Chemist. Techno-optimist. Guardian reader. Wildlife lover. Oil and Gas scientistscientist. Firm believer in a wonderful future, if we can stop being daft.
@DrPhiltill Absolutely right about selection for those who have most babies being the factor that limits population decline. You can think of it as though modern life is a pathogen to which some are immune, and they will eventually prosper (Idiocracy, unfortunately π€¦ββοΈ)
@TheMindScourge Such a good point, and lots of good supporting points in the comments. Can you imagine what it was like for the Saturn V engineers? - seeing your efforts soar to the heavens on a pillar of fire.
@rweb11742 LNG Liquefaction is an odd term - suggests turning a liquid into a liquid? You usually have gas liquefaction or LNG gasification. Long-term, expect to see LNG ships queuing up at an offload jetty
@Liv_Boeree@eriktorenberg Good old natural selection will fix it, eventually. An ever increasing proportion of children will be descended from those who are immune to the pathologies of modernity, those who shrugged off economics, dating apps, distractions etc and just loved breeding.
@magnushambleton Quite right! Amongst my friends we call it 'smoke-bombing'. One minute you're there and partying, then 'poof' you're gone. Totally accepted
@Rainmaker1973 The abiogenic concept totally fails to explain the presence of fragments of complex biological molecules in crude oils. It could feasibly produce natural gas, maybe even some lighter hydrocarbons, but not the heavier stuff
@Pony_WanKenobi@sentdefender You're absolutely right. My guess is someone misheard, and it was ammonium, not sodium perchlorate, hence brown nitric oxides in smoke (I expect NaClO4 is too deliquescent to be useful)
@waitbutwhy We're drawn toward big changes in energy. Explosions, things travelling fast, falling from heights, fires, tornadoes etc
Could be an evolutionary advantage - if there's energy somewhere then it might be exploitable
@Devon_Eriksen_ Natural selection will fix this in the long term. Those who are easily discouraged will exit the gene pool, while those whose drive to have kids exceeded all the headwinds you mention will come to dominate the population. Pretty simple really