LetsTalkUFOs's recent activity
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Comment on Synthwave in ~music
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Comment on Titanfall 3 is not in the works, Respawn says in ~games
LetsTalkUFOs Link ParentWhat do you mean by 'liked'? Are you already done playing it? I wasn't hugely into the TF series, but Apex is a solid addition to the BR genre. The complete lack of advertising makes me think EA...What do you mean by 'liked'? Are you already done playing it?
I wasn't hugely into the TF series, but Apex is a solid addition to the BR genre. The complete lack of advertising makes me think EA isn't optimistic though, and the 'pressure' can't really be there as a result (even if everyone does actually want it to succeed).
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Comment on Would anyone like a free website? in ~creative
LetsTalkUFOs Link ParentHmmm, I think I found what might have been causing it. Although, I have a Macbook and haven't seen what you're experiencing. Would you be willing to check it once more and let me know if it's...Hmmm, I think I found what might have been causing it. Although, I have a Macbook and haven't seen what you're experiencing. Would you be willing to check it once more and let me know if it's still doing it?
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Comment on Would anyone like a free website? in ~creative
LetsTalkUFOs Link ParentMy mistake, thank you!My mistake, thank you!
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Comment on Would anyone like a free website? in ~creative
LetsTalkUFOs LinkYou could likely use something like ScrollMagic for the effects. The swiping to scroll function I'm not certain how to impliment and might be a bit hard to make intuitive. The rest of it would be...You could likely use something like ScrollMagic for the effects. The swiping to scroll function I'm not certain how to impliment and might be a bit hard to make intuitive. The rest of it would be just a regular webpage (as there are many ways to quickly setup a long scroll of vertical images).
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Comment on Would anyone like a free website? in ~creative
LetsTalkUFOs Link ParentI'd take a peek. Toss me the link in a DM.I'd take a peek. Toss me the link in a DM.
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Would anyone like a free website?
I do web and graphic design professionally, but currently have some free time. You can see some of my work here. You would still need to pay for the domain registration (15$/year), but I could...
I do web and graphic design professionally, but currently have some free time.
You can see some of my work here.
You would still need to pay for the domain registration (15$/year), but I could provide hosting.
Bonus if you’re a starving artist, non-profit, or doing something humanitarian. I’d prefer not to do one for a business, since they should be able afford to pay someone, but feel free to make a case.
I would build it with Wordpress and incorporate Divi so you wouldn’t be entirely dependent on me to make future edits yourself.
I’m far from an expert and mostly do front-end, but like helping people and love the community here.
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Comment on What are some genuinely good places online? in ~talk
LetsTalkUFOs Link ParentThese are excellent suggestions. Thank you!These are excellent suggestions. Thank you!
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Comment on What are some genuinely good places online? in ~talk
LetsTalkUFOs Link ParentDoesn't this mean the degradation in quality is more a factor of the size of the community? I'm currently observing many members of a sub I recently started moderating have the same gripes with...Doesn't this mean the degradation in quality is more a factor of the size of the community? I'm currently observing many members of a sub I recently started moderating have the same gripes with their own community (which has gradually gone to 80k subs, but at an accelerating rate).
Personally, I think Tildes itself is a good example. I don't see anything within the underlying mechanics which would prevent a general degradation in the quality of discussion if it were to increase in size by significant factors.
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Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music
LetsTalkUFOs Link ParentI have no idea how I missed Trevor's most recent album. Thank you for sharing this! You may like a playlist I made this year somewhat focused around music similar to his.I have no idea how I missed Trevor's most recent album. Thank you for sharing this!
You may like a playlist I made this year somewhat focused around music similar to his. -
Comment on What are the primary pressures leading us towards collapse? in ~talk
LetsTalkUFOs Link ParentThank you for offering such a well-stated overview off all these solutions. It's taken me awhile to go through them in detail, I apologize for the late response. I'd love to discuss these with you...Thank you for offering such a well-stated overview off all these solutions. It's taken me awhile to go through them in detail, I apologize for the late response. I'd love to discuss these with you further and/or help facilitate some form of these which are more condensed, sourced, and similar to the format I've used above. I think many people would get quite a bit out of them, and I'd be sure to include them in the page I'm currently working on.
There are definitely systemic factors here, which you acknowledge. I think they'd be critical to include in any descriptions for each solution and how they relate to each toher. Timelines would be important as well. For example, I can see the IAEA estimates Seaborg Molten Salt Reactor would become available after 2024.
This material is generally challenging to summarize, but I get the impression you've already done quite a bit of reading and are able to communicate it quite well. Let me know if you'd like to chat further about working together. Drop me a line through here and we can discuss via email.
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Comment on What are the primary pressures leading us towards collapse? in ~talk
LetsTalkUFOs Link ParentThank you. I think many of the issues are interconnected and may be able to justify an additional statement which broadly underlines this fact (I don't think population and climate change are the...Thank you. I think many of the issues are interconnected and may be able to justify an additional statement which broadly underlines this fact (I don't think population and climate change are the only deeply linked aspects, but you are correct in they are).
My understanding was the US grew food the most efficiently in the world and was one of the top three largest exporters. Disruptions could certainly cascade (and I can't speak for Europe) and it may still be irrelevant (a few extra days wouldn't make much difference, realistically).
And no worries, I'm not learned in these areas either! The bubbles are definitely looming, among other factors.
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Comment on What are the primary pressures leading us towards collapse? in ~talk
LetsTalkUFOs Link ParentThese are great suggestions, particularly #2. I had a write-up for it with a couple sources, but feel like I might try to connect it to a broader statement I have yet to determine. Yes, I'd love...These are great suggestions, particularly #2. I had a write-up for it with a couple sources, but feel like I might try to connect it to a broader statement I have yet to determine.
Yes, I'd love to see a list and/or sources of solutions. My intention with this is to move on towards means of action, I just hadn't gotten to that phase yet. I certainly realize how unlikely or unfeasible certain solutions are, but I also think it's important to acknowledge how voluntary our predicament has become and explore responses together.
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What are the primary pressures leading us towards collapse?
I’m trying to organize a series of statements which reflect the primary pressures pushing civilization towards collapse. Ideally, I could be as concise as possible and provide additional resources...
I’m trying to organize a series of statements which reflect the primary pressures pushing civilization towards collapse. Ideally, I could be as concise as possible and provide additional resources for understanding and sources in defense of each. Any feedback would be helpful, as I would like to incorporate them into a general guide for better understanding collapse.
We are overwhelmingly dependent on finite resources.
Fossil fuels account for 87% of the world’s total energy consumption. 1 2 3
Economic pressures will manifest well before reserves are actually depleted as more energy is required to extract the same amount of resources over time (or as the steepness of the EROEI cliff intensifies). 1 2
We are transitioning to renewables very slowly.
Renewables have had an average growth rate of 5.4% over the past decade. 1 2 3 4
Renewables are not taking off any faster than coal or oil once did and there is no technical or financial reason to believe they will rise any quicker, in part because energy demand is soaring globally, making it hard for natural gas, much less renewables, to just keep up. 1
Total world energy consumption increased 15% from 2009 to 2016. New renewables powered less than 30% of the growth in demand during that period. 1
Transitioning to renewables too quickly would disrupt the global economy.
A rush to build an new global infrastructure based on renewables would require an enormous amount resources and produce massive amounts of pollution. 1 2
Current renewables are ineffective replacements for fossil fuels.
Energy can only be substituted by other energy. Conventional economic thinking on most depletable resources considers substitution possibilities as essentially infinite. But not all joules perform equally. There is a large difference between potential and kinetic energy. Energy properties such as: intermittence, variability, energy density, power density, spatial distribution, energy return on energy invested, scalability, transportability, etc. make energy substitution a complex prospect. The ability of a technology to provide ‘joules’ is different than its ability to contribute to ‘work’ for society. All joules do not contribute equally to human economies. 1 2 3
Best-case energy transition scenarios will still result in severe climate change.
Even if every renewable energy technology advanced as quickly as imagined and they were all applied globally, atmospheric CO2 levels wouldn’t just remain above 350 ppm; they would continue to rise exponentially due to continued fossil fuel use. So our best-case scenario, which was based on our most optimistic forecasts for renewable energy, would still result in severe climate change, with all its dire consequences: shifting climatic zones, freshwater shortages, eroding coasts, and ocean acidification, among others. Our reckoning showed that reversing the trend would require both radical technological advances in cheap zero-carbon energy, as well as a method of extracting CO2 from the atmosphere and sequestering the carbon. 1
The speed and scale of transitions and of technological change required to limit warming to 1.5°C has been observed in the past within specific sectors and technologies {4.2.2.1}. But the geographical and economic scales at which the required rates of change in the energy, land, urban, infrastructure and industrial systems would need to take place, are larger and have no documented historic precedent. 1
Global economic growth peaked forty years ago.
Global economic growth peaked forty years ago and is projected to settle at 3.7% in 2018. 1 2 3
The increased price of energy, agricultural stress, energy demand, and declining EROEI suggest the energy-surplus economy already peaked in the early 20th century. 1 2
The size of the global economy is still projected to double within the next 25 years. 1
Our institutions and financial systems are based on expectations of continued GDP growth perpetually into the future. Current OECD (2015) forecasts are for more than a tripling of the physical size of the world economy by 2050. No serious government or institution entity forecasts the end of growth this century (at least not publicly). 1
Global energy demand is increasing.
Global energy demand has increased 0.5-2% per year from 2011-2017, despite increases in efficiency. 1 2 3
Technological change can raise the efficiency of resource use, but also tends to raise both per capita resource consumption and the scale of resource extraction, so that, absent policy effects, the increases in consumption often compensate for the increased efficiency of resource use. 1 2 3 4
World population is increasing.
World population is growing at a rate of around 1.09% per year (2018, down from 1.12% in 2017 and 1.14% in 2016. The current average population increase is estimated at 83 million people per year. The annual growth rate reached its peak in the late 1960s, when it was at around 2%. The rate of increase has nearly halved since then, and will continue to decline in the coming years. 1 2
Our supplies of food and water are diminishing.
Global crop yields are expected to fall by 10% on average over the next 30 years as a result of land degradation and climate change. 1
An estimated 38% of the world’s cropland has been degraded or reduced water and nutrient availability. 1 2
Two-thirds of the world (4.0 billion people) lives under conditions of severe water scarcity at least one month per year. 1
Climate change is rapidly destabilizing our environment.
An overwhelming majority of climate scientists agree humans are the primary cause of climate change. 1
A comparison of past IPCC predictions against 22 years of weather data and the latest climate science find the IPCC has consistently underplayed the intensity of climate change in each of its four major reports released since 1990. 1
15,000 scientists, the most to ever cosign and formally support a published journal article, recently called on humankind to curtail environmental destruction and cautioned that “a great change in our stewardship of the Earth and the life on it is required, if vast human misery is to be avoided.” 1
Emissions are still rising globally and far from enabling us to stay under two degrees of global average warming. 1 2
Climate feedback loops could exponentially accelerate climate change.
In addition to increased atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, many disrupted systems can trigger various positive or negative feedbacks within the larger system. 1 2 3 4 5
Biodiversity is falling rapidly.
The current species extinction rate is 1,000 to 10,000 times greater than the natural background rate. 1 2
World wildlife populations have declined by an average 58% in the past four decades. 1
The marginal utility of societal complexity is declining.
Civilization solves problems via increased societal complexity (e.g. specialization, political organization, technology, economic relationships). However, each increase in complexity has a declining marginal utility to overall society, until it eventually becomes negative. At such a point, complexity would decrease and a process of collapse or decline would begin, since it becomes more useful to decrease societal complexity than it would be to increase it. 1 2 3
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Comment on If you could start a conversation about anything you'd like, what would it be? in ~talk
LetsTalkUFOs Link ParentI've been working on a page this year, trying to solidify my understanding of some of the core aspects of collapse. It's difficult and ongoing. Ideally, I can maintain some form of momentum and...I've been working on a page this year, trying to solidify my understanding of some of the core aspects of collapse. It's difficult and ongoing. Ideally, I can maintain some form of momentum and delve further into the core concepts and barriers to understanding. My intention would then be to move onto building pages specifically for transition, action, and/or coping, but it's continually daunting and exhausting. I don't feel I can determine the best course of action yet until I've managed to build a stronger basis of understanding.
I would gladly talk you silly about these issues. What kind of books have you read, if any, regarding it?
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~life
LetsTalkUFOs LinkI didnt' expect to see JMG here already. I've been reading him here and there, but hadn't come across this notion. Thank you for sharing, it's quite powerful. Are you versed in collapse at all?...I didnt' expect to see JMG here already. I've been reading him here and there, but hadn't come across this notion. Thank you for sharing, it's quite powerful.
Are you versed in collapse at all? Would you be willing to take my survey?
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Comment on The Good Place is one of the funniest, most original shows I've seen in a long time in ~tv
LetsTalkUFOs LinkI just finished the second episode this week. Personally, it feels like the moral aspects are being over-simplified and used as crutches for conflicts which aren't actually that complicated. I'm...I just finished the second episode this week. Personally, it feels like the moral aspects are being over-simplified and used as crutches for conflicts which aren't actually that complicated. I'm also not taken with Kristen as a horrible person, but that may be from seeing her in too many other roles.
Someone on Reddit suggested this as a successor to NBC's Community, which doesn't make sense AT ALL yet. Am I wrong? How much longer do I have to 'stick this out' to see what the hell people are referring to here?
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Comment on How's your day going? in ~talk
LetsTalkUFOs LinkTaking a break from reading a Ken Wilber book at lunch. Heading back to work soon to tie up some projects, then procrastinate some research. Feeling somewhat aimless, even though I'm leaving town...Taking a break from reading a Ken Wilber book at lunch. Heading back to work soon to tie up some projects, then procrastinate some research. Feeling somewhat aimless, even though I'm leaving town for six weeks on Monday and have more than enough to prepare.
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Comment on What's currently upsetting you? in ~talk
LetsTalkUFOs Link ParentWe should research NETs (Negative Emissions Technologies), but we can't rely on them, since they probably will not work soon enough or at scale. You might enjoy Kevin Anderson's latest talk...We should research NETs (Negative Emissions Technologies), but we can't rely on them, since they probably will not work soon enough or at scale. You might enjoy Kevin Anderson's latest talk regarding IPCC projections. He's very informed and comments on them specifically.
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Comment on What book do you recommend and why? in ~misc
LetsTalkUFOs LinkOvershoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change by William R. Catton (1982) It's an incredibly well written and sobering explanation of the human predicament. I have no background in...Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change by William R. Catton (1982)
It's an incredibly well written and sobering explanation of the human predicament. I have no background in science or ecology, but Catton explains the core concepts and various data for understanding the notion of overshoot an its implications extremely well. I was a bit blindsided by the fact this was written in the eighties. If scientists and ecologists have had perspectives like this for this long, it doesn't speak well for our collective ability to change our current trajectory.
It's a podcast and not an artist perse, but I really enjoy Beyond Synth with Andy Last.