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

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.