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This seems more like informal and basically reasonable talk, rather than hyperbole.

The purpose of Earth, from the point of view of most humans, is to act as a comfortable host of humans. We are destroying the Earth by making it no longer fit for that purpose. I don’t think anybody reads “destroy Earth” and interprets it as something more like, “get rid of the iron ball as well.”

Unless you are one of those deep-sea vent dwelling creatures, we’re risking changes to the planet that will affect your life eventually.



> we’re risking changes to the planet that will affect your life

Most people should already be seeing changes to their life in a statistically significant way.

But the AMOC collapsing doesn’t mean plenty of the Earth isn’t comfortable for humans. Global temperatures peaking in their pessimistic state still leaves, for better or for worse, most of the industrialized world viable. Poorer. Less comfortable. But viable nonetheless.

This is important because committing to long-term projects requires avoiding nihilism and complacency. Pitching everything as disaster tips into the former.


> most of the industrialized world viable. Poorer. Less comfortable.

If we're trying to use precise language, the economic modelling [0] actually suggests they will be wealthier and more comfortable than they are now. Just probably not as wealthy and comfortable as they could be under other hypotheticals.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_analysis_of_climate_c...




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