Slashdot Mirror
Evidence Suggests Updated Timeline Towards Yellowstone's Supervolcano Eruption (nytimes.com)
Camel Pilot writes: Geologist have been aware of fresh magma moving in the Yellowstone's super volcano system. Previously this was thought to precede an eruption by thousands of years. Recent evidence by Hannah Shamloo, a graduate student at Arizona State University, demonstrates that perhaps the timeline from the underground basin filling to eruption is more on the scale of decades. A super volcano eruption has the power to alter life's story on this earth and even destroy all life on a continent. In light of this, it seems like a good time to invest some effort and resources into finding ways to prepare, delay or deflect the potential threat. The research was presented at the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI) 2017 conference in Portland, Oregon.
The difference is that the scientists are correct about Yellowstone. The problem is that fools like you want to take the rest of humanity down with you when it does go off.
Have you ever interacted with the officials that award research grants? They aren't panicky people.
If we can figure out how to live on Mars, we can probably figure out how to live on Earth.
// This is not a sig.
Insignificant. You are missing the point. A super volcano would cause massive climate change. Almost all current crops would die off in their new climate. All of California's crop would be covered in ash. You cannot feed massive populations without modern farms. That's just the beginning. The dinosaurs didn't die out due to getting hit by an asteroid. They died of starvation and climate change as a result of the asteroid. No moving of populations or mask filters would help that.
Indeed. All federal funding for the National Science Foundation, which is the vast majority of all government investment in science research (outside of NASA which was 11.3B) is just 5.67 billion dollars for everything. That includes everything from researching Yellowstone to robotics to stem. The majority isn't even spent on hard sciences but rather integrating groups. We are talking grant money of maybe 100k here. Put that into perspective with 824 billion for the military. I'd say 0.000012% of our defense spending is very well spent on something that really could level most of America to smoking ruin, unlike some rag tag terrorists we helped create ourselves to have an excuse to wage wars that financially reward key players. Hell, I'd even up that to 0.001% and still call it financially sound.
If your bar for "civilization" is "possesses any sort of permanent artificial shelter," sure. But I see that more as a precursor to civilization, which involves specialization and political organization. If the survivors of a catastrophic event were reduced to living in isolated huts with no political or economic organization above the immediate family group, I'd call that an end to civilization.
However I can use your benchmark and my point still stands.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.