Ok. Just sayin I never claimed people are going to stop effing up the planet, just that they could if they wanted to. We all could if we wanted to.
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Agreed
This post is neither here nor there. Just thinking aloud.
There must be a lot of academic literature and high-brow political ideas on how we get from individual to collective action but in practice, even when we can get large numbers of people to agree on something, weāre frustrated by a group on the other side.
I recently saw an article claiming that there is a synchronization of brain wave patterns when people interact and cooperate. That doesnāt seem so surprising. And so what, if we can already see that people are cooperating or not. But what if there were a way to directly interfere with or reinforce brain waves to influence cooperative behavior? That would be an ability even Big Brother didnāt have.
Hereās the article.
āSpookierā than entanglement with a lot of work to do to show itās not bs but still interesting.
Thought experiment that doesnāt require a quantum computer:
Situation A
49% of people want a law requiring everyone to reduce CO2 footprint per person to 3 tons/year.
51% of people oppose that law.
Law doesnāt pass and no one reduces their CO2 footprint.
Situation B
49% of people decide to reduce their CO2 footprint to 3 tons/year
51% of people do nothing different
Which situation results in lower CO2 emissions?
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I donāt know how to get to situation B from any given starting state. Itās not up to me, I know that much.
Itās a thought experiment. Meant to make a point about individual action. You start by riding your bike and youāre already there I think.
I see that. Itās just unsatisfying because I donāt know how to get from an individual action thatās insignificant to a collective action that matters. I can do me and just forget about everybody else, but thatās not politics.
To get back to the topic, this is my current favorite skeptic telling people to settle down. She briefly discusses several quantum technologies here, but sheās also posted more extensive videos on specific topics. If you donāt like videos, hereās a link to her blog post on the subject.
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Iām not saying this to be snarky - but if thereās no collective action, especially on the part of industry, that is going to reverse climate change, Iām not going to spend my summer in a hot house or worry about the delicious brisket Iām cooking later.
At least when I ādo my partā to help with Covid by staying home or wearing masks that give me big nasty breakouts all over my face, I can tell myself that there is a potential immediate impact - possibly one or more people didnāt get sick because I didnāt give it to them. There is no impact to me deciding to cut back on my AC usage in the summer, other than being able to pat myself on the back. And I do plenty of that as is.
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This dynamic is very similar to calls for people like me to pay more taxes to support government spending, which is fine in a vacuum, but not in the context of billionaires and multimillionaires hiding their assets off shore and paying nothing. These calls for collective action fall flat when there are such gaping holes in the social contract.
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tragedy of the commons
Thereās more impact than your vote or posting about how you want climate change legislation or industry to change. And industry builds what you ask it to build. Not only are you getting supplied what you ask for, you are also telling industry (essentially voting) for them to continue doing whatever they are doing.
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I understand summer is intolerable where you live. Iām never suggesting people have to be perfect. I certainly am not. People can still acknowledge their impact. People can also adjust things without it being all or nothing.
Hereās an acknowledgement of causing bad things to happen: I often buy things that were produced by slaves. In doing that I encourage slavery. I facilitate itās continuation. I do this because Iām too selfish or cheap to either make or grow these things myself, live without them, or pay extra for fair trade goods.
Thatās pretty effed up, but itās true and Iām not going to lie to myself or anyone else about it or say that I have to wait for legislation to make me be better.
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Is quantum computing anything like quantum leap? Cos that was a great show.
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āQuantum leapā is one of those popular expressions that tilts my nuts off. Great show, tho.
I thought the thing he looked at while being able to just appear in time to talk to Bakula was the quantum computing.