Society/Culture Is the SRP too negative?

[barreness]

As Australians we are mostly optimistic, our material conditions are decent and allow for it. I think humans in general need to be to get over the terror that we'll all die, and so will look for hope even in dire situations

It's not going to be like that for anyone going into the future. It's in your best mental health interests to ignore it and keep trucking

 

[burge13]

This is kind of interesting; 'The end is nigh' right? but what if they're correct? There's a lot of science to back this stuff.

If you go through the IPCC papers they rely on a magical future technology that will remove carbon from the air at scale. What if that isn't possible? A general understanding of thermodynamics would suggest it's not and can't be, at least in the timeframe required

Every year we pollute more, the biosphere collapses more, and tech stagnates at boundaries from physics.

It's pretty clear climate has phase changed in the last few years, what if we are cooked?

I kind of hate the there's still hope news articles, we can change etc
As an analogy; when your fire alarm goes off do you leave the house because your ears hurt, or do you check to see if the ovens on? At some point you have to accept it's beyond saving but I'd bet you'd still call 000

The climate extremists have been wrong 40+ years. The world was supposed to cave in 5x by now according to them, forgive me for ignoring them. Climate is changing, but it is NOT the emergency that they claim it is and never was.

Renewables also wont do shit when mining companies continue to kill rain forests, we concrete over as much greenery as humanly possible, and cargo ships continue being a main user of fossil fuels. Plus their renewables still need mining which damages the earth just as much. Almost like this is all money driven? (forgive my scepticism but our decision makes have never had our best interests at heart. Follow the money)

 

[tandino]

It is negative, and it seems to have gotten that way without the help of all the spooky tools that the latecomers to the social media space use to drive engagement and line their pockets.

Maybe the algorithm's are getting a bad rap.

 

[Richard Pryor]

Possibly an inevitable reflection of society. Not sure how much is media manipulation, but as a layman on economics/politics it feels as though Australia along with the West as a whole progressed consistently from WWII with conditions across the board improving economically, but in recent years that progression and growth has slowed and is now potentially turning into regression. Hard to feel positive when confronted with the first possible decline in quality of life in living memory (for those of us fortunate enough to live in the West).

Perhaps it is also more that we have grown to accustomed to infinite economic growth and development. As an example the idea of everyone moving out at 18 and buying a house within ten/fifteen years is a relatively recent (and possibly unsustainable) development in human society, being confronted with the reality this may not be possible indefinitely for all generations results in a lot of angst, but I feel for the vast majority of human history people have lived with multiple generations under one roof.

I think another factor is how accessible the personal lives of politicians and experts have become through social media. I feel like in the past the airbrushed images of celebrities, scientists, and political leaders sort of lulled the majority into a sense of security. I feel like no matter how much one disagreed with policies or things that 'mattered' there was an air of artificial civility and stability, whereas now it is impossible to ignore how many assholes and idiots there are in positions of influence which I think has eroded trust in all forms of official communication, opening the door for misinformation and complete apathy/disillusionment in every aspect of life.