Problems, Predicaments, and Technology

Naples Beach and Pier, Florida It really requires some true grit to begin making the determination that one needs to move to avoid serious consequences from any particular predicament; and the older one is, the more difficult it is to leave a loved area. Almost no area will be left untouched by climate change and all the other predicaments caused by ecological overshoot, but one predicament in particular, Sea Level Rise (SLR), brings forth a whole host of issues that many don't know about. Sadly, I had the experience of attempting to explain this to a friend who got mad at me for posting scientific articles regarding the situation. Many people are suffering from denial of reality  surrounding these issues, which doesn't help. Overwhelmingly, the easiest issue that almost everyone can see is street flooding caused by high tides (sunny day flooding). This makes the situation impossible to ignore, and building streets higher doesn't resolve the issue of water coming UNDERNEAT

I distinctly remember my first introduction to the initialism (or abbreviation or acronym) "NTHE" which ushered me into a whole new set of exploration. I was a member of a climate change group on Facebook at the time (which I had been a member of for quite some time) and I saw a post which was discussing it. I hadn't seen this abbreviation before and wondered what it meant, so I did a search and a whole list of links was presented (as usual) along with the spelled out version, Near Term Human Extinction. I clicked on one which took me to a website blog by Dave Pollard . I started reading and was introduced to another person, Carolyn Baker, with whom Dave had a video interview with. Through this video, I was introduced to another person, a professor by the name of Guy McPherson. A video of him presenting information at an Indiana university, DePauw, where my grandmother attended, was available; so I watched it. The information was stark and I noticed the looks on the ki

At first glance, my thoughts regarding this topic are that I've actually probably covered most of it in my very first blog post here.  However, I decided to try a new twist by asking members of a group I run what they'd like me to write about, and this was the first idea mentioned. There are particular angles of this topic which I have also covered here  under the topic of denial and here  under the topic of optimism bias. It is very important to cover the topic of psychology, because most people are affected in one way or another by predetermined beliefs and feelings based upon their worldview, upbringing, and schooling. No two people are going to agree 100% on everything; but utilizing logic, critical thinking, and consensus can minimize disagreements to a rather large extent. Before I go any further, I need to point out that I am NOT pro-fossil fuels. For some reason, some people have gotten the misguided notion that I am some sort of fossil fuel shill, which couldn't be

  What is it that leads to denial of reality and then subsequently in many cases, optimism bias? Recently, I have noticed a rather large increase in the number of posts and/or comments which are not based on reality and demonstrate a large amount of ignorance on a large number of topics. Is it just me or is this happening across the spectrum of groups that are based upon climate change and/or energy and resource decline? So, based on my curiosity, I decided to make posts asking about this scenario. The answers I received confirmed, that indeed, the same lines of thought that I figured are also responsible for the denial of reality and optimism bias I continue seeing in increasing amounts. As for whether or not a large increase is happening, please offer up YOUR observation in the comments section below! Among the topics this covers are the overwhelming subjects often found in news articles regarding new technology focusing on artificial intelligence, batteries, non-renewable "ren

  In my last written post (to clarify the difference between the files, which contain only links to outside material), I mentioned denial of reality. You might wonder what this has to do with climate change and extinction. Cognitive dissonance is one of the most powerful mental issues that affects humans. Rob Mielcarski explains the evolution of how this came to be, quote: " The singular emergence of human intelligence, and its ability to write and read this paragraph, evolved in a gene controlled machine with an unusually powerful computer, that was created by an improbable simultaneous adaptation for an extended theory of mind with denial of reality, and whose complexity was enabled by the increased energy per gene provided by mitochondria, that resulted from an accidental endosymbiosis of two prokaryotes, powered by an unintuitive chemiosmotic proton pump, that originated in an alkaline hydrothermal vent, on 1 of 40 billion planets, in 1 of 100 billion galaxies, and that plane