Hard-boiled atmosphere and the end of the world

[dorchadas]

It's probably not a good idea for me to read climate news right before bed.

I've since read some cogent critiques of the piece, pointing out its Eurocentrism and factual errors like the invocation of medieval stasis in the idea that for thousands of years, people would live mostly the same as their parents and grandparents did. This was the popular conception even at the time--see all those medieval paintings with Jesus and the disciples dressed like someone from medieval France--but it was never actually true. There were a lot of changes over that time, just none as visible from the modern age as the industrial or green revolutions.

There was also a good point about the wisdom of "The situation is bad and requires immediate action" vs. "Your descendants will ritually curse your names in the ruins of their ancestors' cities." The first is true, the second might be true, but encourages paralysis. If civilization is doomed, why bother trying to save it? Live in luxury now while it's still possible. Eat, drink, and be merry, etc. I'm definitely inclined more towards inevitable doom, but more in ScreamingInternally.jpg model than the conspicuous consumption model.

I could have written this last night around 1 a.m., but fortunately I've developed better bedtime discipline as I've gotten older and I just stayed in bed and kept trying to sleep.

I'm slowly making progress on re-linking all the photo embeds to their new hosting. I've done Darker than Black, all my video game reviews, and my Japan, Chicago, Translation, Warcraft, and Travel tags. Now I'm working on Fifty Weeks, Fifty Curries and then I'll get to the RPGs tag and that'll probably be the vast majority of everything necessary. I'll catch the last few photos when I find them.

Tonight is the next session of Warlords of the Mushroom Kingdom after a month hiatus due to conflicting schedules. We left off right before the protagonists and their hired mercenaries entered a cave system in pursuit of a group of necromancers. They've spent half-a-dozen sessions tracking down the source of the walking dead plague and following them to this cave system, and now the climactic battle happens against at least three necromancers and whatever else is down there. They're mostly uninjured but fatigued, having force-marched through the day to arrive before sundown, and while they have mounts the mercenaries were on foot. Who will win?

Comments

[dreamkist]

You know it's going to be good when it starts, "It is, I promise, worse than you think."

I don't understand why people don't care about this. I almost think a mass extinction would be good. Get rid of humans and let the planet save itself. That Great Filter theory is very interesting.

[dorchadas]

There are some other articles in response to that piece that indicate it's not as bad as indicated.

But I think a lot of it is just...what can I, as one man, do? I turn off all the lights in rooms we're not in, but compared to all the commercial properties with 24-hour lighting, that means nothing. I don't own a car, but that's because I live in one of the few places in the US where that's even practical. It takes collective action and it seems like an insurmountable problem, so it's hard to get people moving, and then nothing gets done.

(To say nothing of all the denialists out there...)

[st_chair]

I read the article while eating lunch (which included meat). Bon appetit~

People in Finland often joke about global warming, like how awesome it'd be to have real summers and mild winters. I think in reality, assuming we don't die of an ancient plague etc, the biggest change for us would be the climate refugees. Europe is already having a crisis with the current refugees. It's hard to imagine what it'd be like if entire countries became inhabitable and forced millions of people to migrate.

Luckily the current batch of teenagers have been raised with dystopia novels and movies. Might help them prepare for their future!

[dorchadas]

I am really not looking forward to future climate refugees. Like, the current refugee crisis is something like a couple million people? I can't imagine what it will be like when half the population of Bangladesh has to move.

We'll have to rely on those teenagers remembering that victories comes from the rag-tag band of heroes overcoming their personal differences and uniting to defeat all odds.

[tilmon]

The climate news is the most distressing news each day, followed by the extinction crisis. And then the ongoing political retrogression in the US. God, it's depressing.

How amazing that you are making progress on relinking. I'm impressed! No, really!

[dorchadas]

One might say that the news is a...basket of deplorables.



I'm impressed! No, really!

Thank you!

Though a lot of it was done during downtimes at work, so that helps my motivation to get it all done...