Thursday, March 17, 2005

The Road to Hell

It's always fun to find a new way to destroy (or slow down) the human race.

The latest and greatest might be here:
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1215-24.htm

And the book
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/050005116X/commondreams-20/ref%3Dnosim/103-2823341-1101440

When Life Nearly Died: The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Timeby M. J. Benton

This is a science fiction writer's dream subject - What would happen if human use of fossil fuels triggered a run-away green house effect that changed everything we know?

The fasination aspect for me is the idea that we're "sitting on a bomb" without realizing it.

And PERHAPS it isn't "just a disaster" in the waiting, but actually INTENTIONAL - okay by God if you must, or Gaia if you like, but by just another complex feedback mechanism of a complex world?

I know we're actually in a "glacial period" geologically. That is, more time than not, of the last some 5 million years has had glaciers covering much of the earth, MUCH more than now which is a short "interglacial period" (~20,000 years perhaps).

We don't know what changed to cause this transition to glacial conditions.

The question I wonder is "what stops the run-away greenhouse?" Could there be another mechanism that reverses course back to glaciers?

Well, I imagine so, but perhaps in human time scales, it won't much matter. I DOUBT such a natural disaster is irreversible, but maybe it just like a 100 million year toilet flush - taking a few million years for life to find a new equilibrium.

We'll see!

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