Roger, it's making me sick.

[Kai]

You remember the story of Cain and Abel right? Cain gets pissed off that his brother is happier and gets more favor than him, so he goes off and kills Abel in selfish greed.

Cain is Humans. And Abel is the Biosphere. Except, instead of cursed to be restless wanderers, we're damnned to up to 4 million years worth of generations living in shit.

I know more about this stuff than I probably should, Roger. As a biologist, I've got strong biophilia (don't trust a biologist who doesn't), so I learn as much as I can about all life. And it's depressing the hell out of me.

I feel like what one of those stock brokers on Black Tuesday probably felt, staring out there 40th story windows, wind blowing their hair around. The biosphere has gone to shit, I can see the assets dropping so rapidly, at a daily pace, dwindling, like the monetary value of a bank account being quickly withdrawn, and I can see the species dropping like dollars, scrolling out. I'm up 40 stories and I'm just so damn depressed, Roger. The sort of world that we're moving towards, the world of dwindling life, of gray concrete and smoky towers and oil stained beaches as far as the eye can see, I don't want to live in that world, I'd rather die in this world where life is everywhere still, even if fatally injured.

It's like a grandfather with dementia, Roger. He's still there, but little by little, every day, all the things you loved about him are dissapearing, just slipping away like they were never there. Just memories. I can't remember the passenger pigeon, but I remember the Chinese river dolphin, and now it's like a key piece of grandfather's personality, not coming back, nothing but my memories. All those freshwater mussels, the native birds of Hawai'i, the bleaching corals, whole ecosystems with 10s of millions of years of continuity. Oh gods, the tunas, those beautiful fish, almost gone like the cod. I wish I wouldn't remember.

My only consolation, and hope, is that I can enjoy what's left, and that when I die I'll be nothing, so I won't have to experience the rest of it.

If the dwindling gets worse before that, I may just tell the nurse to pull my plug. Mercy on me.

Definitely not okay,

Kai

[Freeky]

Damn, Kai.

[ThatGreenGentleman]

aw... 

[Nast]

Kai,

How sad it is now,
Reveling in the conquest of our environment, we did not notice that we were only subjugating ourselves; the hypermarkets and highways only cheap replacements for the certainty of all life's existence. We did not see the flowers or the trees, they were only obstacles to the attainment of creatures comforts.
And now the earth strains to accommodate our demands. Along the edge of the water, no frogs sing, under the roots of grasses the tiny things no longer stir.
Your heart rent like the cicada's shell, will there ever be any solace?

Maybe one day, far far ahead of now, when a lonely wind blows over the face of this planet the seeds will sprout again.

[Doktor Howl]

Kai,

What most people fail to consider is that we aren't an outside force, blowing up the biosphere like some 14 year old playing SimEarth.  Instead, we are a natural force, an environmental condition, just like any other species.  Hell, some species have adapted to us quite nicely...When we're gone, roaches and rats will reminisce about the legendary days when food just appeared.

Another thing that occurs to me is that we aren't an intelligent species.  Sure, individuals may be intelligent, but taken as a whole, we are about as intelligent as your average hammerhead shark...The evidence of which may be demonstrated by BP and those who consume their product without ever asking where it came from.  Or just John Wayne.  John Wayne was the king-hell shark, a horrible brute that kicked the shit out of anything he didn't understand, and people loved him for it...And he had no concern for what happened after lunch, let alone a generation or two down the line.

Looking down from 6 miles up, we're just termites chewing away at a log (the Earth).  No different than any other species, except that the termites all hate each other.

So there's no use yelling for common sense, and there's no help for it.  We may be drowning, but the lifeguards are all monkeys, and they only throw anvils.

Buckle up and enjoy the ride, man.  We have missed our chance to wow the alien anthropologists by going out in a thunderous chorus of nuclear weapons ("They were clever, but not smart, and they blew themselves up in style"), and we will have to resign ourselves to drowning in our own shit ("Wow.  They build cities and dams, but they went out like fruit flies in an agar filled tube.  We'll have to reassess our definitions of intelligence.").

It's embarrassing, Kai, but what of it?  It is what it is.

Okay for now,
Dok

[Kai]

Unfortunately, I can't stop giving a shit and sit back and enjoy the ride. I actually give a damn, probably in some selfish evolutionarily dependent way, but I do.

And I don't want to live on a planet when all there is left is semi-conscious biped monkeys and their shit. Seriously. Because while you could stack all 6.8 billion humans like lincoln logs tucked away in some inconspicuous corner of the grand canyon, the population keeps growing and everyone wants their American sized piece of pie, until the entire planet is one giant strip mall, industrial park and soylent green outlet.

I don't want to be around to see it.

[Doktor Howl]

Unfortunately, I can't stop giving a shit and sit back and enjoy the ride. I actually give a damn, probably in some selfish evolutionarily dependent way, but I do.

And I don't want to live on a planet when all there is left is semi-conscious biped monkeys and their shit. Seriously. Because while you could stack all 6.8 billion humans like lincoln logs tucked away in some inconspicuous corner of the grand canyon, the population keeps growing and everyone wants their American sized piece of pie, until the entire planet is one giant strip mall, industrial park and soylent green outlet.

I don't want to be around to see it.

Optimist.  Actually, it's turning into desert, and most of us won't be around to see which few species manage to adapt to it.  We are kings of creation, Kai.  Until the power and the food run out.

Then we're an evolutionary dead end.

But what can you do?  Cop out and kill yourself?  Thanks a bunch.  You're one of the less than 1% of people trained to do anything about it, on the off chance that people come to their senses before we reach the point of no return  species-wise...our current civilization has already passed that point.  The next civilization will have to crawl out of the mud with far less resources than we had after the last dark ages.

[Elder Iptuous]

But what can you do?  Cop out and kill yourself?  Thanks a bunch.  You're one of the less than 1% of people trained to do anything about it....

I guess that's the central question, no?

list of options as far as i can tell:
1. Get off the ride.  (a lousy choice for the reason Dok gave, as well as many others.)
2. Agonize over the horror with inaction. (default)
3. Agonize over the horror while taking s)ome soft action. (like writing a book to enlighten the unenlightenable, etc.)
4. Direct action to change people's actions. (ecoterrorism)
5. Direct action to kill as many people as possible.  (Ecosupervillian or Ecoantihero depending on outlook)
6. Conjure a miracle. (like a universal atomic builder/recycler and free energy, or something)
7. Accept the horror and wallow in it with a smile. (Dok)

any other options you can think of Dok/Kai?

[Adios]

Evolve. Quickly.

[nerinamakani]

You remember the story of Cain and Abel right? Cain gets pissed off that his brother is happier and gets more favor than him, so he goes off and kills Abel in selfish greed.

Cain is Humans. And Abel is the Biosphere. Except, instead of cursed to be restless wanderers, we're damnned to up to 4 million years worth of generations living in shit.

I know more about this stuff than I probably should, Roger. As a biologist, I've got strong biophilia (don't trust a biologist who doesn't), so I learn as much as I can about all life. And it's depressing the hell out of me.

I feel like what one of those stock brokers on Black Tuesday probably felt, staring out there 40th story windows, wind blowing their hair around. The biosphere has gone to shit, I can see the assets dropping so rapidly, at a daily pace, dwindling, like the monetary value of a bank account being quickly withdrawn, and I can see the species dropping like dollars, scrolling out. I'm up 40 stories and I'm just so damn depressed, Roger. The sort of world that we're moving towards, the world of dwindling life, of gray concrete and smoky towers and oil stained beaches as far as the eye can see, I don't want to live in that world, I'd rather die in this world where life is everywhere still, even if fatally injured.

It's like a grandfather with dementia, Roger. He's still there, but little by little, every day, all the things you loved about him are dissapearing, just slipping away like they were never there. Just memories. I can't remember the passenger pigeon, but I remember the Chinese river dolphin, and now it's like a key piece of grandfather's personality, not coming back, nothing but my memories. All those freshwater mussels, the native birds of Hawai'i, the bleaching corals, whole ecosystems with 10s of millions of years of continuity. Oh gods, the tunas, those beautiful fish, almost gone like the cod. I wish I wouldn't remember.

My only consolation, and hope, is that I can enjoy what's left, and that when I die I'll be nothing, so I won't have to experience the rest of it.

If the dwindling gets worse before that, I may just tell the nurse to pull my plug. Mercy on me.

Definitely not okay,

Kai

I urge you to remember these words of wisdom in your time of despair.

This stew shall pass!

celebrate!

[Freeky]

You remember the story of Cain and Abel right? Cain gets pissed off that his brother is happier and gets more favor than him, so he goes off and kills Abel in selfish greed.

Cain is Humans. And Abel is the Biosphere. Except, instead of cursed to be restless wanderers, we're damnned to up to 4 million years worth of generations living in shit.

I know more about this stuff than I probably should, Roger. As a biologist, I've got strong biophilia (don't trust a biologist who doesn't), so I learn as much as I can about all life. And it's depressing the hell out of me.

I feel like what one of those stock brokers on Black Tuesday probably felt, staring out there 40th story windows, wind blowing their hair around. The biosphere has gone to shit, I can see the assets dropping so rapidly, at a daily pace, dwindling, like the monetary value of a bank account being quickly withdrawn, and I can see the species dropping like dollars, scrolling out. I'm up 40 stories and I'm just so damn depressed, Roger. The sort of world that we're moving towards, the world of dwindling life, of gray concrete and smoky towers and oil stained beaches as far as the eye can see, I don't want to live in that world, I'd rather die in this world where life is everywhere still, even if fatally injured.

It's like a grandfather with dementia, Roger. He's still there, but little by little, every day, all the things you loved about him are dissapearing, just slipping away like they were never there. Just memories. I can't remember the passenger pigeon, but I remember the Chinese river dolphin, and now it's like a key piece of grandfather's personality, not coming back, nothing but my memories. All those freshwater mussels, the native birds of Hawai'i, the bleaching corals, whole ecosystems with 10s of millions of years of continuity. Oh gods, the tunas, those beautiful fish, almost gone like the cod. I wish I wouldn't remember.

My only consolation, and hope, is that I can enjoy what's left, and that when I die I'll be nothing, so I won't have to experience the rest of it.

If the dwindling gets worse before that, I may just tell the nurse to pull my plug. Mercy on me.

Definitely not okay,

Kai

I urge you to remember these words of wisdom in your time of despair.

This stew shall pass!

celebrate!

You truly are retarded, aren't you.

[Adios]

Tsk. I guess yet another unlimited fail thread is coming if good threads start getting spagged up.

[nerinamakani]

You remember the story of Cain and Abel right? Cain gets pissed off that his brother is happier and gets more favor than him, so he goes off and kills Abel in selfish greed.

Cain is Humans. And Abel is the Biosphere. Except, instead of cursed to be restless wanderers, we're damnned to up to 4 million years worth of generations living in shit.

I know more about this stuff than I probably should, Roger. As a biologist, I've got strong biophilia (don't trust a biologist who doesn't), so I learn as much as I can about all life. And it's depressing the hell out of me.

I feel like what one of those stock brokers on Black Tuesday probably felt, staring out there 40th story windows, wind blowing their hair around. The biosphere has gone to shit, I can see the assets dropping so rapidly, at a daily pace, dwindling, like the monetary value of a bank account being quickly withdrawn, and I can see the species dropping like dollars, scrolling out. I'm up 40 stories and I'm just so damn depressed, Roger. The sort of world that we're moving towards, the world of dwindling life, of gray concrete and smoky towers and oil stained beaches as far as the eye can see, I don't want to live in that world, I'd rather die in this world where life is everywhere still, even if fatally injured.

It's like a grandfather with dementia, Roger. He's still there, but little by little, every day, all the things you loved about him are dissapearing, just slipping away like they were never there. Just memories. I can't remember the passenger pigeon, but I remember the Chinese river dolphin, and now it's like a key piece of grandfather's personality, not coming back, nothing but my memories. All those freshwater mussels, the native birds of Hawai'i, the bleaching corals, whole ecosystems with 10s of millions of years of continuity. Oh gods, the tunas, those beautiful fish, almost gone like the cod. I wish I wouldn't remember.

My only consolation, and hope, is that I can enjoy what's left, and that when I die I'll be nothing, so I won't have to experience the rest of it.

If the dwindling gets worse before that, I may just tell the nurse to pull my plug. Mercy on me.

Definitely not okay,

Kai

I urge you to remember these words of wisdom in your time of despair.

This stew shall pass!

celebrate!

You truly are retarded, aren't you.

*psssst, your whip is broken*

Poor girl, clever where no one sees.

[Adios]

Unfortunately, I can't stop giving a shit and sit back and enjoy the ride. I actually give a damn, probably in some selfish evolutionarily dependent way, but I do.

And I don't want to live on a planet when all there is left is semi-conscious biped monkeys and their shit. Seriously. Because while you could stack all 6.8 billion humans like lincoln logs tucked away in some inconspicuous corner of the grand canyon, the population keeps growing and everyone wants their American sized piece of pie, until the entire planet is one giant strip mall, industrial park and soylent green outlet.

I don't want to be around to see it.

Optimist.  Actually, it's turning into desert, and most of us won't be around to see which few species manage to adapt to it.  We are kings of creation, Kai.  Until the power and the food run out.

Then we're an evolutionary dead end.

But what can you do?  Cop out and kill yourself?  Thanks a bunch.  You're one of the less than 1% of people trained to do anything about it, on the off chance that people come to their senses before we reach the point of no return  species-wise...our current civilization has already passed that point.  The next civilization will have to crawl out of the mud with far less resources than we had after the last dark ages.

Seriously, aren't we evolving as well? Would an event like this speed up our evolution?

What if we evolved into nocturnal beings who could thrive on rattlesnakes, scorpions and cactus?

[Freeky]

I urge you to remember these words of wisdom in your time of despair.

This stew shall pass!

celebrate!

You truly are retarded, aren't you.

*psssst, your whip is broken*

Poor girl, clever where no one sees.

That post was so incredibly dimwitted, thoughtless, and nonsensical that I had to say something, so I decided to go with just the truth and nothing more.