[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by Mathgod

There's a couple of reasons why your comment here really misses the mark.

First, you keep confusing genuine concern with nihilism. Despite me repeating over and over again that I reject doomerism and helplessness/hopelessness, you keep accusing me of it. Not really sure why.

Second, "fringe potential outcomes" is a misnomer. The reality is that there is a not-insignificant chance that we've underestimated the danger that climate change presents to us, and allowing the average global temperature to go much higher than 2 degrees C rise is a risk we can't afford to take. The political and social consequences of such rise could be just as devastating to various groups of people (and our species as a whole) as the direct climate effects themselves... possibly even more devastating. We're talking about unprecedented levels of migration and social upheaval, in a world where several nations are nuclear-armed. Never underestimate how hostile people can get when they feel like there are "invaders" that they believe are "destroying their way of life".

Think about this, if someone handed you a briefcase and said there's a 99% chance it is filled with money, but a 1% chance it contains a bomb that will go off as soon as you open it, would you guard against the so called "fringe potential outcome", or would you ignore it outright?

Even if very bad scenarios are deemed statistically not very likely to happen, we still need to do what we can to try and avoid them. Because after all, this planet is our one and only home; there are no mulligans here, no do-overs, no second chances. We have one and only one chance to get this right. There's no backup planet we can flee to if things go horribly wrong here.

My position is simply this: there needs to be more urgency - and a greater push toward developing better technology and getting to net zero - than we're currently seeing. We're not moving fast enough. Our priorities are not where they need to be.

I'm sorry if I've been unclear. I'm not accusing you of anything. You seem genuinely concerned about the same things I am and agree on the gravity of the situation. The small differentiation between our perspectives of one of pragmatism, not substance