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A comment on Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on?. Parent comment

Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by johnmorrison on Wednesday October 23, 2019 @07:21AM (#21333417)
> All of us will be affected

Actually, I'm pretty sure places like Greenland, Canada, Russia etc. will be mostly positively affected. I'm mostly concerned about the changes to the ocean when it comes to affecting all humans. The unfortunate reality is that unchecked global warming will probably lower food prices and increase standards of living in many places that are already rich, while causing destruction in places that are already relatively poor.

> alarm bells ringing about the climate...

The third option you left out is that the alarm is overinflated. With an issue as controversial as climate change, you can be almost certain that both the alarmists and skeptics are both wrong, and the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

Also, I really don't think the end of the world is a realistic result of climate change. If you really want something to worry about, there are always meteors, gamma rays and the potential for nuclear war, superbugs, or biological WOMD.

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Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by ncmncm on Wednesday October 23, 2019 @04:01PM (#21338340)
Global thermonuclear war is a likely end stage, as fascists are swept into power in reaction to mass migration from the tropics.

Sane governmental response is a fantastic assumption. The orange baboon, along with present counterparts in Russia, Brazil, India, China, Turkey, Indonesia, Hungary are just a hint at what is to come.

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Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by johnmorrison on Wednesday October 23, 2019 @04:14PM (#21338495)
I don't think the people terrible enough to launch nukes all other the place are in the position to do that. If the last 70 years are any indication, people don't tend to nuke other people.
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Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by ncmncm on Wednesday October 23, 2019 @04:45PM (#21338803)
There are nukes in Pakistan, India, Israel, Russia, other former Soviet countries, China, and US, all under increasingly fascistic rule. The orange baboon has publicly entertained using them just for dramatic effect. What do you imagine will restrain them as tensions resulting from mass migration, collapsing harvests, and desertification continue to grow?
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Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by ahje on Thursday October 24, 2019 @03:18AM (#21342402)
Hey, with a bit of luck we'll get a nuclear winter which will counter global warming. -.-
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Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by pnako on Wednesday October 23, 2019 @11:01PM (#21341291)
You are being excessive.

First, why do you assume they would migrate north and not further south?

In your model do you expect people to move in or out of Australia, South Africa, Chile, etc. ?

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Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by ncmncm on Thursday October 24, 2019 @05:14PM (#21349252)
Maybe because most of the land is in the north? This is not rocket science.
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Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by johnmorrison on Thursday October 24, 2019 @08:08PM (#21350460)
How does that change anything? Humanity could fit into a small island with the population density of dt Tokyo. There is plenty of land up, down, left and right.
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Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by ahje on Wednesday October 23, 2019 @07:28AM (#21333468)
> The third option you left out is that the alarm is overinflated.

I agree. I intended that to be implied as a possibility for the first option. Bad things will most likely happen, but it's unlikely that it's THAT bad.

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