From: Bill Kelly <billk@...>
Date: 2009-04-11T00:42:06+09:00
Subject: Re: Goodbye Ruby - Hello Earth


From: "Robert Dober" <robert.dober@gmail.com>
>
> On Fri, Apr 10, 2009 at 6:59 AM, lasitha <lasitha.ranatunga@gmail.com> wrote:
> Right, this thread should be quite known now :).
>>
>>> [...]
>>> However, what can we (those who believe that their talents are in
>>> programming or creating systems on distributed Linux boxes etc.etc.)
>>> do to help? Any ideas, pointers?
>>
>> I for one would love to hear responses to that question in particular.
>>
>> In any case, my thanks to Christophe for posting, caring and taking action.
> 
> Thanks for the encouragement. I have said it in a private post to Bill
> Kelly before, Christophe indeed has become one of the most valuable
> contributors to this list with his goodbye message, IMHO. He indicated
> some keywords which are part of answering my questions. I am
> particularly fascinated with this one
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture.
> Christophe mentioned patterns interesting for programming too (as they
> are general design patterns).

While I share, to a degree, the concerns Christophe mentioned,
such as peak oil, overpopulation, and pollution/climate change,
I am also concerned when I see statements to the effect that
computers should be abandoned because they are contributing
to the annihilation of the planet.

I'm similarly concerned when I see language on the Permaculture
page like, "Earthcare - recognising that Earth is the source of
all life (and is possibly itself a living entity - see Gaia
theory), that Earth is our valuable home, and that we are a part
of Earth, not apart from it."

My concern is that the facts about the impending demise of all
life on this planet are not being faced squarely.

A billion years may seem like a long way off, but consider the
numbers:

 - Earth's current age estimated 4.7 billion years
 - Evidence of life on earth 3.6-3.7 billion years ago
 - Years Earth will still be in habitable zone due to
   solar expansion: about 1 billion years

If life has been around on Earth for about 3.6 billion years,
and only has 1 billion left to go, then we are at about the
78% mark.  In geologic time, the possibility of life on this
planet is nearly 4/5ths over.

This does not mean that I'm anti-conservation.  The part of
the Earthcare ethic that I do agree with is that Earth is our
valuable home.  For now.

But i don't find romantic notions about saving the planet
from annihilation to be helpful.

To me, the question is better framed in terms of how long
homo sapiens are planning to be around.  Less than a billion
years?  Or more than a billion years?

If less, well, then we can solve ALL of the problems 
mentioned by Christophe in one generation.  Stop having kids.
But that still won't save the planet from annihilation.

If we're planning to be around more than a billion years,
then at some point we'll be deciding which (remaining)
species to bring with us as we colonize the galaxy.

In the meantime, I agree there are strong indicators we
need to become better custodians of our planet's environment
and resources than we have been recently.  Or we won't last
long enough to build the space ships.

:)


Regards,

Bill