[HN Gopher] Volcanoes, plague, famine and endless winter: Welcom...
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       Volcanoes, plague, famine and endless winter: Welcome to 536
        
       Author : goldenskye
       Score  : 41 points
       Date   : 2022-03-10 00:03 UTC (22 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (theconversation.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (theconversation.com)
        
       | datavirtue wrote:
       | I wonder if a large body passed through the solar system around
       | that time? Enough to disturb gravitational forces to trigger
       | massive volcanic activity like that.
        
       | hirundo wrote:
       | On the bright side, global warming is good mediation for nuclear
       | or volcanic winters and solar minimums.
        
         | wwweston wrote:
         | Assuming a system with neatly predictable dynamics that
         | responds linearly to warming / cooling inputs.
         | 
         | The globe may not be such a system:
         | 
         | https://www.wgbh.org/news/commentary/2021/03/24/weve-known-f...
        
       | rossdavidh wrote:
       | "Yet, like the proverbial frog in boiling water, the average
       | person back then may only have realised slowly just how grim
       | conditions in their world were getting..."
       | 
       | I just have to point out that scientists have in fact tried this,
       | and the frog in the water, as soon as it gets uncomfortably warm,
       | jumps out. There is no evidence that it is possible to raise the
       | temperature slowly enough that it does not do this, and it's not
       | for lack of trying.
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_frog
        
         | bin_bash wrote:
         | This and "ostrich with its head in the sand" drive me nuts
        
           | brimble wrote:
           | Then there's all the social science research or pop-
           | business/pop-psychology crap that's been disproven or failed
           | to replicate, but nonetheless will seemingly be treated as
           | fact by most people... I dunno, forever, at this rate. And
           | don't you dare question it.
        
           | Jalad wrote:
           | CGP Grey actually covers both of these misconceptions in some
           | video:
           | 
           | - https://youtu.be/F9-iSl_eg5U?t=163
           | 
           | - https://youtu.be/F9-iSl_eg5U?t=50
           | 
           | Which is neat, because I'm now also frustrated by both of
           | these "fun facts"
        
         | belter wrote:
         | Now they are trying with a blue planet and 7.7 billion
         | habitants.
        
       | atlantas wrote:
       | And to top it off, now you have a toothache and have to visit the
       | dentist in the year 536.
        
         | MisterTea wrote:
         | Yeah but you could also get a shave and a haircut when you
         | visited them back then.
        
           | bee_rider wrote:
           | And get any problematic limbs amputated if necessary.
        
       | e4e78a06 wrote:
       | Climate change is perhaps one of the many reasons both the Roman
       | and Byzantine empires fell or lost ability to project power. The
       | Byzantine conquest of Italy was finishing up when these plagues
       | hit and they never recovered their original strength again.
       | 
       | One has to wonder whether modern agriculture is no longer as
       | affected by these kinds of changes or whether the war in Ukraine
       | is just a sign of things to come.
        
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       (page generated 2022-03-10 23:00 UTC)