The Great Filter – Are We Almost Past It? (1998)

Re:The Great Filter – Are We Almost Past It? (1998) by avn2109 on Sunday April 05, 2015 @03:57PM (#9325135)

>> "Would you mind elaborating on this or posting some links with more evidence for this?"

I'm not the GP, but I suspect api has in mind something like this [0]. The money quote from that article is this:

"At that 2.3% growth rate, we would be using energy at a rate corresponding to the total solar input striking Earth in a little over 400 years."

The obvious first-order thermodynamic consequences of that fact for the temperature of the surface of the earth are pretty undeniable.

[0] http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/2012/04/economist-meets-...

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Re:The Great Filter – Are We Almost Past It? (1998) by privong on Sunday April 05, 2015 @04:06PM (#9325161)

Thanks. I had seen that calculation before, but had forgotten about it. It is good to remember that we will eventually come up against limits from basic physics.

Though, to be a bit picky, showing that we can't indefinitely sustain our current trajectory is a different argument than saying a collapse is inevitable.

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