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[–]LeftyBoyo67Tired of Dem Pefidy 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (10 children)

they could also increase power imbalances between nations

A little more drought here, some extra flooding over there and presto - you've cornered the world's food market! Wow, nobody saw that coming!

[–]3andfro 5 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

Arable farmland! Bill Gates! Archer Daniels Midland!

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable[S] 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

And how long before we start seeing tit-for-tat geoengineering wars as other countries with the capabilities enter the fray? It wouldn't be any more surprising than the nuclear arms race we've already witnessed. It's sometimes entertaining to wonder what the world might look like if efforts were channeled into creating good things for humanity instead of the relentless quest to develop methods of destruction.

[–]LeftyBoyo67Tired of Dem Pefidy 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

It's sometimes entertaining to wonder what the world might look like if efforts were channeled into creating good things for humanity instead of the relentless quest to develop methods of destruction.

That's why I read mostly fiction these days :)

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable[S] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Same!!

[–]CaelianPost No Toasties 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

This is my favorite solution to the Fermi Paradox.

G'bee G'bee G'bee That's All Folks!

"Civilizations develop the technology to destroy themselves before developing the wisdom not to do so." -- Caelian, April 2020

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable[S] 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. - General Omar Bradley

[–]MeganDelacroix🤡🌎 detainee 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

Of course both the Fermi Paradox and the related Drake Equation would make the Underpants Gnomes proud.

  1. no life
  2. ???
  3. Life! Now let's add variables!

Wait, go back a step.

[–]CaelianPost No Toasties 4 insightful - 3 fun4 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 3 fun -  (1 child)

The second-best comment I ever read on Daily Kos was by user Anne Elk (presumably Miss) who wrote (paraphrased from memory):

Maybe watching the dominant species on one planet after another destroy itself is God's way of watching Breaking Bad.

[–]MeganDelacroix🤡🌎 detainee 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

I read something like a scifi/horror spec once... not a fully-fleshed out story, just the idea for one, maybe it was on something associated with r/nosleep or something similar. The gist of it was that we finally got an answer. The bad part: we're tersely informed that the reason we haven't been contacted before is because if you make too much noise something happens and you stop making any noise at all.

Contact ends with:

"NOW SHUT UP."

And all the civilizations in the galaxy go back to cowering in terrified silence.