Re:Inventory of CO2 available for terraforming Mars
by stouset on Monday July 30, 2018 @07:40PM
(#17649254)
I think at the point where you're talking about saving fewer than hundreds of thousands of people out of billions (<= 0.01%), it's functionally an extinction-level event for humanity.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Inventory of CO2 available for terraforming Mars
by everdev on Tuesday July 31, 2018 @01:12AM
(#17650691)
Extinction = 0.
Species can recover even from only a few mating pairs.
It would be catastrophic though.
Re:Inventory of CO2 available for terraforming Mars
by stouset on Tuesday July 31, 2018 @03:06PM
(#17656072)
Only in the most pointlessly absolute of interpretations.
Ten might as well be zero. 50 people (25 pairs) is necessary with complete control of breeding in order to have sustainable genetic diversity. Without complete control, hundreds are necessary in any given pocket of civilization.
Even if there were tens of millions of humans remaining, there is virtually zero chance of meaningful recovery since all of the low-hanging fruit of industrial-age energy resources have been mined.
Re:Inventory of CO2 available for terraforming Mars
by everdev on Tuesday July 31, 2018 @07:35PM
(#17658292)
Depends on your horizon, but if you look at how fast humanity progressed in 2,000 or even 500 years, I think a recovery from a million+ people in a few thousand years is very realistic, especially if knowledge is adequately recovered through books.
Re:Inventory of CO2 available for terraforming Mars
by dotancohen on Thursday August 02, 2018 @08:37AM
(#17670963)
Only up until the technical level of the industrial revolution. Getting past that would require easy access to an easy to use energy source, i.e. fossil fuels. None of which are left. Today we dig kilometers under the seabed to access energy. A society just entering the industrial revolution will have not the knowledge, tools, or materials to do that.