Ice doom of DOOM!

[james_davis_nicoll]

The previous ice age lasted some 110,000 years and ended about 11,000 years ago. In other words, some 4,000 generations of humans knew of nothing but harsh winds and eternal snows. The apparently "normal'' periods between ice ages, like the present one, have averaged between 8,000 and 12,000 years. In short, the next ice age is overdue. The key question is when it will come. Can space be colonised by a sufficiently large population so that, when the next ice age strikes, it will not threaten the survival of the race?

Comments

*sigh*

[redbird]

Yet another person who is conveniently ignoring the existence of Africa, then?

His argument also assumes that the conditions that obtained for 90% of the past 2 million years will destroy humanity if they come back, because what was survivable with Paleolithic tech will be fatal today.

Re: *sigh*

[violsva]

Yeah, I was thinking, even if he was right that 4000 generations of humans lived through harsh winds and eternal snows, wouldn't that mean there was no chance whatsoever that they would threaten our survival?

Re: *sigh*

[nelc.livejournal.com]

I was just going to post the same thing. How is something that our hardy ancestors apparently lived with for millennia going to wipe us all out? Because we're all effete and civilised, and spend too much time in our studies instead of out on the barren steppes hunting wild snowmen or something?

Re: *sigh*

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

There were a lot fewer of those hardy ancestors. "The race will survive, but seven billion people will die" would not be a very reassuring argument, IMO.

RE: *sigh*

[(Anonymous)]

But everything was better in the mythical past!

Re: *sigh*

[scott-sanford.livejournal.com]

I don't think he knows anyone who lives in Africa. And if he couldn't survive with a possum skin cape and a flint knife, how can anyone else?

Re: *sigh*

[sanskritabelt.livejournal.com]

Oh I'm sure he knows plenty of people who lived in Africa and still insist on calling it 'Rhodesia.'

Re: *sigh*

[calcinations.livejournal.com]

Yup.

Re: *sigh*

[elusis.livejournal.com]

And there it is.

Re: *sigh*

[ross-teneyck.livejournal.com]

I seem to recall a Spider Robinson story speculating that the sudden loss of the internet would destroy civilization and kill millions.

I don't doubt it would fairly dire. But "collapse of civilization" seems excessive. We struggled along without it within the living memory of people who are not in any way old fogies, because they're my age.

Re: *sigh*

[redbird]

There's a lot of complicated interconnected stuff that leans on the Internet, including significant amounts of food transport. But there's a difference between "this might kill as many people as World War II" and "this would destroy all of civilization." And that in turn is very different from a level of "ice age, woe!" that requires pretending that rain forests are uninhabitable by humans.