[ExI] moral issues

Eugen Leitl eugen at leitl.org
Sun Dec 26 12:01:11 UTC 2010


On Sat, Dec 25, 2010 at 03:13:52PM -0700, Jeff Davis wrote:

> I believe anthropogenic global warming is real, but not at all dire,
> and that the hysteria, and the cultural polarization is entirely
> political.  The sky is not falling.

Given the documented amplitude of spontaneous excursions in the paleoclimate
record we know it can get nasty, even without anthropogenic forcing.
We're definitely pushing a lot. Will the system get into a nonlinear
excursion we're yet lacking muscle to stop? Quite possibly.

We might not care that much, at first,but about two billions 
subsistence farmers faced with multiple crop failures in a row 
will look starvation right in the face. Many will die. Others 
will move away in desperation. Desperate people pushing in
make a recipe for wars. Wars among states with nuclear weapons 
tend to get rather messy. 

Another issue that we're already up to our ears in problems, and
we definitely do not need another. Like a global nuclear exchange,
for instance. Tends to ruin your whole day.

And let's face it, running a global civilisation on dead dinos,
which have also peaked is not particularly smart. I mean, we'll
burn them all of them we can get at, but just because we're lazy.
And greedy. And stupid.



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