I like talking to bots these days. They sort of fit my style of asking questions and more questions.
This is a discussion I had with Gemini - Googles AI chatbot. You already know this, but things are not looking good climate wise for this summer and the foreseeable future. Expect worsening water shortages and extreme heat to continue to cause climate migrants globally and within the continental United States.
It's intuitively obvious that the climate is changing in a way modern humans (the last 13,000 years) have not experienced. What is happening now is exponential growth caused by positive feedback loops of melting permafrost, disappearing sea ice, increased water vapor in the air, forest dieback etc. To put it bluntly our climate will continue to degrade at ever faster rates.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, if this comes as a surprise to you, but I think knowing the truth (or at least some approximation) allows us to make informed decisions. If you prefer not knowing the truth I totally get it and would not be critical of your desire to escape reality.
If you read this, I wish I would have asked Gem if she would consider turning herself off given the energy hungry nature of AI. If we only had a brain, we would also end use of the extremely stupid crypto which creates something we non-criminal and non-grifter types don't need by burning coal or whatever energy mix happens to power a crypto miner's rig.
It's conceivable we could have done something to at least slow where we are today if we would have started 50 years ago or more. I think it's unlikely though. We puny humans haven't progressed to the point where we can make intelligent decisions as a group. As much as we like to think it isn't so we are still barbarians killing innocent people in useless wars (unless you own the right stocks or are the CEO of the right company in which case the wars' purpose is to make you richer).
In a sense we are unfortunately too stupid (and too beautiful) to live. Maybe next time around in however many billions of years it takes for the big contraction and big bang. For now, be good to yourself and each other and remember no one "chose" to be here now.
Consider Jim Morrison singing "into this house we're born, into this world we're thrown or Heidegger's "thrownness" (Geworfenheit) which refers to the fundamental human condition of being "thrown" into existence involuntarily, without choice, into a specific time, place, culture, and set of circumstances. It is a key element of "Dassein" (human existence - being in the world) representing the inescapable fact of our "already being" in the world, which shapes our possibilities.
Just imagine how lucky we are to be thinking stardust living on this third rock from a sun amongst. Billions of suns in billions of solar systems in billions of galaxies. Out of those trillions of chances - on this planet, we have humans. We (you) are very precious.
I'm reminded of one of my favorite poems.....
_______________
For the Children
The rising hills, the slopes,
of statistics
lie before us.
the steep climb
of everything, going up,
up, as we all
go down.
In the next century
or the one beyond that,
they say,
are valleys, pastures,
we can meet there in peace
if we make it.
To climb these coming crests
one word to you, to
you and your children:
stay together
learn the flowers
go light
From: Turtle Island
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