this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2023
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You can be passionate about technological advancement and also be concerned about rent prices, funding for schools, and climate change. Let people solve the problems they're able to solve.
They aren't solving any actual issues. They are just hogging resources and wasting them on their dream projects. They are taking away resources that others need to survive.
Physicist here. Thermodynamics always wins.
It really doesn't matter what we do on the earth -- as long as people and industry exists, we will heat the planet. Either faster (greenhouse gasses), or slower (increasing albedo to capture more sunlight, adding energy with nuclear reactors, etc.).
There are effectively three very long term solutions: (1) kill all humans, and let nature recover -- at least until the output of the sun crosses some threshold in about 250 million years where the Earth fries. (2) Large scale geoengineering, like solar shades between the earth and the sun, or similar means of reducing incoming sunlight. (3) Move all industry off the earth.
Now, these are all very long term scenarios. The problem is, if we don't work towards the technology required to do one of three, all of humanity is doomed eventually. Space tech may seem like a vanity project by the rich, and honestly it often is, but it is also advancing civilization in the direction required to turn Earth into Eden in the far future.
If you look at the planet from far enough away, you stop seeing individuals, their triumphs or their suffering. You just see "solar energy capture cross section".
Humans are natural, therefore our industry is natural. There's nothing wrong with industry (as long as it's mindful of pollution), we just need cleaner power generation.
To anyone reading the comment I'm replying to: earth has a natural system-wide balance to moderate its temperatures.
More detail here: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/EnergyBalance
Signed, your local friendly-ish curmudgeon of a mechanical engineer.
Sure, but the point of the comic is that while technological advances for "cool" things get all kinds of attention and development, actual social problems that continue to impact billions of people hardly get any focus.
I can't wait for some billionaire to do both...
In response to climate change:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/12/business/bill-gates-infrastructure-bill-climate/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/20/business/jeff-bezos-earth-fund.html
For rent control and public school funding, that seems like more of a policy issue than a problem for individuals.
If only billionaires had influence in governments and could affect policy by putting their money where their mouth is.
Oh wait...
He's spending one billion. How many billions in his lifetime did he not have to pay in taxes and wasted on other frivolous things?
The people that can make better policies are the rich blokes.
Yes but when you have billions at your disposal you have a much greater moral responsability than a fresh out of uni geek. He could greatly contribute to our urgent problems.
Musk can't make a marriage between two people work: and you want to trust him with the world because he is greedy ?
Tax all of those oppressors.