Scientists call for 50% of the planet to be designated as protected areas by 2050

[Deleted]

Can you point to the majority of posts that have said anything like this? (majority since that would be representative)

posts : 3,7,13,20,25,28,29,33,38,39,43,45

mines 50 so ill stop there before i have to read more about culling the blacks, eugenics and sterilization.

they are either openly racist or dog whistly. 12 out 50 is pretty fucking bad even for these forums.

[Easo]

and you showed your limited understanding of Reality

Pray tell, which reality is that? The racist one?

[Shadowferal]

The Black Death is estimated to have killed 30–60% of Europe's total population. In total, the plague may have reduced the world population from an estimated 450 million down to 350–375 million in the 14th century. It took 200 years for the world population to recover to its previous level. The plague recurred as outbreaks in Europe until the 19th century.

Black Death Plague

Consequences of the Black Death

From the perspective of many of the survivors, however, the impact of the plague may have been ultimately favorable, as the massive reduction of the workforce meant their labor was suddenly in higher demand. R.H. Hilton has argued that those English peasants who survived found their situation to be much improved. For many Europeans, the 15th century was a golden age of prosperity and new opportunities. The land was plentiful, wages high, and serfdom had all but disappeared.
A century later, as population growth resumed, the lower classes again faced deprivation and famine.

huh...

[cubby]

At random. Dispassionate, fair to rich and poor alike. They called me a mad man. And what I predicted came to pass.

Thanos' solution was always bullshit. What gets me is that the Marvel genre is filled with nerds and geeks (like myself) and they fail to address the long term math of the problem/solution.

- - - Updated - - -

The Black Death is estimated to have killed 30–60% of Europe's total population. In total, the plague may have reduced the world population from an estimated 450 million down to 350–375 million in the 14th century. It took 200 years for the world population to recover to its previous level. The plague recurred as outbreaks in Europe until the 19th century.

Black Death Plague

Consequences of the Black Death

From the perspective of many of the survivors, however, the impact of the plague may have been ultimately favorable, as the massive reduction of the workforce meant their labor was suddenly in higher demand. R.H. Hilton has argued that those English peasants who survived found their situation to be much improved. For many Europeans, the 15th century was a golden age of prosperity and new opportunities. The land was plentiful, wages high, and serfdom had all but disappeared.
A century later, as population growth resumed, the lower classes again faced deprivation and famine.

huh...

That's interesting, aside from the fact they got their own math wrong, the idea that population decline from a pandemic will result in a surge of productivity, wage increase, etc, is a little 15th century thinking.

If we had a real pandemic the least that would happen is we'd fall another century behind in technology development. More than likely we'd see a greater percentage of people dying off, resulting in a further decline in our ability to recover as a species. And all the tech development that we are on the brink of would vanish, either from the thinkers dying or the funders dying. A pandemic also the very real possibility of causing a global war, on top of the disease/biological outbreak.

Plus, just for shits and giggles, we'd still be looking at an oncoming ecological disaster because the carbon count is already at the point of pushing a positive feedback loop from melting ice. And we'd have no tech to fix it, as it gets worse.

I will be the first to acknowledge that this is all just reasonable guesswork.

[Malikath]

My bet is that civilization will keep expanding into the far future until the natural ecosystem is a quaint idea that people will view through documentaries.

-snip-

technically cybertron is a natural ecosystem, albeit a non-organic one.
it's even an organism in itself, since it's the transformation of primus.

[Deleted]

Pray tell, which reality is that? The racist one?

reality is racism

ah well nothing surprises me anymore

[Scathbais]

Thankfully the United States doesn't subscribe to the views of the "global community".

[cubby]

At this rate it doesnt matter, we either take to the stars or continue killing the planet until we get to a point where its uninhabitable for us.

Taking to the stars won't alleviate the continued damage to the planet. The tech we develop to get to the stars might help reverse the damage. But no matter, we have to fix the planet. Interstellar space won't be an option if we lose the planet's usefulness.

[derpkitteh]

My bet is that civilization will keep expanding into the far future until the natural ecosystem is a quaint idea that people will view through documentaries.

[IMG]http://static.diary.ru/userdir/6/3/6/3/636301/85132557.jpg[IMG]

i actually really hope that we one day have a city planet like coruscant. but built on a dead world made habitable by our technology, not at the sacrifice of a living world.

but yeah, i like this idea. i don't really care for city living myself, but i would rather preserve what we have.

[Malikath]

i actually really hope that we one day have a city planet like coruscant. but built on a dead world made habitable by our technology, not at the sacrifice of a living world.

but yeah, i like this idea. i don't really care for city living myself, but i would rather preserve what we have.

mars is perfect for a city-planet.

[Easo]

reality is racism

ah well nothing surprises me anymore

If you honestly think that problems are caused simply because an ethnic group "fucks like rabbits", you are racist.

[Techno-Druid]

Thankfully the United States doesn't subscribe to the views of the "global community".

Sure we do...

[Beloren]

Next they'll be calling for selectively population culling...

Note how many people actually don't outright disagree with this, and even consider this as some sort of measure that perhaps should be taken. This is very alarming, and is the sort of thing that leads to horrific acts beyond description.

[cubby]

Your likely correct, I'm wondering how long we really have, the state of affairs is pretty dire and doesnt show signs of improving on any meaningful scale.

That's a really good question. I feel like at some point, we'll have both the political/societal willfulness and the tech to get it done.

[cubby]

That's called war, and we need another really big one soon.

Interesting idea. A large-scale global war would certainly thin out the population. It would most likely go nuclear. That would be the end of us for centuries, possibly forever.

No thanks.

[cubby]

I highly doubt it would be nearly as dire as people make it out to be. Maybe 75% of us would die, but that would be a good start.

The kind of population loss would push us back a century in tech development. We'd still have the environment collapsing because of positive feedback loops, and most of the planet might be uninhabitable.

But I'm sure there would be some perks.

[Shadowferal]

As long as medical tech is still available...

[cubby]

As long as medical tech is still available...

It's possible that pockets of technology would survive and be available. It would depend on how far and deep we were into nanotech and nanoreplicators when the devastation occurs. At some point in our technological development, with enough reasonable energy, any area could become self sufficient. A solid 3D printer could push out whatever you need to build humanity back up, and a nanoprinter would be able to produce food, or at least the means to produce food.

And nanoprinters at some early point will be able to print new printers, if that makes sense, so you'd be set. So long as energy was available. Which solar or wind should be available, depending on how the global war played out.

[Shadowferal]

Nuclear winter would probably help combat a lot of the temperature rise, and maybe it would even heal a lot of the damage we've done. Super-volcanoes have erupted throughout Earth's history, and they didn't destroy the planet.

More importantly the last supervolcano eruption 630k years ago didn't wipe out humanity.
Of course, it didn't exactly knock us back to the Stone Age either...being we were already there anyway.

[cubby]

Nuclear winter would probably help combat a lot of the temperature rise, and maybe it would even heal a lot of the damage we've done. Super-volcanoes have erupted throughout Earth's history, and they didn't destroy the planet.

Unfortunately, no. I'm getting into areas where I don't have the science to get the full picture, but it's my understanding that the two would move along simultaneously and exasperate the devastation of the planet.

@Endus is a resident expert in this field. Perhaps he could chime in.