Inconvenient Alien Truth

Just got done watching the DVD of An Inconvenient Truth (the Al Gore global warming documentary). I'd like to request that this thread not turn into an argument about global warming itself - the evidence is so far pretty clear on this point (so far)...

So, aliens. I was thinking that perhaps this warming situation, brought on largely by our industrialization and technological "success" may have something to say about the likelihood of aliens ever reaching us (Fermi's paradox, etc).

Think about this: What if our civilization ultimately collapses due to a runaway environmental effect we caused - and we don't survive? What if we *intentionally* backtrack our industrialization and reduce our use of technology and our numbers - and hence we don't make it off the planet? What if nature wrecks industrial civilization FOR us (as a result of our pushing the environment over the edge) - and hence we don't make it off the planet?

See where I'm going? What does everyone think?

Originally posted by Sophismata
Just got done watching the DVD of An Inconvenient Truth (the Al Gore global warming documentary). I'd like to request that this thread not turn into an argument about global warming itself - the evidence is so far pretty clear on this point (so far)...

I would like to point out that a massive eruption of say Mount St Helens would spew out more bad gasses than the whole of the industrial age of polution of all countries. You also need to read about the solar phase the Sun is currently in and that all the planets in our solar system are heating up right now as well.

Originally posted by mazzroth

Originally posted by Sophismata
Just got done watching the DVD of An Inconvenient Truth (the Al Gore global warming documentary). I'd like to request that this thread not turn into an argument about global warming itself - the evidence is so far pretty clear on this point (so far)...

I would like to point out that a massive eruption of say Mount St Helens would spew out more bad gasses than the whole of the industrial age of polution of all countries. You also need to read about the solar phase the Sun is currently in and that all the planets in our solar system are heating up right now as well.

Glad this thread didn't turn into an argument about global warming itself.

Well according the probedbygrays, global warming won't be a problem. His stuff is pretty interesting.

This thread's been inactive for a while but I thought I'd throw in my two cents because it's a great topic.

Sophismata, if you're implying that our imminent destruction due to our use of fossil fuels is evidence that extraterrestrial civilizations could never evolve past the age of industrialization, I disagree. For two reasons:

1. Fossil fuel is just one of an indefinite number of energy sources available to us here on Earth. Our having chosen it over the others may be just a case of bad luck. Also, other planets might offer other, more efficient sources of energy.

2. Judging by the way things are going, our present predicament, rather than forcing us back to the Stone Age, is actually motivating us to identify better energy sources. So even in your linear assessment, industrialization using fossil fuels could be seen as a necessary step in the evolution of a planetary civilization.

(Most leaps in evolution were caused by some kind of pressure or threat that the species hadn't faced before. Global warming may be just the threat we need to get off the planet.)

Great original post. I'd never thought of this angle.