Our Species is Suicidal

[greg]

Whatever one human being says, there is always another human being somewhere who will disagree with them.

I don't think that's true.

Well, I think you both are wrong.

Wait... 

*explodes*

[dissily Mordentroge]

     OK, I considered it. The U.S. has nuclear weapons and powerful conventional forces that could be used to defend its borders from any scale of climate migration. In historical terms this is not dissimilar to the catastrophes that collapsed every Bronze Age civilization. A couple of factors seem relevant to me. One is that the scale of the climate problem is greater than it was 3,000 years ago, the other is our ability to engineer climate mitigation is even greater, though it does appear that the best solutions will only be applied after all the worse ones have been given a chance to fail.

[/b]
That fills me with horror given playing that game could be too late to then apply the better solutions.

[Madiel]

     OK, I considered it. The U.S. has nuclear weapons and powerful conventional forces that could be used to defend its borders from any scale of climate migration.

In what universe do you "defend your borders" with a nuclear weapon and everything on your side of the border remains unaffected?

Oh, we just made southern Texas uninhabitable. Whoopsie.

[dissily Mordentroge]

In what universe do you "defend your borders" with a nuclear weapon and everything on your side of the border remains unaffected?

Oh, we just made southern Texas uninhabitable. Whoopsie.

Given millions displaced by rising sea levels will take to sea that's were you remove the 'problem'. Why wait until landfall?
Another US phobia of a flood of refugess arriving via Mexico?
Things won't be that simple.

[Madiel]

Given millions displaced by rising sea levels will take to sea that's were you remove the 'problem'. Why wait until landfall?
Another US phobia of a flood of refugess arriving via Mexico?
Things won't be that simple.

Ah well, defending borders becomes tricky when you get maritime...

...maybe it's time to watch Kevin Costner's Waterworld.

[drogulus]

In what universe do you "defend your borders" with a nuclear weapon and everything on your side of the border remains unaffected?

Oh, we just made southern Texas uninhabitable. Whoopsie.

     Yes, I don't see it happening in this Universe.

[/b]
That fills me with horror given playing that game could be too late to then apply the better solutions.

     It's already too late. IMO we have no choice but to go the "good jobs at good wages" route. Due to the widespread adoption of not knowing about things until it's too late for modest adjustments, only a massive technological effort will be effective.

[dissily Mordentroge]

Are you all looking forward to seeing one, or a swarm of these coming down your street?

[Madiel]

Are you all looking forward to seeing one, or a swarm of these coming down your street?

Right now, the local battle is to stop these things being used to deliver burritos.

[dissily Mordentroge]

Right now, the local battle is to stop these things being used to deliver burritos.

From my perspective an attempt to make issues such as this a joke is one of the reasons such monstrous technology will be unleashed on you before you've figured out how to shoot that/those drone/s hovering over your next Bar-B-Q.
And don't make the mistake of assuming it would only be a deliquent extension of government playing such games. These systems will be available on the open market if we don't have them banned.

[Madiel]

From my perspective an attempt to make issues such as this a joke is one of the reasons such monstrous technology will be unleashed on you before you've figured out how to shoot that/those drone/s hovering over your next Bar-B-Q.
And don't make the mistake of assuming it would only be a deliquent extension of government playing such games. These systems will be available on the open market if we don't have them banned.

Why do you think I was making a joke? I wasn't.

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6018894/how-canberra-became-the-drone-capital/

The situation is revealing a lot of gaps in the regulation of drones.

Maybe you haven't heard about this in Tasmania, but as I only live 2 suburbs from where the initial trials were held, I consider it a serious issue.

[dissily Mordentroge]

Why do you think I was making a joke? I wasn't.

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6018894/how-canberra-became-the-drone-capital/

The situation is revealing a lot of gaps in the regulation of drones.

Maybe you haven't heard about this in Tasmania, but as I only live 2 suburbs from where the initial trials were held, I consider it a serious issue.

"- - - -being used to deliver burritos." ?

[Madiel]

As the article says, yes.

Why the hell anyone thinks this is a suitable use of this technology in a suburban setting, I've no idea. But that's what they started with. It seems calculated to me to deprive delivery drivers of a job.

And it's symptomatic of the more general problem that people haven't considered very much what is and is not a good use of this technology. It's just there. And unless it's better regulated people will use it for all sorts of purposes.

[dissily Mordentroge]

As the article says, yes.

Why the hell anyone thinks this is a suitable use of this technology in a suburban setting, I've no idea. But that's what they started with. It seems calculated to me to deprive delivery drivers of a job.

And it's symptomatic of the more general problem that people haven't considered very much what is and is not a good use of this technology. It's just there. And unless it's better regulated people will use it for all sorts of purposes.

All sorts of purposes may already be included in these apparently 'innocent' burrito deliveries. Drones connected to the web can be programmed to perform a lot more than a simple delivery. An army of hundreds of them centrally controlled could easily be assembling all kinds of information on the way to all those deliveries.
Add the advances of facial recognition technology ( false positives) and you have the opportunity to unleash a delinquent police force incognito.
Just one possible scenario amongst many.

[drogulus]

     

"- - - -being used to deliver burritos." ?

     People often joke about very serious things. I'm OK with that, I do it myself. As you get closer to Moscow you'll hear more Putin jokes. Is that because jokesters don't take him seriously?

     You can, for example, joke about how your TV, phone, PC and other devices spy on you, while you do what you can to insulate yourself from the effects. I do some of this and will do more in the future. I'll support political efforts to restrict corporate and government spying. Also, I'll joke about it.

[Florestan]

     You can, for example, joke about how your TV, phone, PC and other devices spy on you,

Each and every time we go shopping, half an hour after we leave the mall there's a fresh incoming message on my wife's smartphone (I don't have one): How was your Carrefour experience?

Each and every time I open a new Google session they display my almost exact location. (During a single week I live in three different locations and use three different computers).

Not to mention how many times I receive phone calls from this or that seller, which I never bought anything from, offering me their latest deal.

Does this kind of spying and intruding my privacy bother me? The phone calls do, especially when they spoil my sleep. The other instances not at all.

[drogulus]

     I have a flip phone for occasional use. My TV is a non-spy type. I use my PC in a way that is a little risky, though, so I'll probably have to make some changes to anonymize my web connection. I'm just lazy or I would have done it long ago.

[dissily Mordentroge]

Each and every time we go shopping, half an hour after we leave the mall there's a fresh incoming message on my wife's smartphone (I don't have one): How was your Carrefour experience?

Each and every time I open a new Google session they display my almost exact location. (During a single week I live in three different locations and use three different computers).

Not to mention how many times I receive phone calls from this or that seller, which I never bought anything from, offering me their latest deal.

Does this kind of spying and intruding my privacy bother me? The phone calls do, especially when they spoil my sleep. The other instances not at all.

All of this might just be annoying until a conservative government comes to power gaining access to a list of your purchases of sex toys, the kind of porn you watch on your computer, which political/church meetings you've attended, which news sources you access etc. China is already well advanced along this path and is collecting data covering individuals behavior in the West.

[Madiel]

The power of finding out that information is greatly diminished if you're prepared to be open and honest about that information anyway.

It becomes a bigger issue if there is legal authorisation to punish you on account of that information.

I'm fairly sure my sex toys are all legal.

[dissily Mordentroge]

The power of finding out that information is greatly diminished if you're prepared to be open and honest about that information anyway.

It becomes a bigger issue if there is legal authorisation to punish you on account of that information.

I'm fairly sure my sex toys are all legal.

i wonder if you've thought about the implications of    - - 'just be annoying until a conservative government comes to power' Your toys other behaviours may be legal now but then?

[Madiel]

i wonder if you've thought about the implications of    - - 'just be annoying until a conservative government comes to power' Your toys other behaviours may be legal now but then?

Isn't that what I just said?

It becomes a bigger issue if there is legal authorisation to punish you on account of that information.