• Sordid@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    there’s plenty of opportunity for a successor to us to reach the stars

    No, there isn’t. We’ve already used up all the easily accessible sources of fossil fuels, so whoever comes after us won’t have the energy sources necessary to have an industrial revolution and will be stuck at a pre-industrial tech level forever.

    • Blyfh@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Great! So they’ll skip the fossil energy era and jump directly to renewables? We paved the path for them to avoiding another climate change.

      • Sordid@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        We’re having quite a bit of trouble making that transition even with the benefits of a couple centuries of fossil-fueled industry. I find the idea of jumping directly from horse-drawn wagons to wind turbines and solar panels rather implausible.

    • SimplePhysics@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      That’s right, if we kick the bucket, a new intelligent civilization would not have the resources to advance at our pace. They may figure out the atom, but they won’t have the resources to utilize their knowledge. Then there is the ever looming threat of a disaster, and these preindustrial civilizations will be wiped out with zero warning or preparation.

      Also: what are the chances a species similar to us in intelligence will emerge again on this rock? I’m going to bet it’s pretty darn tiny.

          • Daft_ish@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Write for me 4000 words on how technological advancement is a linear progression that always follows the same path and needs the same exact external stimuli to occur.

            • Sordid@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              4000 words? Oh please, that can be done in a hundredth of that: The laws of physics are constant, and more advanced technologies have energy requirements that must be met by preceding technologies. At the same time, each technology also has to offer enough tangible benefits to be worth pursuing on its own.

                • Sordid@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  Feel free to make up the difference by rereading those two sentences a hundred times. Maybe that’ll be enough for the point to get through.