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A comment on A Recap of the Mars Terraforming Debate. Parent comment

Re:A Recap of the Mars Terraforming Debate by OmicronCeti on Thursday May 13, 2021 @04:29PM (#27147014)
I think the disconnect here is between potential and probable. Humanity likely has the potential for interstellar travel, but our nature will prevent it in my opinion. Homo sapiens have twice come to the edge of nuclear oblivion already (being saved only by luck essentially), and I would wager we are are speeding much faster towards nuking each other than reaching the stars.
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Re:A Recap of the Mars Terraforming Debate by dheera on Thursday May 13, 2021 @04:31PM (#27147033)
If nuclear war breaks out, it will be sad, we will lose a lot of our population, and cities will be destroyed, but I do not think a nuclear breakout will result in the death of humanity. I cannot see a realistic war scenario in which we will destroy every habitable corner of the planet.

And if we can cure cancer in the next 50 years (I think realistic), we'll have even better odds of surviving an event, as a species.

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Re:A Recap of the Mars Terraforming Debate by OmicronCeti on Thursday May 13, 2021 @04:43PM (#27147189)
The collapse of all plant life would mean the death of humans. Nuclear winter is a well-studied and modeled phenomenon.
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Re:A Recap of the Mars Terraforming Debate by dheera on Thursday May 13, 2021 @04:52PM (#27147300)
I don't think we would collapse all plant life.

While we have the theoretical capability to destroy all plant life, I think realistically we'd end up obliterating a few cities before war would cease, and a full-on nuclear winter is unlikely.

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Re:A Recap of the Mars Terraforming Debate by OmicronCeti on Thursday May 13, 2021 @05:04PM (#27147451)
> I don't think we would collapse all plant life.

I mean it's not really about what you think. See the top two links here about the devastating effects of small-scale conflicts

- https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00794-y

- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1919049117

- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.222.4630.1283

- https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JD030509

- https://doi.org/10.1080/03036758.1986.10423349

- https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JD008235

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Re:A Recap of the Mars Terraforming Debate by kergonath on Thursday May 13, 2021 @06:41PM (#27148407)
You don’t need to kill all plants, just enough of those we can eat. Not even all of those, either. Look into history to see what happens when enough people don’t have enough to eat.
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Re:A Recap of the Mars Terraforming Debate by natch on Thursday May 13, 2021 @06:40PM (#27148396)
The person you are replying to has said he would not mind if all humanity were to die and go extinct. Ugh.
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Re:A Recap of the Mars Terraforming Debate by OmicronCeti on Monday May 17, 2021 @03:01PM (#27186960)
Why should I mind? Species come and go.
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Re:A Recap of the Mars Terraforming Debate by natch on Friday May 21, 2021 @03:32PM (#27238838)
Then you shouldn’t mind people making use of Mars in the meantime. Planets come and go as well.
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