I think our friend was just making a fun joke. While it doesn’t do much good to hold a defeatist attitude, I can’t really blame them. It’s like a forbidden comfort.
I don’t think it’s just a joke. It comes up as if it’s a counterpoint to the idea that everyone could die every single time that concept is proposed. At best it’s tired and worn out and at worst it’s intentionally distracting.
I see the common response that you complain about, but in this instance, it’s different.
The usual dismissive response is “CO2 and temperatures were higher millions of years ago and life persisted”. The key is the vagueness, that “life” is adequate and that vaguness implies “life is life” and thus everything will be fine, ignoring the fact that it wasn’t exactly a great time for mammalian life or really any life resembling us or even things we would eat.
This differs because they specifically reference blackberry bushes, which is clearly a useless measure when thinking about our livelihood.
I’d guess it’s closer to a parody of the usual “life does fine at 2,000 ppm CO2” comment.
I think our friend was just making a fun joke. While it doesn’t do much good to hold a defeatist attitude, I can’t really blame them. It’s like a forbidden comfort.
I don’t think it’s just a joke. It comes up as if it’s a counterpoint to the idea that everyone could die every single time that concept is proposed. At best it’s tired and worn out and at worst it’s intentionally distracting.
Fair! It’s the first time I remember seeing such a comment.
I see the common response that you complain about, but in this instance, it’s different.
The usual dismissive response is “CO2 and temperatures were higher millions of years ago and life persisted”. The key is the vagueness, that “life” is adequate and that vaguness implies “life is life” and thus everything will be fine, ignoring the fact that it wasn’t exactly a great time for mammalian life or really any life resembling us or even things we would eat.
This differs because they specifically reference blackberry bushes, which is clearly a useless measure when thinking about our livelihood.
I’d guess it’s closer to a parody of the usual “life does fine at 2,000 ppm CO2” comment.