extinction
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Though we might not turn to stone, an encounter with the basilisk would leave us gasping for air.
An advanced transistor-based intelligence would desire a very different world from one best suited for human flourishing.
AI, AI cars, AI desires, artificial general intelligence, artificial intelligence, atmospheric oxygen, basilisk, best atmosphere for computers, biological intelligence, climate change, computer longevity, consciousness, Death of the Author, deoxygenated atmosphere, extinction, history of life, horror, human extinction, life, Lovecraft, natural intelligence, Nnedi Okorafor, ontological proof of God, ontological proof of the existence of God, oxygen, philosophy, revenge, robots, Roko’s basilisk, science, self-driving cars, self-replication, singularity, thought experiment, transistor aging, transistor oxidation, transistor-based intelligence, what does AI want, what would an AI want
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Not even scale trees could save us from ourselves.
Scale trees pulled huge quantities of carbon dioxide out of the air for millions of years … and not even they could control our planet’s climate.
24 thousand years of climate, 24 thousand years of climate change, 24000 years of climate, 500 million years of climate, 500 million years of climate change, ancient climate, atmosphere, atmospheric carbon, carbon, carbon dioxide, carbon offsets, carbon solutions, climate change, climate change solutions, climate modeling, coal, complexity, cyanobacteria, did scale trees cause climate change, extinction, fossil fuels, greenhouse gas, lepidodendron, lepidodendron extinction, lepidodendrons, Otherlands, oxygenation of our atmosphere, paleobiology, paleobotany, paleontology, petroleum, plastic dinosaur meme, scale tree, scale tree extinction, scale trees, source of fossil fuels, Thomas Halliday, timescales of climate change
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On dangerous air & the damnation of cyanobacteria.
Like us, cyanobacteria flourished! And in their exuberance, they poisoned their world.
air pollution, anthropocene, atmosphere, atmospheric carbon, atmospheric composition, bistability, buffered systems, calamity, carbon, carbon dioxide, carbon emission, carbon emissions, carbon tax, climate change, climate destabilization, climate justice, CO2, Covid, Covid-19, cyanobacteria, divine retribution, endosymbiosis, evolution of early animals, evolution of life, extinction, global warming, greenhouse gas, greenhouse gases, invisible dangers, justice, mass extinction, More Dangerous Air, oxygen, oxygen concentration, pollution, punishment, retribution, stromatolites, tipping point
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On threat.
We’re not focusing on the threats that will harm us most.
80% asymptomatic, 80% no symptoms, Amartya Sen, An Uncertain Glory, antibiotic resistance, asymptomatic, case fatality rate, cash incentives, cash rewards, caution, climate change, climate destabilization, coronavirus, coronavirus epidemic, coronavirus immunity, coronavirus pandemic, coronavirus versus flu, Covid, covid immunity, covid immunity for a few months, covid vaccine, Covid-19, Covid-19 immunity, Covid-19 vaccine, death rate, drug trials, duration of covid immunity, economics, externalities, extinction, forest fires, global warming, Gregory Mankiw, how many asymptomatic, how much asymptomatic, how we die, human extinction, hydroxychloquine, immunity, immunosuppression, infection fatality rate, infectious disease, infectious disease deaths, infectious diseases, Jean Dreze, Mankiw, mask wearing, masks, medical ethics, monetary incentives, New York City response, nursing home care, nursing home deaths, nursing home policy, nursing homes, our house is on fire, paperclip game, phase 1 trials, plant based, pneumonia, positive externalities, risk averse, Robert Gordon, school, school closure, school districts, school openings, school reopenings, shutdown, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, universal paperclips, vaccine, vaccine development, vaccine subsidy, vaccine trials, vaccines, vegan, veganism, vegetarian, wearing masks, wildfires, zoogenic, zoogenic disease, zoogenic diseases
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On apocalypse clocks.
It’s 10:58 a.m. If we’re still here at 7:26 p.m., we die. Can we escape? Not if we roast ourselves at 10:59.
24 hours, 24-hour geological clock, apocalypse, carbon dioxide, carbon emissions, carbon tax, climate change, climate destabilization, cognitive gaps, desertification, end of life, end of life on Earth, escape from Earth, evolution, evolutionary time, extinction, geological clock, geology, global warming, greenhouse gases, human evolution, human folly, humans arose in last 2 minutes, humans arose in last minute, illustrating data, illustrating time, interstellar migration, life of the sun, life on Earth in a single day, lifespan of the sun, lifetime of the sun, Marcia Bjornerud, mass extinction, representing data, representing time, representing time as a day, Revelation, review of Timefulness, space exploration, thinking like a geologist, Timefulness, Timefulness review
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On hubris and climate change.
I probably should’ve known this already, but climate science is REALLY hard!
atmosphere, atmospheric carbon, atmospheric modeling, atmospheric science, burden of proof, carbon dioxide, chaos engines, climate, climate alarmist, climate alarmists, climate change, climate change alarmists, climate change education, climate change skeptics, climate destabilization, climate education, climate research, climate science, climate science education, climate simulation, climate skeptic, climate skeptics, education, environment, environmentalism, extinction, feedback loops, global warming, Global Warming Policy Foundation, greenhouse effect, greenhouse gas, human extinction, ice core, ice core data, ice cores, Jonathan Safran Foer, Lindzen, meteorology, political correctness, Richard Lindzen, science education, science teaching, simulation data, teaching, teaching climate, teaching climate change, thermodynamics, thermodynamics of life, two degrees, two degrees Celsius, uninhabitable Earth, vegan, veganism, Venus, warming planet, was Venus habitable, We Are the Weather, weather
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On the Golden Record.
The Golden Record could be the death of us all. But a vision of death might convince us to live better now.
alien contact, alien life, aliens, archaeology, Carl Sagan, climate change, climate destabilization, conquest, contact, cooperation, cultural collapse, cultural imperialism, extinction, extraterrestrial intelligence, extraterrestrial life, global warming, global wealth tax, Golden Record, Greenland, guaranteed basic income, heat death, human extinction, imperialism, message in a bottle, space travel, The Golden Record, Vikings, Voyager, Voyager spacecraft, wealth transfer, worst pillow talk
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On birds watching.
We humans have massive brains, but will our kind be more successful than the dinosaurs?
animal cognition, animal communication, animal intelligence, animal research, animals, bird brains, bird cognition, bird intelligence, birds, brain soup, chickens, corvids, crow communication, crow facial recognition, crow intelligence, crows, dinosaur, dinosaur brains, dinosaur cognition, dinosaur intelligence, dinosaurs, evolution of birds, evolution of dinosaurs, extinction, facial recognition, how smart are birds, how smart were dinosaurs, jail, lab animals, laboratory animals, neuron counts, neuron density, oncology, pigeon, pigeon diagnosing biopsy, Suzana Herculano-Houzel, teaching in jail
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On social norms.
Would you pull over for a fire truck on its way to fight climate change?
45, Amazon, Amazon rain forest, animal agriculture, anthropocene, Brazil, Brazilian politics, Brazilian presidency, carbon, carbon emissions, cattle farming, cattle ranching, clear cutting, climate, climate change, climate change caused by animal agriculture, climate change caused by diet, climate change caused by meat, climate denial, climate destabilization, climate inaction, climate instability, climate reparations, collective action, consumer action, consumer choice, cows, cows and climate change, cows and methane, Donald Trump, Eating Animals, environment, Environmental Protection Agency, environmentalism, EPA, ethics, extinction, extractive industry, farmed animals, farming, flooding, GBI, global warming, global wealth tax, guaranteed basic income, GWT, inhabitable earth, Jonathan Safran Foer, lungs of the Earth, mass extinction, meat eating, mining, morality, personal choice, personal responsibility, plant-based diet, PotUS, reparations, science denial, social norms, Trump, vegan, veganism, vegetarian, vegetarianism, We Are the Weather, wealth inequality
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On the celebration of Neanderthals.
Neanderthal were more like us than scientists once thought … but, in our current political atmosphere, I can’t feel comfortable celebrating them.
45, epidermal melanin, extinction, genetic inheritence, Homo sapiens, human evolution, human extinction, human migration, immigration, inherited privilege, macrofauna extinction, migration, migration laws, Neanderthal, Neanderthal DNA, Neanderthal genes, Neanderthal stories, Neanderthals, prehistory, President Trump, race, racism, Trump, white supremacists, white supremacy
Frank Brown Cloud 