Having a hard time deciding which is the dumbest. Help me decide,
Electric powered vehicles
Bitcoin
Carbon sequestration
Fighting sea level rise
?
Having a hard time setting parameters for dumbness.
Least benefit per dollar spent
Biggest loss of public trust
Biggest political turmoil
Most collateral damage
?
Bitcoin . Can you imagine competition in âmeans of exchangeâ.
The dollar used to be backed by gold, then by silver, then by IOU, now being replaced by a virtual coin?
Love to see your work in this. The data
Virtual means ânot realâ.
Look up the bank notes issued around the time of the civil war, commonly called âbroken bank notesâ.
At least with them you got some really nice graphics on a piece of paper. There are reasons they are called âobsoleteâ. The introduction of bit coins closely parallels the currency situation of that era. Amazing that people just donât seem to learn. Probably due to a lack of education.
Check out the history of the Brazilian ârealâ. All money is virtual. Itâs our faith in it that gives it value
I think it is what we can swap it for that gives it value.
If one believes the reports, North Korea produced much of the US paper money in circulation, probably still does. How could one ever know if they are faking bit coins? I note that bit coins are still âpricedâ - valued - in dollars, so whatâs the point, other than avoiding the IRS?
Itâs called block chain. Itâs accepted. There are problems of course, but there are problems with all other forms of currency.
Iâll say:
But donât worry AI will save us. 
I notice you have no place for the impact upon Earthâs life support system.
But I guess since that doesnât effect us, we shouldnât worry about it?
And of course, AI will fix all that too, I suppose?
But still Iâm curious, why doesnât our impact on our society sustaining biosphereâs health ever seem to enter the minds of so many?
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So Iâll answer the OPâs question - doubling down on Climate Science Denial is our societyâs numero uno screw up, though definitely not the only really, really big and consequential mistakes of the past couple decades.
Allowing Bush and Cheney To Steal The Presidency also belongs on that list of most consequential mistakes of this century. Boy, oh boy, did that have hideous cascading consequences upon the future direction of global politics and civility!!!
I accept that global warming is happening and that it will continue to happen no matter what we do to fight it. The Earthâs climate has always been dynamic. Any attempts to maintain some sort of âstatus quoâ such as the relatively nice weather we believe favors humans today are just futile. Much better to live with nature than to fight it.
Trying to save coastal cities like Miami and New York from long-term sea level rise will waste billions. Better to figure out what the coasts will look like with 200 feet of sea level rise and prepare for that. Accommodating the inevitable rise in short term increments of 2 to 20 feet just put the problems off on future generations. We need to recognize that our use of costal areas has time limits.
I believe humans, as a group, are just not smart enough to approach our problems with a long-term view. Most likely we will continue to look at climate change problems on a crisis basis. Of course, nothing we might do will prevent our ultimate extinction unless we solve the over-population problem.
Right! Like thatâs some great insight?? For how much of that history would our society have been absolutely impossible to sustain, let along create. Ever give that any thought?
To think that the climate optima of the past ten thousands years, wasnât an absolutely essential key to humans becoming successful farmers, warriors and society builders - is to reveal oneself not to have done any homework on the topic.
I donât think you have a clue what all itâs taken to made us and modern society possible. Nor how much our planetâs climate regime has to do with it. Heck, Iâll bet youâve never studied it beyond following the headlines of your favorite news sources. How close am I?
To fight what? What do you think the challenges will be as we pass 2°C, then 3°C with apparently 4°C, 5°C already in the pipeline.
Lausten, donât know what to do with that silly quote.
What world are we talking about - our personal little world?
Our governmental regime reality?
Or this Earth and her life supporting systems?
But then I guess when all can be normalized it doesnât make any difference at all which one picks.
Or?
What you have missed is the fact that our lifestyle is not living âwithâ nature but âfightingâ Nature and testing itâs ability to resist change that humans introduce.
Why do we have a scientific term âAnthropoceneâ?
An¡thro¡po¡cene
/ËanTHrÉpÉËsÄn/
adjective
relating to or denoting the current geological age, viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment.
âweâve become a major force of nature in this new Anthropocene epochâ
noun
the current geological age, viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment.
âsome geologists argue that the Anthropocene began with the Industrial Revolutionâ
Oxford Languages and Google - English | Oxford Languages
There is that, and I agree. We are in a free fall and at the mercy of the next major weather event and the one after that, and so on as the years and decades keep piling on.
Is that because itâs the âfashionableâ thing to do?
Or because weâre gambling with home and health?
Well from the global fresh water and food and farmland situation, you can bet thereâs some harsh pruning coming our way.
How the cards will fall is anyoneâs bet.
There will be survivors for a long time coming, post global economy collapse, probably isolated pockets for the most part, at that point probably within decades, Ham Radios will be all thatâs left of globalization, a travel will probably revert back to the good old days of horse power and leg power.
I read about things going on in the Arctic and Antarctica, Amazon Forest, northern Boreal Forests, Permafrost melt, Atlantic meridional overturning circulation being disrupted, Mountain glaciers and the rivers and regional climate regimes they anchor disappearing - I mean itâs one radical hit after another rushing at us fast. Truly horrifying, but there it is.
Itâs one of the reasons Iâve shifted more towards philosophy and helping some folks get right with themselves. When the problems get too overwhelming, remember each of us has just one life, then we die. âWhat will you be present to?â We live our lives with the people around us, one day at a time, doing the best with your today, being aware, learning and growing a deeper appreciation of this world, the dance between geology and biology and the evolutionary processes of life over time, that created this beautiful amazing biosphere that sustains us with itâs folds within folds of harmonious, constructive complexity. We are biological beings destined to die, oh but what spectacular animals, if also insane and monstrously destructive, we be.
We are too smart (and vain) for our own good.
The cultural divide, represented here in our mocrocosm
Yes, exactly. Some see a crisis and want radical action, some see a dynamic situation that has not always been favorable for us. I think those in crisis mode will stay in crisis mode and spend their time, energy and treasure fighting each new crisis without ever addressing the root problem which will result in ever more crisis situations. We need to decide whether anyone has the right to contribute to overpopulation. I say no, no one has that right and I say the rest of us have the right to prevent overpopulation.
It is the old problem of who decides who will be the last person allowed in the lifeboat. The decision will be made or everyone will drown.
That is a very clever way to avoid stating what you are actually talking about
What we must talk about and, more importantly, do something about is women having babies. What do you think the quality of life will be like for the average person when sea level is 200 feet higher than it is today and we have a population of 40 billion?
What I get out of all the predictions by the concerned eco -people is that global warming with sea level rise will beget more warming. I expect it will feed on itself and get worse exponentially, the really bad situation occurring much sooner than predicted by linear models.
You can be sure that governments and businesses want growth without limit. Of course unlimited growth, of anything, is not sustainable but they want to grab all the economic and military power they can before the âother guyâ gets it. We manage everything else in the world; we must learn to manage ourselves. If we donât, we will just continue to out-compete each other right into extinction.
How about: what we must talk about is woman getting equal rights and men not forcing so many babies on them. 
