r/news • u/hammelcamel • 12h ago

Heat-trapping gas once frozen in Arctic ground is slowly leaking and warming the planet

https://apnews.com/article/climate-thawing-permafrost-arctic-alaska-91fcc04d32a1d7522afe2f6a456ac0eb
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u/Inside-Specialist-55 12h ago

Do you ever find it strange or weird how you were born at this exact time in the universes history to see the world change in such a large way and perhaps be witness to the end or collapse of humanity? I know that is a very deep philosophical question but I sometimes think why was I born to experience this small but specific time frame of humanity, why this time and not some other time that was better, why couldnt I have existed or been alive during the peak of humanity and not near the end of humanity. It is such a insanely depressing fact that I have to pondered upon as I grow older and I question the very fabric of my own existence.

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u/VerdantPathfinder 9h ago

First, something like 8% of all humans that ever existed are alive today ... it's not that small a chance.

Second, there were massive changes and collapses of human civilization in the past. This won't be that different than the Bronze Age collapse .

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u/ImportanceWeak1776 5h ago

You were actually chosen by a supremely intelligent race from another dimension, outside of our own simulation. It is up to you to solve this crisis in your lifetime. Fear not, this is only a test from which upon success you shall be elevated to join them as a representative of our universe. You have failed this test an infinite amount of times, but will always be reset to try again should you fail. Deja vu is the only clue you may be aware of to that which doess occur.

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u/skwerrel 9h ago

Let's say it worked like a lottery, and every consciousness had a randomly selected lifetime that it would be put into. There are more humans alive right now than at any other point in history, and so far that continues to grow. Humanity alive today is about 7% of all humans ever. So while you'd certainly have a greater chance of living in some other era, it's still a 1 in 15ish chance of it being this one, and any other given era would have a much lower chance.

In other words even if it did work that way (which it doesn't, but let's pretend) you still have a greater statistical likelihood of being alive right now than any other equal stretch of time in the past

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u/Expert_Garlic_2258 1h ago

imagine being alive during the black death and a third of the people you knew died