Cat 5 Milton One Of The Strongest Hurricanes On Record - Videos from The Weather Channel
weather.com
The National Hurricane Center says Milton is one of the strongest Atlantic storms on record. The Category 5 hurricane's winds are 180 mph. Hurricane warnings are now in effect for parts of Florida. Here’s the latest. - Videos from The Weather Channel | weather.com

So apparently we are now in the find out of the fuck around part of climate change. My only question is if Florida is still going to retain it's electoral votes once it's fully submerged underwater?

  • InevitableSwing [none/use name]
    ·
    2 months ago

    In the cold war, the Pentagon continually did calculations to see who would be better/worse off after a nuclear confrontation. There were people who thought that if the calculus favored the US at all that was enough to justify a nuclear war.

    For Dr. Strangelove Kubrick got a lot of inspiration from the Rand Corporation and other ghoulish orgs and people who were pressing that concept. An example...

    Herman Kahn

    Herman Kahn (February 15, 1922 – July 7, 1983) was an American physicist and a founding member of the Hudson Institute, regarded as one of the preeminent futurists of the latter part of the twentieth century. He originally came to prominence as a military strategist and systems theorist while employed at the RAND Corporation. He analyzed the likely consequences of nuclear war and recommended ways to improve survivability during the Cold War.

    Kahn posited the idea of a "winnable" nuclear exchange in his 1960 book On Thermonuclear War for which he was one of the historical inspirations for the title character of Stanley Kubrick's classic black comedy film satire Dr. Strangelove. In his commentary for Fail Safe, director Sidney Lumet remarked that the Professor Groeteschele character is also based on Herman Kahn. Kahn's theories contributed to the development of the nuclear strategy of the United States.

    I believe he was the first person to use "scenario" in its modern meaning. He needed a way to describe the future in stories as if written by people in the future. He used scenarios to suggest that a nuclear war could be won.

    ---

    Ninja edit

    I just realized he was a shitposter for evil. He just made shit up to rationalize apocalyptic mass death, destruction, and suffering.

    "Look, guys - if the Soviets kill x tens of millions of us but we kill y tens of millions of them - we win. Lemme explain..."

    • Frank [he/him, he/him]
      ·
      2 months ago

      Reading history from back then, it's terrifying how many airforce generals had to be metaphorically put in a full Nelson while they frothed and screamed to launch! Launch! Launch!

      The us air force is about 1/2 completely delusional apocalyptic christian fascist death cult by personnel and it is an existential problem for the world.

      • InevitableSwing [none/use name]
        ·
        2 months ago

        The possibility of World War III has been on my mind. But just now I had a surreal thought about how the world could end in negative feedback loop of nuclear war, regular war, and climate change.

        Israel goes to war with Iran and because it's an "extinction war" Israel launches "limited" nuclear strikes which - of course - leads to global chaos, instability, and more war. "Limited" nuclear war is now no longer unthinkable so eventually there's another. Chaos becomes the norm. Meanwhile - the world has had a sizeable number of regular wars due to the chaos, climate chaos, and the gigantic number of climate refugees. Because all of this - there's no appetite for cooperation so any workable climate engineering project has any hope of working.

        At this point - it hardly matters if there is a World War III or not. The earth is already in a death spiral of chaos, climate chaos, and war.

        • Frank [he/him, he/him]
          ·
          2 months ago

          It's grim comfort but afaik there's no scenario currently where life on earth, and probably people, will be wiped out. Even if most of us die someone will live, and hopefully remember us, and do better next time. This isn't some eco-fash "humans are the virus" thing. Just, we've been around for 450k years, and I think even if we really, really, really fuck this century up it won't be our last chance.

          Even if it gets to a point where everyone here and everyone we know is fucked, it's still worth trying to fix things and preserve knowledge for the benefit of the people who come after us, because there will almost certainly be people after us. It might take a thousand or ten thousand years for things to calm down, or they might figure out how to thrive on a hot chaotic earth, we can't know right now. But it's not over, even if it ends up being over for us.

          Care-Comrade