Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by FussyZeus 2372 days ago
The answer to this question is far too vast and complex for a hacker news comment. The real problem is that the people who hold the levers of power to create change are far too invested in the status quo. They may have an ethical and humanitarian reason to respond to the scientific communities concerns and data, but they have literally every other single interest pointed in the exact opposite direction.

I think we're rapidly approaching the point where the youngest people are going to abandon "civil" methods of change. They're being faced with a world they won't be able to live in, and are derided, mocked, parodied, and of course denied any kind of power to exact the changes needed.

2 comments

Power isn't denied, authority is.

They are denied authority on public media platforms.

What is authority if not a kind of power?
What is the “uncivil” way of stopping climate change? Might as well go to the beach and punch waves as they roll in, it would be the same result.
Civil unrest. Protests that devolve into riots.

Ever seen the painting "Bastille Day"? There are always options when the powerful fail the powerless. Large amounts of modern society were put in place to prevent this sort of thing from happening, but if the leadership is intent on making those protections ineffective, well, there's always guillotines again.

For those who consider this uncouth or believe there must be another way: even if the answer is to come through reforms, having a tangible threat of revolution on the table helps bring meaningful concessions from those who have thus far preferred symbolic gestures to placate.
What use is a guillotine against a hydra?
I believe Hercules solved this one by cutting all the heads off at the same time. So, in theory, you just need one guillotine per head.
He cut the heads off and his nephew, Iolaos, cauterised the wounds so they wouldn't grow back.

So you'd also need fire.

Because "Of course you should fight fire with fire. You should fight everything with fire".