A reader remarks on the post concerning failing currents in the Atlantic Ocean:
Wow. All the bad things climatologist said could happen are all coming to pass ten times faster than originally imagined. Humanity is so incredibly stupid.
I suppose it depends on what is meant by ‘stupid.’ Humanity never evolved to properly evaluate what has been happening world-wide, has it? Our sensory radius is only a few miles, and none of it is specialized for the kind of pollution that leads to climate change.
I find it difficult to organize my thoughts on the question, perhaps because ‘stupid’ can mean many things in this context. How about ‘ignorant’? Are we ignorant? I think our scientists are learning as fast as they can, but the fact that we are not a rationally coordinated species, or society, can render their efforts moot.
And even when coordinated, when the coordinating authority is irrational (think: Pope), it just makes things worse.
The problem may be that a species with our capabilities is doomed to wreck its ecological niche, if only simply through numbers. The creditable impulse to help and heal may be our downfall.
