I don't think geological records are all that helpful in this case. There has never been a life-form that pushes the pendulum the way humans have. We have done so many things to limit and prevent the natural cycles that would have by now surely led to a significant limitation of the human population.
War, famine, disease, disaster, etc. they have all or are all being limited if not practically being eradicated. The danger is that if you keep pushing and pushing the pendulum the marginal effort needed to push it not only becomes ever greater and the duration which is can be held decreases, but the risk of something causing the pendulum to slip and swing freely exponentially increases. We are approaching several means in which the biosphere that is earth may collapse. We don't even really understand all the finer intricacies of our world, there is absolutely no chance we could even identify some sort of black swan even that we sure as hell won't be able to prevent, let alone reverse.
It all seems to grotesquely stupid how ignorantly we are treating our only habitat. The very single place that we can exist at the moment and we are risking it all on a stupid bet.
Populations expand until they collapse their food supply. Equilibriums are reached eventually but they are never very stable, at least from a geological time frame.
Humans have overcome a number of hurdles, but to say we are immune to the same pressures is just hubris.
Already populations are declining in wealthy countries, what will happen in JApan in 50 years? No one knows because it's never happened to such a wealthy technologically advanced country.
Food cost spiked several times in the 2000s leading to food riots and was a likely catalyst of the Arab Spring.
World fishing stock is over exploited and total world wild catch has flat lined the last 5 years, aquaculture has made up the difference but that is an entirely new area and the environmental effects are uncertain.
Technology may save us, but blind optimism is no different than baseless pessimism.
Global climate change is happening, no one knows how fast or have massive those changes will be, we just know it's happening. From a geological perspective we are already living through a mass extinction event, our influence has been profound and will be seen for millions of years in the fossil record.
Just wait until your children's children see what we call parks: huge structures surrounding a park with a super-fine mesh filament that traps even the bacteria and insects in the enclosed park.
Outside those areas, you'll likely see scrubgrass and other drought resistant and pollution resistant superweeds.. Because that's all that will grow.
I've had these portents in dreams. Maybe they're real: maybe I was actually there in my dream. Or maybe it's just a fantasy born in my head. All I know is if it's real, it's bleak.
War, famine, disease, disaster, etc. they have all or are all being limited if not practically being eradicated. The danger is that if you keep pushing and pushing the pendulum the marginal effort needed to push it not only becomes ever greater and the duration which is can be held decreases, but the risk of something causing the pendulum to slip and swing freely exponentially increases. We are approaching several means in which the biosphere that is earth may collapse. We don't even really understand all the finer intricacies of our world, there is absolutely no chance we could even identify some sort of black swan even that we sure as hell won't be able to prevent, let alone reverse.
It all seems to grotesquely stupid how ignorantly we are treating our only habitat. The very single place that we can exist at the moment and we are risking it all on a stupid bet.
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