Should we be suspicious of the idea of the Anthropocene?

Re:Should we be suspicious of the idea of the Anthropocene? by meric on Tuesday March 31, 2015 @11:46PM (#9301417)

In fact, I've already said brc might be right and decided to change to some other claptrap.[1]

No one ever comes back and says they're glad they convinced someone - they just switch targets and find new people to call doomsday prophets and bloviating windbags.

Thank you for your prejudice and have a nice day.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9300899

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Re:Should we be suspicious of the idea of the Anthropocene? by brc on Wednesday April 01, 2015 @01:13AM (#9301759)

For the record I appreciated your comment but can't reply there. It shows a willingness to consider a position. I'm guessing you're probably young, and young people have a torrent of "the end of the world is nigh" thrown at them these days. It's tough to see above this and think optimistically. But the key to a calm mind is to think optimistically, tempered with rational 'what if' thinking, so if bad events do come to pass, it's not earth shattering.

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Re:Should we be suspicious of the idea of the Anthropocene? by gress on Wednesday April 01, 2015 @11:16AM (#9304274)

How do you account for the failure of past civilizations? What is different this time?

I'm all for optimism, but optimism and ignoring problems are very different things.

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