The Fermi Paradox says we should have contacted alien life by now
The Great Filter says we haven't because a civilization's capacity for self-destruction increases to certainty over time
I thought for us it would be an exotic technology or scientific discovery that instantly destroys on a large scale
Nope. Far more depressing and mundane
We simply watched ourselves destroy our climate and lacked the will to do anything about it because someone was making money off it
@benroyce yeah, such interesting philosophical questions.
Is there a size limit to a functional representative society. At some point, this small percent of the group is big enough to sustain itself and drifts away. Even a cohesive society seems destined eventually to splinter.
Oh, and there's nukes lying around 😳
That's the solution! Nuke the Earth and plunge us into Nuclear winter!
I'm joking, but I'm crying inside, because we may do it anyway
(And no, armchair scientists, that will not solve the CO2 problem)
@benroyce Turns out that "capitalism" is the Great Filter.
Once we invented a system to justify and reinforce greed, destruction was guaranteed.
The aliens have been watching us. Decided. "not a place to visit". Maybe we can sell them on "disaster tourism".
@benroyce oh yeah, this is probably a common reason for the Fermi Paradox, "Greed"
It's a big old lonely universe 😔
@benroyce This is the question we should all be asking ourselves: "Everyone was at the end of their rope, asking: what the fuck do we have to do to get through to people how bad this really is?”
Climate, or more accurately our ecosystem, needs to be the world's religion and our profit/livelihoods, somehow, at least for now. We need to be writing more effective sermons and keener business plans.
what are you talking about?
whatever
more important: did you see this funny meme on tiktok?
(/s)
@benroyce My kid is 19. I totally just blew past this like I heard it this morning on the way to school.
What our kids won't forgive us for is failing to teach them how to survive. They've already started. It's how they cope. We need to grab the kids whose parents are forcing them to do extracurriculars and model for them what effectiveness looks like. School volunteerism is free access, and there's a school within biking distance of most of us.
Let's turn the Fermi Paradox inside out:
The life forms on this planet are calling. We're just not answering the phone. We're just destroying their habitat and eating them, too.
Standing outside a while back, watching ISS cross the sky. Had a moment of horrible insight - ISS is not some stepping stone to the stars.
It's a warmup exercise for living on a ruined planet, of airlocks and hard radiation, recycling our own piss.
And the children will sing songs about the tigers. There won't be any, of course.
Extinction can't come soon enough for the human race.
Mankind's greatest talent has always been lying and making excuses for the horrible things he does.
Those post-apocalypse stories are always wrong. We just took 7 million COVID casualties and we're still pretending and shucking and jiving about it all.
Extinction awaits. I hope the primates hold out until we're gone.
@tuban_muzuru nah. even if we nuke everything and kill the climate humanity will carry on. a miserable neolithic existence with increased cancer rates and mass death by occasional heat wave and massive floods. but carry on we will
Heck, we already passed this milestone: science says at one point we got bottled down to maybe only 40 breeding pairs of humans due to the supervolcano Toba. now look at us
Hard to say. I remember explaining climate change to my kids - they had a spinning top, set it in motion. As it began to wobble, I said "That's kinda where we are on this planet."
Then the top fell over and rolled around. "This is the part we can't predict, but we know, sure as hell, that it's coming. This is in your future."
@benroyce I know it’s tempting, and venting is important, but doomerism is also catching.
Do what you can, shout about what you can’t, look after yourself (within your sustainable limits). Etc.
@benroyce I found myself in a lot of doom-and-gloom recently due to climate change and how miserable global inaction makes me feel. Sought out a book that looks at our progress of reversing climate change in a more positive light while not denying the obvious crisis.
Did make me feel a lot less depressed, thoroughly recommend.
@benroyce why just have one civilisation ending cause when you can have two….
"I thought for us it would be an exotic technology or scientific discovery that instantly destroys on a large scale"
Ice-nine. You're channeling Vonnegut.
As bad as the climate crisis is, we have not yet missed the opportunity to go out with a bang!
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