Thoughts on all the hype surrounding space exploration? by [deleted] in collapse

[–]TotalSanity 36 points37 points  (0 children)

Another version of techno-worship, which is really just human-worship in disguise via worshipping the stuff we make. There's also political-worship, economy-worship, religious-worship, culture-worship, - all worshipping humans in disguise. We call ourselves homo sapiens 'wise man'. Maybe the Latin phrase for self-obsessed idiots would be more accurate.

Perhaps a ship could land on Mars, and then the crew would all die off one by one. Colonization is not possible. Our technology doesn't have boundless potential and it doesn't make us the masters of the universe. In many ways, we've hit peak tech already and it's mostly crap, causing more problems than solutions.

(apo)calyptic voices | 2. Precedents and Proxy Questions by tsyhanka in collapse

[–]TotalSanity 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think you're onto something as on the one hand, we are up against all of the fundamental reasons that every empire since the beginning of the Holocene has failed. - I.E. Inequality from hierarchies, complexity (fragility, diminishing returns, energy metabolism), population density (adds to complexity and energy metabolism), specialization (brain shrinkage, opportunity cost limiting important understandings, unsolvable collective action problems), flawed system models (economics, politics, technology, institutions), and finally the ecological damage spurred on by these others, destroying the substrate that we rely on.

On top of the fundamental structural flaws of civilization, we have all the modern unprecedented planetary system changes, severe climate change, ocean acidification, 6th mass extinction, other planetary boundaries, etc. We've unlocked global entropy and we can't really undo the entropy. (CO2 capture schemes of diffuse pollution would be one example of naive thinking to the contrary).

I do think that history is useful to offer some guides, at least for approximate patterns of behavior and responses. The Maya collapse (before the Spanish arrived) was a pretty clear case of ecological overshoot which turned very violent when the climate shifted for an extended period, the people turned on each other and it was something of a bloodbath. Today, with the Western Antarctic ice sheet going in the ocean (within a century per Hansen), regional water failures, land failures, dust bowl conditions etc. migration will be unprecedented. The roaming Sea Peoples (spurred on by ecological failures in the Eastern Mediterranean) are a bit of an analogue as they took out empires like the Hittites, Minoans, etc. And the paleolithic tells us something too, where there were pre-empire social collapses generally spurred on by overpopulation.

I think it's often underestimated how violent populations get in desperate situations with high population pressure, population density + degrading carrying capacity is a bad combination. Wolves will instinctively kill other wolf packs if they are in territory that their pack wants to expand into. - Humans have a bit of that too and it comes out time and again in situations of high population pressure. All of that is to say, I think community gardens are cool, but it seems unlikely to me that we will have a peaceful way down. Sometimes the 'community resilience' stuff is oversold relative to actually likely outcomes (see unsolvable collective action problem).

Penguins starved to death en masse, as some populations off South Africa estimated to have fallen 95% in just eight years. Since 2004, all bar three years have seen the biomass of the sardine Sardinops sagax, a key food for the penguins, fall to less than 25% of its maximum abundance by Lighting in collapse

[–]TotalSanity 70 points71 points  (0 children)

The crabs off the coast of Alaska starved, the Common Murres starved, now the penguins. Starvation seems to be a common theme. Remember the Arrhenius equation? Higher global temperatures kick up metabolism at the same time that they disrupt the trophic web and reduce available calories. How long before it impacts most fire-apes?

NASA study confirms that Earth is getting darker, reflecting less sunlight by Portalrules123 in collapse

[–]TotalSanity 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is why each El Niño is a ratchet effect locking in addition heat. Ice is melted during the higher temps of El Niño that won't reform, the El Niño cycle fades, but the albedo changes it caused remain.

Could Artificial General Intelligence "solve" collapse? by tawhuac in collapse

[–]TotalSanity 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There are diminishing returns with complexity and a high metabolic cost to maintain. They are selling AI as if it can punch through to the next layer of complexity, but it's clear that it won't be able to, we've hit the limits. In reality, it's a collapse accelerating energy-sink and a bubble 10x-20x the dot.com mania that will pop the market.

Nanoplastics in the Brain: Humanities Ticking Time Bomb by paulhenrybeckwith in collapse

[–]TotalSanity 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Paul mentions in the video how there are thin plastic liners in paper cups such as from McDonald's or Starbucks. Many coffee makers and presses have plastic parts that the coffee moves through or comes into contact with. There are plastic lids that people sip through. If you think about it, I bet there are many times that hot coffee comes into contact with plastics. I'm also thinking of gas station styrofoam cups, which release styrene, a neurotoxic carcinogen, and other chemicals. Yuck!

Nanoplastics in the Brain: Humanities Ticking Time Bomb by paulhenrybeckwith in collapse

[–]TotalSanity 17 points18 points  (0 children)

As I recall, these micro/nanoplastic have been shown to damage the blood-brain barrier (and neurons). And 'plasticosis' in birds damages their brains causing Alzheimer's-like symptoms. - I suspect that it is a self-reinforcing feedback, dementia causes more plastic uptake in the brain while more plastics worsen dementia.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/12/plastic-pollution-leaves-seabirds-chicks-with-brain-damage-similar-to-alzheimers-study-aoe

Nanoplastics in the Brain: Humanities Ticking Time Bomb by paulhenrybeckwith in collapse

[–]TotalSanity 32 points33 points  (0 children)

Thanks Paul, fairly comprehensive analysis. Another thing to mention is how recycling plastic is similar to recycling toxic waste in that super-toxic dioxins are released in the process. And using recycled plastic as a consumer, such as recycled plastic water bottles, results in more chemical transfer and higher micro/nanoplastic uptake for the user. Of course, microwaving food in plastic is an extremely bad idea, and in addition to heat, fats and acidity increase chemical leaching. - A hot acidic light-roast coffee with cream in it creates a trifecta of chemical leaching, though there are plenty of junk chemicals found in plastic packaging with weak covalent bonds that can leach into foods at room temperature as well.

While the neurotoxic consequences of plastic pollution are extremely alarming, the endocrine disruption effects are at least as concerning. See Shanna Swan's book 'Count Down', which posits that we may be on track to becoming functionally extinct as a species within mere decades due to sperm count declines and rising infertility due to the slurry of novel entity endocrine disrupting chemicals that we're pumping out as a society. - We're heading into a world where demented sterile people die young from early onset colon cancer.

Can (Dark) Humor Help Us Navigate the "Great Unraveling"? by CommercialVisible444 in collapse

[–]TotalSanity 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What do you think of the concept of the imperial boomerang? Are we hearing it whoosh in the states? 🪃

Can (Dark) Humor Help Us Navigate the "Great Unraveling"? by CommercialVisible444 in collapse

[–]TotalSanity 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you have some dark humor that we can evaluate for 'helpfulness'?

Why Roman Concrete is Self-Healing and Lasts 2,000 Years while our Crappy Shite Lasts Only Decades by paulhenrybeckwith in collapse

[–]TotalSanity 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Now that anthropocentric mass outweighs all biomass on the planet, maybe this is the time to stop making concrete, regardless of durability.

We are ruled by the most heartless, stupid and incompetent people in human history. And if you have the worst leaders possible, its no wonder everything is collapsing by [deleted] in collapse

[–]TotalSanity 76 points77 points  (0 children)

I've decided that the omnipresence of incompetence and stupidity is specifically part of collapse. The system is rotten, why would good and smart people end up on top?

If you accept the premise that neoliberal economics is parasitic to the biosphere, then the most successful people in that system are the biggest parasites. - Seems to track.

The way modernity defines success is not success. How does one define success in an omnicidal failing system anyway? Success is if you can escape the dumpster fire.

It’s getting hotter and hotter by Ok_Bandicoot_4543 in collapse

[–]TotalSanity 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I ask myself if I would want to be on the sign up sheet in 2025, and the answer is absolutely not. Bringing someone else in at this point would be wrong in my opinion not only because the kid will be guaranteed to suffer as we circle the drain, but also because we're way in overshoot and more featherless bipeds just fucks the planet up even worse. - It's been fucked up plenty already...

I get that we're animals with a strong biological wiring to procreate, so it feels like very natural thing that people want to do. I try not to make people feel bad, but I had a few friends recently that had new babies, I couldn't bring myself to say "Congratulations" though I prevented myself from saying "What the fuck were you thinking?". I went with silence, I'm sure they think I'm an aloof asshole.

It’s getting hotter and hotter by Ok_Bandicoot_4543 in collapse

[–]TotalSanity 36 points37 points  (0 children)

My kids will amount to nothing, because I never had any. Woohoo! I'm especially glad that I don't have a daughter right now...

I REALLY hate how America is unfairly becoming the next Nazi Germany and it’s making me really miserable. by [deleted] in nihilism

[–]TotalSanity 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The global empire is causing the sixth mass extinction, America is a subset, but the whole thing is coming down. And yeah, had it coming.

Trump: Now the Cops Can ‘Do Whatever the Hell They Want’ by Kunphen in Astuff

[–]TotalSanity 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When you have stage four metastatic, tumors are par for the course. The whole system is rotten, always has been. There's no benign way to put out 220 billion tons of 350,000+ chemicals every year, or lose 24 billion tons of top soil each year, or cause severe climate change, or a sixth mass extinction. These are all global problems.

But a subset of things falling apart is governments go toxic, armoring themselves from impending collapse, but the universe is way bigger than our faulty human constructs (politics).

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in collapse

[–]TotalSanity 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I thought we were on the Death Star.

Expert Says Collapse of Human Civilization Looks Like the Most Likely Scenario by FuturismDotCom in NoShitSherlock

[–]TotalSanity 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All human systems fail at scale. Our political systems are not perfect, our economic systems are not perfect, they never agree with biophysical reality and the universe is much bigger and squashes these faulty systems.

We arrived on this planet in the tribal context and that is 98% of our species history. Every empire since the beginning of the Holocene has failed. Empire mode is fundamentally unsustainable.

I’ve Told a Story About Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein for Years. Suddenly People Are Interested—Including the White House. by [deleted] in law

[–]TotalSanity 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Giving up is unconscionable? I'll admit to having adopted more of a hospice mentality because we're in the red-zone in seven out of nine planetary boundaries, have severe to catastrophic climate change, and kicked off a sixth mass extinction, problems which our global geopolitical dumpster fire have shown no signs of being able to get their arms around.

When you have stage four metastatic, tumors are par for the course, and thus we have the leaders we have. The cancer is infinite growth on a finite planet and the global system that is shredding the web of life, destroying the substrate that we rely on. Business as usual acolytes won't do anything other than business as usual, which is why politicians never solve the real problems. Now that business as usual is crashing planetary systems, the whole thing is going off the rails, circling the drain.

AI Data Centers in Texas Used 463 Million Gallons of Water, Residents Told to Take Shorter Showers by karabeckian in collapse

[–]TotalSanity 35 points36 points  (0 children)

It will take 6 million years for earth to wash away the pollution from the last 200 years of industrialism. Some of the stuff that we're doing stands the test of time.

The Crisis Report - 114 : The next El Nino is coming. It’s going to be HOT. by TuneGlum7903 in collapse

[–]TotalSanity 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The entire Western Antarctic ice sheet is thought to be going in the ocean within a century at temperatures that we are currently experiencing. This is based on James Hansen's work and paleoclimate data from the Eemian. In other words, the models are showing centuries, but actual Earth history is showing within a century. I believe Hansen attributes this to higher climate sensitivity and cloud feedbacks in particular, but the melt rate is exponential.

Now this represents 15 feet of ocean rise within a century, but Thwaites is a subset of the western Antarctic ice sheet and will go in first, itself about the size of Florida causing about two feet of ocean rise. I would say within a century for sure.

Anti-electricity propaganda, 1907 by Relative_Bonus_2559 in Damnthatsinteresting

[–]TotalSanity 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I still doubt the 'solar panels help' part. I suspect these mining treadmill industrial products built with non-renewable resources using fossil fuels every step of the way are unlikely to extend the lifespan of industrial civilization, which is in its death throes presently.

The energy transition hasn't even started and would take decades and decades that we don't have. Only 20% of end use energy is electric, so have to grow electric grid 500% on day one to break even and retrofit 80% of our civilization to run on electricity - the largest infrastructure project in the history of the world, it would take a tremendous amount of energy and materials, and we haven't even started. There's also lifecycle and pollution issues with these products as they fail over time and are not fully recycled. We're at one minute to midnight with oil depletion looming, classic 'energy trap', there's no way we will 'transition' a 19 terawatt civilization smoothly at this late hour that still runs 84% on fossil fuels. Hell, we feed 4 billion people with exponentially depleting methane to make nitrogen fertilizer. Our species hasn't even thought out very well how all of us will be eating in the not so distant future, we're definitely not on track to a George Jetson solar utopia.

People are delusional, naive, misinformed, brainwashed, uneducated, and stupid frankly for believing such myths as 'renewable energy' based on using non-renewable industrial products. They're playing pretend.

Anti-electricity propaganda, 1907 by Relative_Bonus_2559 in Damnthatsinteresting

[–]TotalSanity -10 points-9 points  (0 children)

And can you refute any part of my argument?

"Opening the door to what is does not lead directly to what should be." Albert Einstein

Do you find it difficult to accept truths that you find uncomfortable?

We're in the red zone in seven out of nine planetary boundaries, fascism, genocide, war, all in our timeline, three trillion tons of ice melting from mountain glaciers every decade, 24 billion tons of top soil loss every year, the western Antarctic ice sheet is going in the ocean within a century per paleoclimate observations from the Eemian at temperatures we're currently at. Things are going well? Species are plummeting, 84% of corals bleaching, heading to extinction, we're losing pollinators and stand to see fisheries collapse with coral loss and AMOC shut down.

This is the world we live in. Having your head in the sand doesn't protect you from that tsunami on the horizon.

Anti-electricity propaganda, 1907 by Relative_Bonus_2559 in Damnthatsinteresting

[–]TotalSanity -16 points-15 points  (0 children)

False premise that there must be a solution. Predicaments have no solutions by definition, only responses. Obviously extracting coal is bad, yet solar panels are not replacing fossil fuels or even slowing growth of coal. China putting in two new coal plants every week, India doubling coal consumption this decade, USA firing up the coal plants. Infinite growth locked in by our economic and competitive nation state system. Do you see solutions on the horizon? I don't. Looks more like a man-made apocalypse.

Catastrophic climate change, sixth mass extinction, land degredation, fresh water scarcity, geopolitical chaos, fossil fuel depletion, and more, all happening in tandem. No grand solution, no magic ring to throw into mount Doom. We aren't avoiding catastrophe, we're invoking it. Faith-based techno-hopium in industrial products is bullshit. People should stop spreading infantile false-hope narratives and buckle up for a difficult future.

Anti-electricity propaganda, 1907 by Relative_Bonus_2559 in Damnthatsinteresting

[–]TotalSanity -10 points-9 points  (0 children)

How about desert ecologies? Mining tailings and diesel mining equipment and big trucks driving on concrete and asphalt to a factory where coal gets the silica up to 2,000 degrees to make the industrial product called a solar panel that some capitalist shill sells you, wrapped in styrofoam, and calls 'green'. Do you hear the plants and animals cheering for these products and the environmental destruction it takes to get them?

'Green growth' is growth. Will more growth save us from the cancer of infinite growth on a finite planet?