tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post4411560090128772980..comments2024-03-24T11:01:27.668-04:00Comments on Resource Insights: Should we care about the human future? If so, how much?Kurt Cobbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05330759091950742285noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-34423907330873065952012-04-15T01:49:19.800-04:002012-04-15T01:49:19.800-04:00@Kurt -
Just imagine yourself born 300 years earl...@Kurt - <br />Just imagine yourself born 300 years earlier than you were, and sitting around the fire trying to predict the technology that we have now. Ludicrous. Next imagine you are now in 2012 trying to predict the technology that will be available in 2312. Ludicrous to state that starships will be impossible then. They might consider the problem trivial, and debate the relative worth of ten different types they currently use.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-15233485949360886282012-04-15T01:36:13.297-04:002012-04-15T01:36:13.297-04:00@Dunc -
The problem is fuel, generation ships run...@Dunc - <br />The problem is fuel, generation ships run out of it and need a planet to grab some more from. You can't sweep up enough from the low-density hydrogen in interstellar space, the drag caused by the sucking is enough to slow and stop the ship. So you need a planet now and then.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-29473954438090356052012-04-13T05:01:07.094-04:002012-04-13T05:01:07.094-04:00In the 1970s and 1980s we often spoke of the need ...In the 1970s and 1980s we often spoke of the need to protect future generations. That terminology then mostly disappeared in the 1990s as it became more and more evident we are facing climate chaos within our own childrens' lifetimes. Then in the last decade, as extreme weather events dominated our news headlines it has dawned on us that we ourselves are in the firing line.<br /><br />We can forget about altruism and future generations, if there isn't an impulse to act now to defend ourselves then the game is already over.Chris Harrieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02370032392696620448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-43182225361375428212012-04-11T18:19:16.763-04:002012-04-11T18:19:16.763-04:00Who cares about the future? Immediate and short te...Who cares about the future? Immediate and short term profit is today's religion, and surpasses cycling's or any other sustainable activity's supposed benefit and well being. As told by oters before me, money should be a servant and has become the master, the god, the only bright future. What when nothing will be left to buy on this planet? Who cares of such a (supposed) distant future? Is the human species superior to the other ones, and is it able to surpass his short term possession instincts? The answer is so clear! Short term and future are not conciliable, and short term wins. Sorry to be so pessimistic.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-50706373083411438702012-04-10T07:25:48.289-04:002012-04-10T07:25:48.289-04:00"the distances would likely be so great that ..."the distances would likely be so great that even highly advance spaceships would still take so long to reach such planets that the chance of survival would be small"<br /><br />If you can build generation ships, why do you need planets at all? Building self-sustaining space habitats is almost certainly easier than colonising other planets.Duncnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-53889035492565220442012-04-08T23:48:29.620-04:002012-04-08T23:48:29.620-04:00(I didn't though). It is very strange to me th...(I didn't though). It is very strange to me that no one seems to care past 2100.Susan Kraemerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14842660669585256557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-43704472372476735652012-04-08T23:46:47.009-04:002012-04-08T23:46:47.009-04:00Didn't we used to care about 10,000 years into...Didn't we used to care about 10,000 years into the future. I distinctly remember as a child being very worried about humans 10,000 years from now stumbling on nuclear storage by accident and getting zapped. <br /><br />It seems that between the nuclear winter scares of the 50s and 60s and the very bad news we got on the climate in the 80s and 90s resulting in an equally (or more) terrifying scenario, somehow, we stopped caring longer than "till 2100"Susan Kraemerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14842660669585256557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-48884230682214227492012-04-08T19:18:56.097-04:002012-04-08T19:18:56.097-04:00On reflection I think this is a distraction, Kurt....On reflection I think this is a distraction, Kurt. <br /><br />We are a long way from ceasing actively destructive practices - activities that we know are hurting ourselves now, today. Poisoning and pillaging the oceans. Poisoning the water, land, and air of South and East Asia. Encouraging the expansion of the Sahara into Europe and western Asia, and re-creating the great American desert. Destroying the Amazon and other rainforests. All of these things will have effects within the lifetimes of most people now living.<br /><br />When we care enough about <i>ourselves</i> to change our ways, perhaps we can start to care about others as well. Until then, we should park your question in the "later" file.Greghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11939046017258198038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-19489819205557264162012-04-08T10:03:05.764-04:002012-04-08T10:03:05.764-04:00"the fossil record suggests that mammalian sp..."the fossil record suggests that mammalian species such as humans have an average lifespan of 2 million years... If we date humans back to the beginning of the entire genus of hominids at least 4 million years ago, then humans are essentially in evolutionary overtime."<br /><br />This is nonsense. It's suggesting that mammalian species all spring up out of nothing and then 2 million years later, die out. If this were the case, there would be no mammals on the Earth. The author seems to ignore the fact that mammals have been here for a hundred million years - that means that some mammal species have been successful for that long, evolving into different species as they needed to do so. Humans are the most successful of these. Our first direct mammalian ancestors were around a hundred million years ago; our first direct animal ancestors were around hundreds of millions of years before that. As a species, homo sapiens has had a short history, but the first homo sapiens did not spring up out of the ground, like magic: he or she had a mother and father who were a slightly different species.Ian Brett Cooperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11144195897514392433noreply@blogger.com