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(EcoWatch)   Physicists say there's a 90 percent chance that we're headed for a massive social collapse within several decades. GO AWAY I'M BATIN'   (ecowatch.com) divider line
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    More: Obvious, Air pollution, World population, National Rifle Association, Black people, Deforestation, Black communities, study shows, plastic industry  
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4803 clicks; posted to Main » and Politics » on 09 Aug 2020 at 8:45 AM (24 weeks ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



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Mister Pleco
2020-08-09 9:04:52 AM  
22 votes:
Though there's only a 10% chance that.

Fark user imageView Full Size
 
Sin'sHero [TotalFark]
2020-08-09 8:51:16 AM  
17 votes:
Physics is a Social Science, now?

Damn Socialisms, gettin' everywhere!
 
Iowa1984
2020-08-09 9:21:09 AM  
14 votes:

joker420: If we could find a way to reduce the population by 50% we would be ok.


Nice try, Thanos.
 
MythDragon
2020-08-09 9:21:46 AM  
10 votes:

kittyhas1000legs: I keep telling the wife we need to get some land, preferably with a little bit of water on it. Grow what we can, can what we grow, and avoid people. Have enough solar/wind to be off grid if need be.


Don't worry, when the ice sheets finish melting, most land will have some water on it.
i.pinimg.comView Full Size
 
Abox
2020-08-09 9:03:11 AM  
8 votes:
What do ichthyologists think about it
 
Madman drummers bummers [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2020-08-09 9:05:23 AM  
7 votes:
Gloom, despair, and agony on me.
 
SpaceMonkey-66 [TotalFark]
2020-08-09 9:13:52 AM  
6 votes:
vignette.wikia.nocookie.netView Full Size


Soon........
 
Salmon [TotalFark]
2020-08-09 9:13:29 AM  
6 votes:
I can't wait.

After 20 years in IT I can't wait to re-emerge as Salmon the Conquerer, harem et al.
 
kittyhas1000legs
2020-08-09 9:02:59 AM  
6 votes:
I keep telling the wife we need to get some land, preferably with a little bit of water on it. Grow what we can, can what we grow, and avoid people. Have enough solar/wind to be off grid if need be.
 
August11 [TotalFark]
2020-08-09 8:06:52 AM  
6 votes:
The Bronze Age is holding on line one, Subby.
 
Schlubbe [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2020-08-09 10:27:54 AM  
5 votes:
Coincidentally, Socialists say there's a 90% chance we're headed for a massive physical collapse within several decades.

Which team is right? Place your bets, and tune in live each night for play-by-play coverage of the EARTHBOWL (sponsored by Berkshire Hathaway)
 
joker420
2020-08-09 9:25:57 AM  
4 votes:

mr-b: joker420: If we could find a way to reduce the population by 50% we would be ok.

America leaving would only be 5% of the population but would save 24% of the resources. So you only need 30% total to achieve your goals.


Lol, stay in school.
 
Mouser
2020-08-09 9:12:34 AM  
4 votes:

joker420: If we could find a way to reduce the population by 50% we would be ok.


You first.
 
1funguy
2020-08-09 9:42:36 AM  
3 votes:
Yes, but will we still be able to get Klondike Bars?
Societal collapse is much worse without Klondike Bars. I've seen it.
 
mr-b
2020-08-09 9:13:16 AM  
3 votes:
I just want to point out that the end of America and Capitalism in not necessarily Armageddon.

Certainly the collapse of America ( who uses 24% of the world's resources) will buy more time for the remaining countries. Add in the 2 billion or so that will die in the coming years due to the decreased food production from America, the plague and ongoing wars and you'll add more time still.

Get rid of the bottom-line profit driven capitalism that has raped the planet for the last 75 years and we might be fine for a while.
 
aagrajag
2020-08-09 9:11:23 AM  
3 votes:

kyleaugustus: AsparagusFTW: Populations can only grow as there are resources for the survival of that specie. If there is an overabundance of resources, they thrive and over populate. When there is too few resources, they die off or stop baby makin'. There is a natiral equilibrium that humans have vastly been over on, the pendelum has to swing in the other direction for awhile.

Psst!  Your Malthus is showing.


Malthus was dead-on right. He was just off by a few years due to the industrial revolution.
 
joker420
2020-08-09 9:09:07 AM  
3 votes:
If we could find a way to reduce the population by 50% we would be ok.
 
Social Justice Warlock
2020-08-09 6:38:31 PM  
2 votes:

johnny_vegas: hoyt clagwell: orbister: neongoats: Because physicists are you ask about the causes of societal collapse?

Physicists are the only group more likely than computer scientists to think they have perfect understanding of every other discipline. Perhaps it's and ASD thing or perhaps it's just arrogance.

Physics is the study of everything
Chemistry is a small subset of physics
Biology is a small subset of chemistry
Almost every other discipline is a tiny subset of biology

/Not a physicist
//Without physical laws, chemistry can't happen
///Without chemistry life itself is impossible
////Without biology, the other disciplines are irrelevant

[imgs.xkcd.com image 740x308]

/obligatory


Fark user imageView Full Size
 
SoundOfOneHandWanking [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2020-08-09 1:50:59 PM  
2 votes:
I checked, the frog I'm sitting next to says the water's fine.
 
powhound
2020-08-09 11:41:22 AM  
2 votes:

joker420: mr-b: joker420: If we could find a way to reduce the population by 50% we would be ok.

America leaving would only be 5% of the population but would save 24% of the resources. So you only need 30% total to achieve your goals.

Lol, stay in school.


Not to sound critical, but I have you farkied as the person who claims that car air filters protect other cars.
 
stuffy
2020-08-09 11:12:50 AM  
2 votes:
th.bing.comView Full Size

Not my problem.
 
MycroftHolmes
2020-08-09 10:51:00 AM  
2 votes:
Are these scientists proposing the formation of a foundation to go to a remote location and preserve human knowledge?
 
talkertopc
2020-08-09 10:46:02 AM  
2 votes:
I'd comment about a physicist talking about social issue but I have to call a dentist about fixing my oven.
 
BlippityBleep [TotalFark]
2020-08-09 10:22:20 AM  
2 votes:
Malthusianism- talking about this doom and gloom since 1798.
 
DammitIForgotMyLogin [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2020-08-09 9:55:13 AM  
2 votes:
It feels like this could make the foundation of a really excellent book.
 
Durboloid
2020-08-09 9:52:21 AM  
2 votes:
For the last couple of years I've been saying gloomy things like "It's not like I'll ever have to pay for any of it, the whole thing's going to collapse soon."  whenever I use a credit card.   Not because I'm psychic, but because I'm severely and chronically depressed.   

But damned if I don't look like a psychic now!  I wonder if any of those cashiers are thinking "Okay, that was creepy."

Wait, I get that all the time regardless of what I actually say.
 
g.fro
2020-08-09 9:37:58 AM  
2 votes:

Iowa1984: joker420: If we could find a way to reduce the population by 50% we would be ok.

Nice try, Thanos.


Thanos was a moron. Even if his plan worked like he thought it would, he would just have to do it again in thirty years.
 
g.fro
2020-08-09 9:19:21 AM  
2 votes:

aagrajag: kyleaugustus: AsparagusFTW: Populations can only grow as there are resources for the survival of that specie. If there is an overabundance of resources, they thrive and over populate. When there is too few resources, they die off or stop baby makin'. There is a natiral equilibrium that humans have vastly been over on, the pendelum has to swing in the other direction for awhile.

Psst!  Your Malthus is showing.

Malthus was dead-on right. He was just off by a few years due to the industrial revolution.


For a guy who was dead on right, he sure has a long track record of not being right yet.
 
mr-b
2020-08-09 5:42:10 PM  
1 vote:

cryinoutloud: mr-b: I just want to point out that the end of America and Capitalism in not necessarily Armageddon.
Certainly the collapse of America ( who uses 24% of the world's resources) will buy more time for the remaining countries. Add in the 2 billion or so that will die in the coming years due to the decreased food production from America, the plague and ongoing wars and you'll add more time still.
Get rid of the bottom-line profit driven capitalism that has raped the planet for the last 75 years and we might be fine for a while.

[Fark user image 608x180]


That's amazing.. could I have the source please?
 
Z-clipped [TotalFark]
2020-08-09 2:24:01 PM  
1 vote:
This thread reminds me of the threads about tiny "advances" in the Alcubierre metric.

Physicists: this is fun to think about, but seriously tho, warp drive is never gonna happen.
Wishful Thinkers: human spirit!/ingenuity!/profit motive!
Physicists: is the human spirit made of exotic matter that can't exist? No?  I rest my case.
Wishful Thinkers: it's still real to me dammit!
 
Z-clipped [TotalFark]
2020-08-09 2:11:12 PM  
1 vote:

ObscureNameHere: waxbeans: Decades seems very optimistic.
I say we all, humanity, eats itself alive in the next nine years.

Of course! Just like how we all ran out of oil in 70's, just as The Experts*tm predicted.

/oh wait....


Yeah, Peak Oil was totally a hoax, man.

resilience.orgView Full Size


resilience.orgView Full Size
 
Acravius
2020-08-09 2:11:09 PM  
1 vote:
It isn't expensive. It just is hard because tradition and culture and identity get in the way. A full transition to an electricity based energy US infrastructure would cost 40 dollars a month for 150 million households over 10 years or ~$5000.00. During that time 100 million electric vehicles could be produced, and charging infrastructure could be installed. Our global economy was 87 Trillion last year. Even during the Pandemic the world economy is still expected to reach 60 Trillion this year. If we were to expend this capacity to a vertically oriented society, with 100 cubic mile vertical farms feeding 40,000 person cities, we'd only need 200000, of these set up, along the structures of I-5, I-55, & 1-95, to consolidate humanity to 45,000 square miles.
No killing, no starvation, no shortages.
We would be able move everyone over the 10 years, easily because prepandemic levels of travel already were moving the entire population of the planet every year. (19 million a day) by air travel alone.
Today we have the capacity to reverse everything mankind has done badly across the entire planet, we just have to  consolidate and get out of the biosphere's way, for 2 or 3 generations ~60 years or so.
Can humanity make this change?

So far Magic 8-ball suggests: not likely.
 
OlderGuy [recently expired TotalFark]
2020-08-09 1:41:29 PM  
1 vote:

g.fro: khatores: Catlenfell: The States were colonies once, and might be colonized again.
China "liberates" the west coast.  East coast remains it's own country or asks to join the EU. Northern states join Canada.  South west form an alliance with Mexico.  Deep south form a theocracy.  Middle of the country is a battle ground over farm land.

What does Florida do? Reenact The Purge, but every day of the year?

Sink into the Gulf?


Probably so... Bugs was seen heading that way with a saw.... or just finish becoming a big sinkhole..
 
The Cab Guy
2020-08-09 12:51:35 PM  
1 vote:

Abox: What do ichthyologists think about it

They fight, they bite,
They bite and fight and bite,
Fight fight fight, bite bite bite,
The Ichthyologists Show!
 
OlderGuy [recently expired TotalFark]
2020-08-09 12:47:39 PM  
1 vote:

Photoshop This: FTFA: "While the extent of human contribution to the greenhouse effect and temperature changes is still a matter of discussion..."

No.
No it's farking not.
Humans are 100% responsible for burning fossil fuels and creating the fastest greenhouse effect in millions of years. As someone pointed out above, elected officials, even the ones who want to help fix the problem, are bound by a contract to make life good for us, but only for four or 8 years at a time. No politician is going to do massively unpopular things like ban the entire fossil fuel industry, for example, when they're facing a reelection in a few years. Someone will make a half-assed attempt at mitigation eventually, but until then, start learning how to live off the grid. Adaptation is how us millennials and Gen Z kids are going to survive.


Lets drop that percentage a bit.... nature did her own burning, a significant amount..  lightning beats a bic for starting forest fires, and volcanoes had a major contribution to the effort.. with lower populations and much denser forests, it really wasn't a problem then.. manageable... then came the industrial age and the population went up, and up, and up... gotta have that energy !  That,s where we lost it..  Nuke energy, handled properly, could have been great, but politics and greed screwed the pooch there, assisted by NIMBY.   There is the ultimate issue, and it won't go away until we do,   Self government was a great experiment, but it has ultimately proven that humans are incapable of doing that.   Companies don't work without the boss running the show, and Nations are big companies.   We lost because of no self discipline and no self respect.  Better luck next time around.
 
Mad_Radhu
2020-08-09 12:08:35 PM  
1 vote:
Sounds like someone needs to set up a Foundation. Or two.
 
AcneVulgaris
2020-08-09 11:47:39 AM  
1 vote:

g.fro: Iowa1984: joker420: If we could find a way to reduce the population by 50% we would be ok.

Nice try, Thanos.

Thanos was a moron. Even if his plan worked like he thought it would, he would just have to do it again in thirty years.


He shoulda been snapping like a beatnic at a jaz gig.
 
orbister
2020-08-09 11:25:16 AM  
1 vote:

macadamnut: Not much is natural about human society.


Everything about human society, from iPads to Chinese concentration camps, is entirely and wholly natural. What else could it be?
 
Photoshop This
2020-08-09 11:01:20 AM  
1 vote:
FTFA: "While the extent of human contribution to the greenhouse effect and temperature changes is still a matter of discussion..."

No.
No it's farking not.
Humans are 100% responsible for burning fossil fuels and creating the fastest greenhouse effect in millions of years. As someone pointed out above, elected officials, even the ones who want to help fix the problem, are bound by a contract to make life good for us, but only for four or 8 years at a time. No politician is going to do massively unpopular things like ban the entire fossil fuel industry, for example, when they're facing a reelection in a few years. Someone will make a half-assed attempt at mitigation eventually, but until then, start learning how to live off the grid. Adaptation is how us millennials and Gen Z kids are going to survive.
 
OlderGuy [recently expired TotalFark]
2020-08-09 10:51:38 AM  
1 vote:

rcain: shiat-tier repeat of the article from a couple weeks ago

They predict 40 years out or more. Honestly, I think it's going to be much sooner than that. More like 20 years

http://web.sonoma.edu/users/s/swijtink​/teaching/philosophy_200/pentagon_wors​t_case_study.htm


Not a bad guess...  considering the trends in place, and the fact that too many find laws to be 'inconvenient', and thus ignored, America appears to be regressing to the wild west phase, where the gunslinger rules, minus the showdown phase.. shoot first, just because.. government employees, who were hired to help the people, now help themselves  and ignore the people.. not all, but way too many.. most of congress is too busy 'getting theirs', while it is still there to get, and at this rate, it won't be there much longer.  China saw a way to cut down the competition in their quest to rule the world, and it,s working..  Russia is hanging around to get as much of the spoils as they can, and we are destroying the history we used to learn from...
   My guess, based on plentiful visible evidence, points to 2035-2040  for the grand finale..  and we are doing it to ourselves..  Whether we go out in a blaze of nuclear glory is debatable, but definitely an option, unless China gains control of them first, or Russia opts for the EMP strategy first.   With our dependence on cell phones and all transportation dependent on electronics, we will be back to the stone age in a flash and a bang... comes from putting all the eggs in one basket...   China and Russia will do fine, as they have one person running the show, and have control of their populace.. We will only accept the leader we want, and nobody controls the populace...  United we stood, but we are not united : therefore, we fall... Yippie Kay Yay, Motherfarkers.

PS... Lootie is waiting in the wings.
 
johnny_vegas [TotalFark]
2020-08-09 10:31:56 AM  
1 vote:
imgs.xkcd.comView Full Size
 
mrinfoguy
2020-08-09 10:27:34 AM  
1 vote:

towatchoverme: Nothing of value will be lost at this point.


Are you eyeing that bath tub, a bottle of vodka and a razor?

Good ideas need a pioneer..
 
MizzouFTW
2020-08-09 10:23:59 AM  
1 vote:
I don't forsee America lasting the next 10 years to be honest.

If you bring me gifts and praises now I will let you stay on my farm when things get bad but its BYOB and I'm gonna hit on your wife
 
on the road
2020-08-09 9:50:25 AM  
1 vote:
"Physicists say . . . "

Well, they're physicists.  How can they can be wrong?
 
towatchoverme
2020-08-09 9:45:15 AM  
1 vote:
Nothing of value will be lost at this point.
 
ObscureNameHere
2020-08-09 9:43:59 AM  
1 vote:

waxbeans: Decades seems very optimistic.
I say we all, humanity, eats itself alive in the next nine years.


Of course! Just like how we all ran out of oil in 70's, just as The Experts*tm predicted.

/oh wait....
 
waxbeans [TotalFark]
2020-08-09 9:14:25 AM  
1 vote:
Decades seems very optimistic.
I say we all, humanity, eats itself alive in the next nine years.
 
Hector_Lemans
2020-08-09 9:02:59 AM  
1 vote:

durbnpoisn: Like I pointed out in the Ice Sheet thread yesterday...  No one in any position to do anything about this will do anything at all.  Because it is happening too slowly.

Everything is about the bottom line of the spreadsheet for this quarter.  Preventative measures are costly right now - in THIS quarter.  They can't abide that...  And neither will the stockholders.  The cost of mitigating disasters as they arise, is a variable expense that can be accounted for and addressed on the fly.  And it might be years between each of those episodes.

So from a purely business and competitive standpoint, there is no incentive for them to take action.

Yay capitalism!


This is somewhat of a tangent but what you're getting at is what has pissed me off so much about Elon Musk's response to this epidemic. He of all people should know about thinking long-term and problems that will take decades or even centuries to fully develop. Hello, asteroid impacts? Overpopulation? Sustainable energy? And what does he do when a pandemic come along? He first says everyone is overreacting and then when it becomes far worse than he anticipate, he goes the Idiocracy route and starts spreading conspiracy theories about how most people who test positive don't have the virus and kids are basically immune.
 
Pants full of macaroni!! [BareFark]
2020-08-09 8:57:50 AM  
1 vote:
We're in the middle of it now, case you hadn't noticed.....
 
neongoats [TotalFark]
2020-08-09 8:54:11 AM  
1 vote:
Because physicists are you ask about the causes of societal collapse?
 
durbnpoisn [TotalFark]
2020-08-09 8:51:37 AM  
1 vote:
Like I pointed out in the Ice Sheet thread yesterday...  No one in any position to do anything about this will do anything at all.  Because it is happening too slowly.

Everything is about the bottom line of the spreadsheet for this quarter.  Preventative measures are costly right now - in THIS quarter.  They can't abide that...  And neither will the stockholders.  The cost of mitigating disasters as they arise, is a variable expense that can be accounted for and addressed on the fly.  And it might be years between each of those episodes.

So from a purely business and competitive standpoint, there is no incentive for them to take action.

Yay capitalism!
 
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