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[–] 142 points 2 years ago* (37 children)

I’ve literally had this argument on lemmy multiple times. It always goes like this:

Me: [some comment to the effect of “the planet is dying”]

Them: the planet will be fine. Yes all life will perish, but the earth itself will continue.

Me: . . .

Them: What. It’s just the fact. Don’t worry about the planet.

Sometimes they quote Carlin without realizing it and without context so to them it’s not a joke about how fucked up we are, it’s a simple truth without any additional layers. It's a little boggling.

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  • [–] 93 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    It's pedantry for the sake of being right. They care more about winning than the actual argument.

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  • [–] 38 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    This is why I detest the concept and celebration of “technically correct”. No, it’s not the “best kind of correct”, it’s being an asshole.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

    No, it’s not the “best kind of correct”, it’s being an asshole.

    That's the joke, though.

    The character being quoted, from Futurama, is usually insufferable and often miserable.

    Edit: Interestingly, the character is also relatively well liked and generally appreciated by the rest of the Planet Express crew. It's a pretty nuanced quote, in context. It kind of says "You're not wrong, and your correction is arguably unnecessary and objectively objectionable, but we love you, anyway."

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  • [–] 22 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    Yes all life will perish, but the earth itself will continue.

    Why would all life perish? From what I've heard and read about nuclear disaster exclusion zones, humans disappearing tends to make space for other forms of life that had previously been displaced by cities full of humans and such. To my understanding long time life probably won't care about anything for the next few million years.

    Short term many or most humans might die or suffer. I don't think it's easy to predict how fragile humankind is, civilization may crumble. I doubt all of humankind will be gone in a thousand years, though I wouldn't bet against a semi "post apocalyptic" future.

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  • [–] 27 points 2 years ago (14 children)

    Basically it's due to the heat, acidification of the ocean, and the massive drop in oxygen production as the ocean acidifies.

    Most of the oxygen we breathe is produced by microorganisms in the ocean and as the ocean gets more acidic (from absorbing CO2 from the air) and hotter (from greenhouse effects) it makes it harder for those little fellas to survive. And when they die their impact on our breathable air goes away. And if course the stuff that's eats those organisms no longer have food and due off.

    That's not even mentioning just the heating from greenhouse effects making unlivable temperature conditions (humidity + heat = unable to cool down and overheat) more likely to occur.

    All life wouldn't perish per se but the current complex animals we have (and us humans) would be greatly impacted to say the least.

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  • [–] 15 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    Because the threat is not a nuclear winter. It’s the disruption of all environmental systems that regulate the planet that is the threat in question. Which, in turn, disrupts the food chain, which starves whatever requires that food, which is for all intents and purposes, all life.

    I don’t understand how this is such a conversation with so many people here.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    Why would all life perish?

    All life wouldn't perish, the only things that will be left will be certain bacteria, phagocytes and viruses that can tolerate and indeed will likely proliferate in extreme environments. Everything larger then that will die of starvation due to a cascade of failing systems, likely starting with the death of the marine biosphere when the temperature rises to unsustainable levels and/or the pH lowers too much for the same effect. Though of course no one really knows what will actually happen because there are too many unknown variables.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Climate change isn't going to be an existential threat for a very long time. Realistically we're making life incredibly difficult and expensive for ourselves. Population numbers will drop markedly over time. But people don't see that this is still something to take urgent action on.

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  • [–] 28 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Depends on if you work outside for a living or live near a coastline or a forested area. It won’t be like a Star Trek: The Original Series where everyone’s in a big room and a red glow starts pulsating and we all groan and crumple to the floor. No, it won’t be like that.

    It’ll be like heat exhaustion exacerbated a hitherto unknown heart condition that deaded you. Or a Cat 6 hurricane rolled a tree over you. Or failing crops mean you couldn’t fight off COVID-26 or whatever.

    No, we’re not going to all die at once, as such. Depending on your timeframe for “at once”.

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    [–] 128 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (9 children)

    Ah yes, Venus. Famously teeming with life.

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  • [–] 27 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    I heard Venus never even had an infection of a biological nature.

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  • [–] 29 points 2 years ago

    Also, nobody is gay on Venus because Venus doesn't have rainbows.

    Wait a minute, Venus sounds like the perfect place for conservatives! Elon, get your starship up and running and take all your buddies and musketeers to Venus! Please! I promise all liberals will stay here.

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    [–] 71 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    It's the second time I've seen this tweet in 24h, and I still can't believe this isn't meant to be ironic.

    I'm almost impressed by how dumb this guy is.

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  • [–] 54 points 2 years ago (9 children)

    Venus is literal lead-melting, acid raining hell.

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  • [–] 31 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Just answer this short question: how many people died on Venus ever and how many on Earth?

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    [–] 51 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    "But the planet is still there."

    Check and mate! I feel so PWN3D. You see? If you don't mind not breathing, carbon dioxide isn't so bad after all!

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  • [–] 49 points 2 years ago

    Technically correct

    The best kind of correct

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  • [–] 43 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    oh, and the atmosphere on venus is mostly sulfuric acid. No big deal.

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  • [–] 43 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I never meant to cause you any sorrow

    I never meant to cause you any pain

    I only wanted one time to see you melting

    I only wanted to see you

    Melting in Venus' acid rain

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    [–] 42 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    This is just a recycled George Carlin bit.

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    [–] 37 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    So…. If I’m reading this right, because the giant ball of acid that eats spacecraft before they can do any meaningful exploration on the surface remains a ball we don’t have to worry about becoming more similar to said ball of acid?

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  • [–] 30 points 2 years ago (1 child)
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    [–] 28 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Now lets compare the lifeform counts in both planets

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  • [–] 27 points 2 years ago

    Milloy has been spouting denial for decades, but this might be the dumbest thing I've seen him say yet.

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  • [–] 22 points 2 years ago

    Ask Elon to shoot him to Venus for a brighter future. Plzzzzzzzz!

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  • [–] 21 points 2 years ago

    Technically correct, the best kind of correct. Also, this is trolling.

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  • [–] 20 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    Everyone seems to be taking this seriously. Am I the only one here that reads this as sarcasm?

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    [–] 17 points 2 years ago (7 children)

    I think he deserves an award for being possibly the stupidest human being alive, like a reverse Nobel.

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    [–] 16 points 2 years ago
    [–] 16 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Oh. Earth will be fine, then? Now we can breathe easy.

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