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not_AFX_lol wrote

shit this is a hard question

i could go to the past, get rich on gambling, bankroll revolutions, have reactionaries killed, try to bring the world into a more open mindset...

or

i could go to the future, make a guess, and hope i end up in fully automated luxury gay space communism and out of trouble

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Defasher wrote

It's more likely you'll end up in a dystopia than a utopia, all the projections show that we're fucked.

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not_AFX_lol wrote

yeah that's the reason it's even a debate, the past doesn't necessarily have a lot going for it even with the whole 'fucking with history thing'

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lustysociety wrote

All the projections show that we're fucked?
Not at all.
Do not let yourself getting distracted by meaningless news no matter the publisher.
Data proves that extreme poverty and illiteracy are constantly declining worldwide and will soon be a thing of the past.
Technology improves over time.
Technology is the reason why most humans have (or could have) a better and richer life and culture than before.
IMO societies is fragmenting into smaller societies; less and less persons are satisfied with the government they have.
This is good because this allows more persons to have the government and the life they prefer.
We are facing global threads (climate change, resistance of microbes, increased probability of catastrophic sun storms, meteorites or super volcanos) but we are also at the dawn of a new world:

  • important political changes: fragmentation of societies under a common world government for global peace.
  • important economic and industrial changes thanks to AI. Machines replace the muscles, AI replaces the brains.
  • important cultural and technological changes: solar energy, AI, genetic engineering, communication (internet), open source culture for everything
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Defasher wrote

The environment is fucked and mass extinction is coming eventually because of the danage we've done. We've passed the point of no return and our greatest minds all agree we have no chance of long term survival on this rapidly dying planet. The chances of us colonizing another planet in time to survive are very very slim since we still can't get out shit together enough to stop killing our neighbours.

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lustysociety wrote

"Our greatest minds all agree we have no chance of long term survival on this rapidly dying planet."
Can you give some names?
Except Stephen Hawking, who tends to foresee that we will have either a very good future or a very bad future (e.g. due to evil AI or evil ETs)
IMO colonizing Mars is a waste of money right now. It would be much better to invest in transhumanism, medicin and prevention of catastrophic meteorite impacts.
AI and transhumanism so that humans become more capable and have more time to solve the real problems instead of driving trucks, filling tax declarations, working in warehouses, making hamburgers,...
Besides, even if humans did all in their power to destroy Earth, they could not turn Earth into a dead hostile place like Mars.

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Defasher wrote

Start here:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/mar/14/nasa-civilisation-irreversible-collapse-study-scientists

Humanity is an arrogant and self destructive species, the chance that we survive after we've caused the apocalypse is very unlikely.

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lustysociety wrote

Thanks for the reply and the link.

The research team does not sound so pessimistic though, quote:
"However, the scientists point out that the worst-case scenarios are by no means inevitable, and suggest that appropriate policy and structural changes could avoid collapse, if not pave the way toward a more stable civilisation."

While I think that humanity is awesome and becoming better all the time, you see humans as a self destructive species.
IMO, the fall of the Roman Empire was rather a transformative event (if you can call it an event because it took decades) and less a "destructive" event like e.g. the Black Death.

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