Existential Threats

[Martin Hash]

As long as there's been human society, social tensions arise around the concept of egalitarianism, the false idea that everyone should benefit equally: from those according to their ability, to those according to their need. In fact, egalitarianism is embedded in most religions, inspiring people to proselytize their conviction. In politics, egalitarianism is the basis of the collectivist ideologies, what is typically called The Left; those who believe the needs of the group supersede the wants of individuals, and they pursue their goal with the self-assurance and zeal of true-believers, that we all should be “equal.” Equality necessitates authoritarianism because, mathematically, half of the people must be forced to give their things to the other half, and it also requires that everyone listen to elites who know what is best for everyone.

The most successful tactic of egalitarian activists is an existential threat that forces everyone to work together and listen to elites for their very survival; and they have categorized the global catastrophic risks; for example, there's human-caused destruction, called anthropogenic risks, which include A.I., nuclear war, GMO, pandemic, overpopulation and climate change. There's also external risks, like an asteroid impact, supervolcanic eruption, geomagnetic storm, gamma ray burst, extraterrestrials, the sun transforming into a a red-giant that engulfs the Earth, and, interestingly, climate change.

Climate Change.JPG

Obviously, the biggest existential threat is climate change; it was climate, after all, that caused the extinction the dinosaurs, and what kid doesn't like dinosaurs. Easy-peasy, you want an egalitarian society, convince children their very existence requires collective action, that needs authoritarian power so that everyone must be required work together. I'm not an egalitarian but I like to help, so I have compiled a list of existing existential threats and solutions that are in the best interests of everyone:

(1) There’s no doubt that right now there’s an asteroid who’s trajectory will collide with Earth. There’s already been a couple close calls already! That’s why we’ve surrounded the planet with a wall of space junk.

Asteroid s.jpg

(2) Plagues have killed entire populations; see Medieval Europe and The Americas after contact with Columbus. Some virus, natural or a terrorist bioweapon, is sure to happen again. We need a drone fleet to spray vaccines over infected areas. That’s why we were testing drones in Afghanistan, and why China uses drone fleets to defeat the Corona virus.

Drone s.jpg

(3) Yellowstone National Park is supposed to be the biggest supervolcano in the world, and it’s 20,000 years overdue for a major eruption that will make the surface of the earth uninhabitable; we need to start construction of underground cities, which is why bears live in caves.

Supervolcano s.jpg

(4) We have a lot of circumstantial evidence that aliens visited the Earth, and probably will again in the future, so we should be prepared for intergalactic war. That’s why Trump created the Space Force.

Space Force.JPG

(5) Very credible people, such as Elon Musk, contend that we all live in a simulation, so everyone should learn to code. That’s what we tell fired Lefty journalists.

(6) And lastly: you are all figments of my imagination. This is a real possibility; it’s even got a name, solipsism. The only solution I can see is to make me king.

[TheReal_ND]

The world is a tendies machine

[Hastur]

Our biggest existential threat short term is atomic weapons. In the long term is climate change. We will eventually have to stop a new ice age.

[heydaralon]

Our biggest existential threat short term is atomic weapons. In the long term is climate change. We will eventually have to stop a new ice age.

Wear a jacket.

[SuburbanFarmer]

Good post, but..

China uses drone fleets to defeat the Corona virus.

A lot of our ‘solutions’ are vastly over-estimated. We remain ever at the whims of Fate.

[Smitty-48]

Aliens capable of interstellar flight would be impervious to human weapons by those means alone

It's all about acceleration, to an interstellar traveler, our weapons are barely moving at all

Our fastest projectile was Galileo, at 173,000 km/h, that is standing still in the context of constant acceleration.

If we shot something at them, they would literally have months to get out of its way.

Meanwhile they could just nudge a rock off its orbit and towards us, and that's game over.

SETI is actually a very bad idea, we are simply announcing our presence to whomever is listening

If it is a species which was inclined to interstellar conquest, they are likely an apex predator just like us.

SETI is the search for the other beings like us, and we are the most dangerous animal in the known universe

If they can move exponentially faster than us, that is a scary monster by default.

Only the strong survive, only the truly terrifying would survive long enough to reach relativistic velocities