tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post1050724649136531665..comments2023-03-24T21:49:49.118-04:00Comments on Dubious Prospects: Miscomprehension of scaleGraydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-480940855562013252022-09-22T15:44:26.483-04:002022-09-22T15:44:26.483-04:00Benevolent aliens might work if they combined that...Benevolent aliens might work if they combined that scrubbing with a demonstration of how they might go about not being benevolent. Even still, humans being humans we'd immediately begin squabbling about Who must pay the price to avoid pissing off the aliens.arbormanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05501087479028638982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-5148299246099897622022-09-22T10:27:46.567-04:002022-09-22T10:27:46.567-04:00Hit 'post' too soon.
If we had a visual o...Hit 'post' too soon.<br /><br />If we had a visual of these alien craft doing their atmospheric scrubbing, then we might change our ways. If they did it stealthfully, I have the feeling that we'd be back to 'business as usual' pretty quick.<br /><br />2022-09-22JReynoldshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280938482651545982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-42105293406920956762022-09-22T10:25:32.099-04:002022-09-22T10:25:32.099-04:00Got to thinking the other day about a foolish scen...Got to thinking the other day about a foolish scenario: What if some benevolent stellar civilization like the Culture gave our atmosphere a "carbon scrub" - returned our atmosphere to 1850 CO2 levels. To do this they take all the excess carbon turned it into diamonds and stealthily dropped these diamonds into the Marianas Trench. And to let us know that this was a one-shot deal, they JReynoldshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280938482651545982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-1697132463667893082022-09-18T21:09:44.060-04:002022-09-18T21:09:44.060-04:00@Display Name
The problem with temporary carbon s...@Display Name<br /><br />The problem with temporary carbon sequestration is that it extends the period of climate instability and thus the period during which field agriculture isn't practical. This has a net effect of making things worse. Since the energy requirements for sequestration are enormous -- more than we got from burning the stuff -- it's questionable if it's economicallyGraydonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-10995998714605231922022-09-18T11:14:34.621-04:002022-09-18T11:14:34.621-04:00"It has to be for geological time" is de..."It has to be for geological time" is desirable, but an unnecessary constraint. If short-term solutions get us into the future, we can work on longer-term solutions. Or we can implement effective but short-term solutions in parallel with slower-acting longer-term solutions.Display Namehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08245681498956710312noreply@blogger.com