I don't like where we (humans) are right now. Although arguably much better then we are in the past.
1. AI is getting good fast, without sight of diminishing returns.
2. Carbon emissions is still not going down (though slowing).
I don't want to sound alaramist. But I feel this is the current 2 major risks the entire human species face. And I am young enough that I might see the consequences unfolding.
It's difficult to focuse on your life when there's literal life or death issues going around. Just venting.
9 months ago 路 馃憤 bavarianbarbarian
@haze Yeah, you'll definitely not get too far with "drop your standards of living" as a rallying cry. Whatever solutions we come up with will have to take into account the inequality of emissions between the classes; there's much less room for emissions cuts among the 90% than among the 10%. They'll also have to find a way to appeal to the working class majority. I recently read "Climate Change as Class War," which seemed to have some good ideas, though I'm not positioned to directly implement any of them. Generally, it may be possible to leverage increased labor militancy to start addressing emissions at the sites of production as part of labor demands. 路 9 months ago
@lykso That's true. But IMO there's more to it. People know CO2 is an issue now. But no one is ok with dropping their stanrds of living until we sort the power generation out. And steel, and cement, and agriculture. It feels very wrong to me as an engineer that people is expecting literal magic. Current goverment plans is simply "if we do all of these, we'll be fine-ish" without safety margin.
I think I need to get a psychiatrist. Sometimes I feel like a major economy crash is a solution. Everyone suffers, no consumption, no production, no carbon. But logically I know it's wrong. 路 9 months ago
@haze Do what you can, whatever feels good and right for you, but ultimately the problem can't be solved simply focusing on individual carbon footprints. We aren't in this position because your grandparents drove a car. We're in this position because oil executives chose to suppress the truth and buy our politicians, and because we exist in a system that currently allows that sort of thing. Any approach that does not focus on the production side of the problem is unlikely to make much difference, IMO. 路 9 months ago
@lykso
The way I see it, though, fixating on the stuff you can't influence doesn't do a whole lot of good.
This is what I'm debating myself now. The entire reason why we got to this point is exactly because making change is difficult and did not bother making enough of them. Me not doing at least the fair share is hypocritical and counterproductive.
But on the other hand, it doesn't matter if I'm the only one trying and overall makes almost to no difference. While I'm suffering. 路 9 months ago
Yeah, 2 is a huge problem. We might resolve it, but we're already at the point where we're gonna see huge disasters and high death tolls because of it. The right wing reaction, already underway, promises to be especially horrific. The way I see it, though, fixating on the stuff you can't influence doesn't do a whole lot of good. Do what you can while you can. If you really can't look away, then try reading some theory. Try to get your head around how one might help build the sort of mass movement the moment calls for.
Regarding 1, I think it could prove to be another problem unless we can find a way to end the capitalist hegemony. 路 9 months ago
I don't worry about Carbon since i learned about metabolism a long tima ago. Yet i do worry about the environment, toxic chemicals, etc.
Humans are hard to find amongst 'people'. Money and greed have made people to what they are today. I might write an article about this one day. 路 9 months ago
Bad for you being young, I'm too old to care about... 路 9 months ago