[silvestrov]

> plastic everywhere.

plastic will still be everywhere. The major catastrophe that could happen is for evolution of plastic eating bacteria like the creation of (dead) wood eating bacteria. Look at all the plastic containers etc you have in your kitchen and imagine it's just gone.

> social media as news

Mainstream news isn't going to get any better.

> teflon

teflon has gotten a lot better since it was introduced. It will stick around.

> fossil fuel cars

will be seen like rotary phones: they will not understand why they are so cumbersome or why so many people had resistance against electric cars. It's like electric lights versus living with only oil/candle lights.

I think a near term would be: "you had to go to a cinema to watch a movie?"

[danaris]

> The major catastrophe that could happen is for evolution of plastic eating bacteria like the creation of (dead) wood eating bacteria. Look at all the plastic containers etc you have in your kitchen and imagine it's just gone.

Look at all the wood you have in your house.

Notice that it is still there. Despite the fact that bacteria are very, very good at eating wood.

Even in the hypothetical case that bacteria evolve that can digest plastic, the idea that they would somehow instantly spread to consume all plastic in the world is ludicrous.

We would just need to take a few new precautions with it.

[ryandrake]

A bacteria that could eat plastic and shit something nicer or at least further-biodegradable would be an absolute miracle. Sprinkle it on every landfill and ocean "plastic island" in the world and let it do its thing.

[danaris]

Oh, absolutely—and as I understand it, something like that has already been discovered or developed, at least in early stages (though I don't recall whether it's a bacteria or a fungus offhand).

But the post I was responding to made it sound like a plastic-eating bacteria would just instantly dissolve all the plastic in your house.

[asdff]

I'd guess there would probably be significant greenhouse emissions just like other digestion.

[everdrive]

>Look at all the plastic containers etc you have in your kitchen and imagine it's just gone.

This is not a catastrophe by any stretch of the imagination.

[phs318u]

> Mainstream news isn't going to get any better.

Perhaps. But “social media as news” is definitely going to get a lot worse.

> Teflon ... It will stick around.

Please tell me that was a deliberate choice of words :)