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Scientists Blocking out the Sun
Ashtangiman writes to tell us The New York Times is running an article about geoengineering in which many solutions to global warming include decreasing the amount of sunlight that the planet sees. The ideas are not new, many have been around for quite some time, however they have been relegated to the fringes of science and many have never been published because of this. From the article: "Geoengineering is no magic bullet, Dr. Cicerone said. But done correctly, he added, it will act like an insurance policy if the world one day faces a crisis of overheating, with repercussions like melting icecaps, droughts, famines, rising sea levels and coastal flooding."
Simpsons did it! Simpsons did it!
--Matthew
"If the lights of Broadway blind me, I won't mind..."
After all, Launch Solar Shade is one of the techs you pick up along the way.
Cool, it works! :D
This idea is totally not new.
The only problem is, last time we simulated it, humanity ended up enslaved by robots.
...then the flamewar from this thread will start it.
I'll probably be modded down for this...
We'll be having rave parties 24x7 then. Cue the Matrix soundrack. Where are the hot chicks in post-apocalyptic skimpy outfits? I see these scientists have started using their recreational drugs even before the raves have started!
Now that we might be able to block out the sun, its ok to burn fossil fuels.[end sarcasm]
I think I think, therefore I think I am.
I am worried more about the vampires, who will reign supreme if there is no more daylight.
Jesus said to his disciples: "If you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one" - Luke 22:36
... a cure against skin-cancer ... and an increased possibility of slashdotters mating.
Everybody will be as pale as we are! Yey!
If you mod this up, your slashdot background will turn into a beautiful sunset!
Date line Aug. 17th, 2017:
NASA has confirmed that it was an error converting metric to imperial measurments that caused the death of almost seven billion people and the started our current ice age.
In other news; Today's high is expected to reach -65 celcius.
"Grab them by the pussy" -- President of the United States of America
we'd have to deal with the growing numbers of vampires wandering about.
Please don't forget to make it reversable.
Because evolution is such a speedy process.
That was revisionist history. The robots knew tnat sunlight could have given them the energy they needed, and they knew that humans blotted it out. They put two and two together and came to the conclusion that the humans blotted it out to spite them.
Given that the most reasonable "something-other-than-humans-caused" global warming hypothesis I've heard so far is that the sun's energy output is increasing, (incindentally, this would also explain Martian global warming, which by some evidence matches terrestrial warming), this seems like exactly the way to go.
Actually, I am pretty sure that Martian global warming is caused by those two little SUVs we have driving around up there.
You must be a poor parent if your kid thinks like that. Do you live in the US by any chance?
> Given that we don't conclusively understand the way the earth works, it strikes me as insanely arrogant to think we can CONTROL the biosphere. We should work on controlling our own (that is, INDIVIDUAL) actions before we try to tell "mother nature" what to do ..
So, I gather that you don't go for the idea of importing weasels to destroy the snakes that you imported to destroy the frogs that you imported to destroy the flies that you imported to destroy the...
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
A few years later: Tokyo is 'lost' after the giant sunscreen is blown to earth by solar winds, covering up all of Honshu island... The giant reflective shield blocks out all heat, light, radio signals, air, but conducts elictricity so many are electrocuted. All of the worlds scientists whom built the block would figure out a way to help the dying/freezing/suffocating Japanese but the world is too busy laughing.... Imagine it, most of Japan destroyed by a giant sheet of mylar. Is known to future generations as the Great Tokyo Jiffy-Pop Disaster.
Here's to losing my Karma Bonus again....
Martian global warming, which by some evidence matches terrestrial warming
Think of the effects this will have on the Buggalo!
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
I seem to recall that the Overlords in Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End had this ability. I, for one, welcome our new Overlord overlords.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
they will suddenly discover that they've invented a Tox Uthat ? ;-)
:-D
:O
Hm, better idea: just skip a few steps and go directly for the totally sci-fi approach:
Let's build a Dyson Sphere to feed our Matrioshka Brain.
Hmm.. thinking about this, I think Google's new data center is starting to scare me
damn it...u had to ruin it for me!
I was trying to get Keanu's butt out of my mind....thx man...thx.
Yeah those plants and their damn migratory routes.
No existe.
Who gives a shit if humans are causing it. We can't stop being human. The only solution is planetary engineering.
How we know is more important than what we know.
these guys can get it delivered to custom size in only 3 days
Sorry, I would rather find a way to make chicks more comforatable about giving head than to just go with out. Finding solutions to keep a life style is always more prefered then to change the lifestyle.
Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
A: determine honestly to the best of our ability what and when and how ( leaving if on the table ) we humans will be affected. and no dilly dallying or politicing, or hiding heads in sand.
B: once we know that, decide how we semicollectively want to respond. options seem to include getting us off the earth, and letting it go the way it wants to, while we terraform lifeless ( hopefully ) planets elsewhere, space stations, etc, etc. Or deciding to taylor earth better to our liking ( would not be my first choice ). and think of other strategies.
C: Put the plan into action, if one is needed.
D: PROFIT!that the Simpsons is fully 3 /. mod point points funnier than the Angry Beavers.
Eloi are stupid, throw morlocks at them!
Nope. The sun has nothing to do with the temperature of the earth. Nothing at all.
Why go fast when you can go anywhere? O|||||||O
If anything, the closest metaphor would be the very complex issue of developing the nuclear bomb to strike Japan. Except that we already have a good method to fix this which doesn't have the problems a full-scale invasion of Japan would--reduce CO2 emissions and plant more trees. Blocking out the sun will fix global warming the same way a nuclear winter will fix global warming.
Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
I'm missing 3 fingers, so I always write numbers in base 7. Really.
Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.