The Earth stands on the brink of its sixth mass extinction and the fault is ours

[Orruar]

Originally Posted by Magikarp [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Climate change-centric grants are among the easiest to get funded currently.

That's a big problem. We end up with a lot of junk science in this area, which waters down the actual truth that we are slowly learning. People don't usually act at their most rational when panic hits. Just look at OPs posts for proof of this.

[Visual]

Are you saying we are all going to die some day

[Tasslehofp99]

Originally Posted by Visual [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Are you saying we are all going to die some day

[Slathar]

as long as kim kardashian is on television and america is #1 in the eyes of jesus i welcome climate change lizard men

[Whirled]

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[Tradesonred]

Im not over-panicking, people dont get how serious this is. When conservative groups like NASA claims we might wipe civilization out by 2050, people should listen.

This isnt some big storm you can just shelter from with a few stocked cans of beans...

---------

"Dr. Peter Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.

Mayor: What do you mean, "biblical"?

Dr Ray Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath of God type stuff.

Dr. Peter Venkman: Exactly.

Dr Ray Stantz: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!

Dr. Egon Spengler: Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes...

Winston Zeddemore: The dead rising from the grave!

Dr. Peter Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!

Mayor: All right, all right! I get the point!"

Were gonna have to cross the streams on that motherfucker

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[Orruar]

Originally Posted by Tradesonred [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Im not over-panicking, people dont get how serious this is. When conservative groups like NASA claims we might wipe civilization out by 2050, people should listen.

Wow, thanks for proving my point about junk science being believed by panicked people who then base their views on that. A cursory examination (< 5 minutes) of your claim turns up a few key facts you have wrong.

First, NASA didn't make the claim. University researchers who had a grant from NASA made the claim. The primary author is a PhD candidate for this field of study (though he does have a PhD in math, so he should get some credit).

Second, to make this prediction, they use a very simple model. Now, one could debate whether any model could ever be complex enough to accurately predict something as complex as human civilization. I won't start that debate, since nobody in their right mind would think this model is complex enough to achieve that goal.

HANDY is a 4-variable thought-experiment model for interaction of humans and nature.

Read that again and let it sink in. It's a thought experiment. And it attempts to extrapolate the future of mankind using a whole 4 variables. The authors don't even claim it's a realistic possibility, and reading into the model, it's not even very good for such a simple model. I'd have failed a course if I turned that in as a class project. But some sensationalist reporter read more into this shoddy study than was actually there and went for the click-bait title.

This is pretty much exactly what I was talking about when I said that such a rush to fund any and every environmental science research proposal leads to all of the best ideas being washed out by these shitty ones. In less-funded fields, generally only the better ideas get the funding and so you have higher overall quality.

[Tradesonred]

What about the subject of this thread though

[Orruar]

Originally Posted by Tradesonred [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

What about the subject of this thread though

When you say "fault is ours", I believe you. You are a big part of the problem. People believing in junk science will only do further damage our planet and hopefully those people will either stop being stupid or die off. The sooner we have people making rational decisions, the better.

[Whirled]

George, had some good words about this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W33HRc1A6c