Quote from: RE on Today at 01:53 PMThe UN is worthless as global goobermint because:

Of course. And because humans can't even agree to have a reasonable way to agree on global issues....no issue will ever be solved globally.

Quote from: REThe consequences are of course moving along at different rates in different places, but all are moving in the same direction, as in getting worse.  It's true we likely won't be around to see the denoument of climate change, but we're already here to witness the End of the Beginning, if not the Beginning of the End (thank you Illuminati Scumbag Winston Churchill).  I'm satisfied with that.

But the history of doomsleuthing has been going on long enough now (itself an interesting topic on innoculating humans from yet another and another and another that didn't pan out) that folks don't believe something has ended, or something is beginning, or anything is happening at all, or everything is happening everywhere all at once, or pick your combination.

And then the internet comes along and pours gasoline on every half baked idiot's ideas that comes down the pike (David Ickes anyone?) and 50% of the human population being below average in intelligence.....right off the bat you slmost have a majority buying in.  Take a single PhD to lead the charge (Colin Campbell anyone?) and you have a movement. FLEE! PEAK OIL! MAYAN CALENDAR! YELLOWTONE GOING BOOM! ALIEN ENERGY WEAPONS BROUGHT DOWN THE TWIN TOWERS ON 9/11!

Quote from: REThere's nothing permanent, but in terms of it's lifespan for supporting life, the Earth is in it's senescence.  It took 4B years for life to evolve and only for the last 200K or so has there been self-aware (I won't say intelligent) life.

Bipedalism ancestors date back 6 million years. Stone tools, and by extension the brains it tok to make them, are dated back 3.4 million, with systematic and widespread evidence by 2.6 million years ago. So yes self aware for quite a bit longer than 200k. Bipeds making tools? Intelligent enough to become us.

Quote from: REThere's only maybe 300M years left before it will be burned to a crisp.

The Sun isn't expanding quite that fast yet, so what does "burned to a crisp" mean? Those Siberian Traps refiring up? Because a hotter atmosphere is just a hotter atmosphere, humans might not make it but other species will lap it up. The Dinosaurs LOVED a warmer atmosphere.

Quote from: RENot enough time for another round.  It's just kind of sad to see it crash and burn so quickly.  Kind of hard to fathom what the purpose of the whole thing was.
RE

Depends on one's beliefs. Churchy types figure they've already got this problem clocked. Folks who abandoned religion the instant they figured out it wasn't as advertised might not care about the purpose of it, because it doesn't exist. We are no different than megalodon in trying to figure out a purpose....megalodon was to eat stuff until there was no stuff left to eat. Then it would become extinct. Humans purpose is to subjugate the earth, excrete waste, and do it until they become extinct. A mindless self interest no different than megalodon in the end.

Clever monkeys have zero requirement to end up any different than other species. Megalodon made it 20 million years. Bipedalism has been around only 6-7 million. Only humans are egotistical enough to think we are anything special.