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

[bruce munro (from livejournal.com)]

Ah, the "it's snowing hard so there's no such thing as global warming" argument. Almost as good as the "if we evolved from apes, why are there still apes around?" argument.

"He has been called the "most erudite of columnists" and the ``Dean of British science writers.''"

By whom, exactly?

[calcinations.livejournal.com]

THey are assuming there are still humans around in a hundred thousand years or so when the next ice age might arrive.

I'm British and never heard of Adrian Berry, but then since I was at uni I've not found general science writery people to be as much use as blogs and actual science papers and books.

Wait....
His second book was "Crossing the universe with black holes"!!! I have a copy of that. Let me check my librarything.
Publoished in 1977. Which leads to wikipedia. To complete the trifecta, he's apaprently the 4th Viscount Camrose!

Born in 1937, so basically he's gone emeritus, since he'll be 78 or so by now. That's me being charitable, it could be he's an anti-science fuckwit driven by narrow minded political ideals though.

[magedragonfire.livejournal.com]

I think there has to be some kind of severe disconnect in this fellow's thinking to say, first, that global warming is a farce, and then go on to note that the next ice age is overdue, and not wonder anywhere along the line if perhaps the two are related somehow.

(Not being a climate scientist, I have no idea if they actually are, or if the foretold doom-y ice age is just taking its sweet time for other reasons, but it seems like the sort of thing that should be considered.)

*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.

[tandw.livejournal.com]

...some 4,000 generations of humans knew of nothing but harsh winds and eternal snows.

One wonders what he thinks those hardy souls ate. Snow, perhaps?

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

I'm going to come right out and say it - the "4000 generations of humans" line is because he consciously or unconsciously considers that the only actual "humans" are the ones who come from a specific geographical region.

[calcinations.livejournal.com]

And finally- I had a read of some of his articles on his website. I see them as very much of their time and culture, which means they look rather odd to more modern people. They are well enough written in a kind of overdone artsy sort of way, but it seems clear that he has never been immersed in the world of science and it's associated cultures the way you might expect. Rather he observes from the border, always trying to put the science into the sociocultural framework he is familiar with, with his Eton and Christ Church Oxford education. Hence of course he wrote for the Torygraph.
To a post-millenial I expect his writings look a bit like vapid witterings.