of electricity going down would result in the power plants having to be shut down, since they need to get rid of the energy they generate. Shutting down a power plant is relatively simple. Hit the big red button. Getting it up and running again is more complicated and takes time.

Largely the provided communication could be down, however there are still means of communication, so even if a large part of society lacks communication some parts will still have it.
ATM and the monetary system will just return to bartering, not a big issue, just some adaptation is needed, of course a lot of people can't barter and will not make it, well not the end of the world if you look at the big picture.
@Morbad
Raise in temperatures is not a problem everywhere, and unless you cut all trees and plants nature will adjust. Where I live the average temperature is around 34C We use natural thermal aspiration to cool down the house and only use A/C when it's really hot outside.
Digging below 1 meter into the ground cools down the area and it's a constant temperature all year around. Our small vertical greenhouse is reusing all the water as it's very humid inside and nothing is escaping into the atmosphere, we produce more than enough fruits and vegetables for the 4 of us adults in the house. So it is possible to adapt and you don't need to be rich to do it. When we build this house, the land was almost just sand, today we got a very fertile soil and everything is recycled, we didn't do it becasue of political reasons, we did it because it was a smart thing to do.

 

[jasonbarron]

An overnight devastation of our global environment from a collision with an object is a no brainer.

The world being mostly uninhabitable in 12-20 years at our present rate is doom mongering at its absolute finest.

 

[Morbad]

Raise in temperatures is not a problem everywhere

The point is that the temperature itself doesn't need to be a problem everywhere to cause problems everywhere.

Worst case temperatures for the next 100 years where I am would be almost idyllic, but the people living here are almost certainly not going to be able to ignore the economic impact of production collapsing in large swaths of the world.

So it is possible to adapt and you don't need to be rich to do it.

Not in dense urban areas with a brackish water table a few meters below ones feet.

When we build this house, the land was almost just sand, today we got a very fertile soil and everything is recycled, we didn't do it becasue of political reasons, we did it because it was a smart thing to do.

Again, doesn't matter how good or effective your personal solution is, if you depend on the outside world in any way, or can't reliably escape from those that do.

Most people don't know or won't do the smart thing. Many have no real choice, struggling to survive as it is. Very few people have any land or real-estate of their own and even fewer will be able to reliably defend what they've got when enough of their desperate neighbors come to take it.

The world being mostly uninhabitable in 12-20 years at our present rate is doom mongering at its absolute finest.

I don't see any post implying anything remotely of the sort anywhere in this thread. Claims of such a post existing would seem to be the forum equivalent of doom mongering at it's absolute finest.

 

[jasonbarron]

No, I'd say once we migrated to the environment in this thread the definite impression I have is one of global calamity in the next few decades.

 

[Demascus]

An overnight devastation of our global environment from a collision with an object is a no brainer.

The world being mostly uninhabitable in 12-20 years at our present rate is doom mongering at its absolute finest.

Al Gore said most of the world would be under 20 feet of water by now. There is good business and money to be made in environmental fear mongering.

 

[Felix DiCestria]

Welcome to the 'crying wolf' problem...
Yes there are a number of doom mongering predictions, not necessarily in this thread but certainly more generally, which have the result of letting people bury their heads as the actual threat looms.
America might require a Pearl Harbour moment to get their **** together, and it's looking increasingly likely that this will take the form of the aquifers running dry. Rather a brutal wake up call but that would be situation as I see it.

 

[Chris Simon]

Al Gore said most of the world would be under 20 feet of water by now. There is good business and money to be made in environment fear mongering.

Well, at least this one thing is an absolute bogus, of course and I think he was called out on this right away and never repeated it.
There is enough ice in the polar regions to raise the ocean levels by about a meter. Maybe two if we count ALL the ice on the planet. After that, there literally isn't enough water on the planet to raise the levels any higher.

Naturally there is always the possibility of a 200km long ice comet hitting us, but in that case, "more water" will be our last problem.

 

[lysan]

The point is that the temperature itself doesn't need to be a problem everywhere to cause problems everywhere.

Worst case temperatures for the next 100 years where I am would be almost idyllic, but the people living here are almost certainly not going to be able to ignore the economic impact of production collapsing in large swaths of the world.



Not in dense urban areas with a brackish water table a few meters below ones feet.



Again, doesn't matter how good or effective your personal solution is, if you depend on the outside world in any way, or can't reliably escape from those that do.

Most people don't know or won't do the smart thing. Many have no real choice, struggling to survive as it is. Very few people have any land or real-estate of their own and even fewer will be able to reliably defend what they've got when enough of their desperate neighbors come to take it.



I don't see any post implying anything remotely of the sort anywhere in this thread. Claims of such a post existing would seem to be the forum equivalent of doom mongering at it's absolute finest.

Worst case temperatures for the next 100 years where I am would be almost idyllic, but the people living here are almost certainly not going to be able to ignore the economic impact of production collapsing in large swaths of the world.

Well they better get up from the TV and start make some changes

Not in dense urban areas with a brackish water table a few meters below ones feet.

Relocate, why live in an area where you can't live? and don't tell me they can't move, of course they can.

Again, doesn't matter how good or effective your personal solution is, if you depend on the outside world in any way, or can't reliably escape from those that do.

Most people don't know or won't do the smart thing. Many have no real choice, struggling to survive as it is. Very few people have any land or real-estate of their own and even fewer will be able to reliably defend what they've got when enough of their desperate neighbors come to take it.

What we did was not expensive, cost less than 20.000 pounds, and I'm surrounded by desperate neighbors, that's why we own guns and plenty of ammunition.

You see, I'm a realist, not an idealist, I leave that to priests and people who believe they can actually save anything.

 

[jasonbarron]

Well they better get up from the TV and start make some changes


Relocate, why live in an area where you can't live? and don't tell me they can't move, of course they can.



What we did was not expensive, cost less than 20.000 pounds, and I'm surrounded by desperate neighbors, that's why we own guns and plenty of ammunition.

You see, I'm a realist, not an idealist, I leave that to priests and people who believe they can actually save anything.

I like your style, lysan. Quite a bit, actually.

 

[WeComeInPeace]

The biggest problem that we face is that the World is developing exponentially. That goes for growth economy, population, depletion of nonrenwables and a lot more.

We also have a very limited intuitive understanding of the exponential function, and the changes we see are slow and gradual, so we adapt. However, you can stretch a rubber band to a certain limit before it snaps, and when the stretching is exponential, then things start going much faster than we would think.

The physicist Albert Bartlett used the following example:

Imagine a glass with one bacteria, that divides into two bacteria EDIT: every minute, and so on. Let's say that we start at 11 o'clock, and at 12 o'clock the glass is full of bacteria. First he asks:

At what time was the glas half full? (click on the blurred text to get the answer, but think first)

It was half full at 11:59, one minute to 12. Then all the bacteria divided into two, doubling their number, filling the half empty glass.

Then he asks,

If you were an average bacteria in the glass, at what time would you realize that you were running out of space?

Well, at 5 minutes to 12 the glass is only 1/32 full.

That is the exponential function in practice. As the economist Kenneth Boulding said: “Anyone who believes in indefinite growth of anything physical on a physically finite planet is either a madman or an economist.”

Think about that for a moment. That is the way the world is developing today. The idea that the next twenty years will be like the last 20 years is a misconception.

EDIT: Added "every minute"

 

[Manticore]

The biggest problem that we face is that the World is developing exponentially. That goes for growth economy, population, depletion of nonrenwables and a lot more.

We also have a very limited intuitive understanding of the exponential function, and the changes we see are slow and gradual, so we adapt. However, you can stretch a rubber band to a certain limit before it snaps, and when the stretching is exponential, then things start going much faster than we would think.

The physicist Albert Bartlett used the following example:

Imagine a glass with one bacteria, that divides into two bacteria, and so on. Let's say that we start at 11 o'clock, and at 12 o'clock the glass is full of bacteria. First he asks:

At what time was the glas half full? (click on the blurred text to get the answer, but think first)

It was half full at 11:59, one minute to 12. Then all the bacteria divided into two, doubling their number, filling the half empty glass.

Then he asks,

If you were an average bacteria in the glass, at what time would you realize that you were running out of space?

Well, at 5 minutes to 12 the glass is only 1/32 full.

That is the exponential function in practice. As the economist Kenneth Boulding said: “Anyone who believes in indefinite growth of anything physical on a physically finite planet is either a madman or an economist.”

Think about that for a moment. That is the way the world is developing today. The idea that the next twenty years will be like the last 20 years is a misconception.

Awesome comment... enough said!

 

[Morbad]

Well they better get up from the TV and start make some changes

Relocate, why live in an area where you can't live? and don't tell me they can't move, of course they can.

What we did was not expensive, cost less than 20.000 pounds

You see, I'm a realist

I'm a realist too.

However, I am also aware of the fact that there are more than five billion people on this planet that couldn't scrounge up 20k pounds if their lives depended on it; have little prospect of mobility, even as refugees; and sure aren't watching too much TV.

 

[lysan]

I like your style, lysan. Quite a bit, actually.

Well to quote my daughter, Dad the devil doesn't want you, and God is not finish tormenting you, so I keep dragging my feet down the long and dusty road...