[naillo]

Unecessary anxiety etc if it actually isn't real or isn't man made. (I'm probably on the 'it is man made' side though.) Could ask the question "is there a downside to people not being paralyzingly afraid of a potential meteor strike every waking hour"

[krisoft]

> isn't man made

I don't see how that would make people's anxiety unnecessary. I'm in the "of course it is man made, what are you talking about" camp, but let's assume it's not man made for now, but climate change is real.

Wouldn't that be even more anxiety inducing? If it is man made presumably with the right incentives and changes we can unmake it. If it is not man made, then what? We just lost out on the cosmic lottery, it was good while it lasted? How is that less anxiety inducing?

[TheOtherHobbes]

Textbook false equivalence. A potential meteor strike is very, very unlikely.

At this point catastrophic climate change is almost certain. The only question is whether it's just a mass extinction or whether it crosses a tipping point and creates a runaway greenhouse effect.

Climate scientists are not relaxed about this. They are running around in terror desperately trying to warn people. And - so far - getting shouted down by the polluter lobbies.