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Why are we as humans obsessed with mass-extinction of our species? (self.asklemmy)

submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by tjtherealbest to c/asklemmy

34 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I was having a conversation with my friend about this. We were discussing AI and she believes AI will destroy all of humanity just like so many others. I personally don't believe that. I'm aware of all the theories and the multitude of ways that it could happen and I understand that with AI, in theory we wouldn't understand its goals so we wouldn't know how it would destroy us but again, that's just a theory.

There's also the constant fear of massive nuclear holocaust with WWIII but I also don't believe that we'd realistically get to a point where we'd use Nukes on each other knowing the implications of what would happen. But it made me realize that we're constantly fearful of mass extinction. To the point where some people fight tooth and nail and will not try to look at things from a more positive or optimistic perspective. It's all death or you're wrong.

Please help me understand this. I'm here with open ears.

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[–] themurphy 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

When I think about these things, I like to think about COVID as a reminder what the world could accomplish when banding together - and that we will do it again, if shit hits the fan.

We would do the same to other threats if they get serious enough.

[–] jantin 8 points 8 months ago

We will not. If anything COVID taught me people will actively fight against anything that minimally hurts their comfort and entrenched vision of reality.

This time we were taken by surprise and governments were surprisingly quick to act and impose things and we were lucky to have a 90%ready tech developed precisely for this kind of event (mRNA vaccines were in late stage of development in 2020, they just speeded up finishing touches, trials and roll-out).

In 2023 the general vibe is " we know that lockdowns, mask mandates, travel bans were the right thing to do, but we also know we won't let them happen again". So it's better to stay quiet, do nothing and act surprised when the next pandemic hits. Except this time those in power will know that mitigation won't float and societies will happily sacrifice the old and the weak on the altar of economy.

On an unrelated note, "climate mitigation" will probably never happen.