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jtwalesontoday at 4:56 AM2 repliesview on HN

Just as a thought experiment, what would be worse for humanity. Global warming or global cooling by the same amount of degrees C?

I'm in western Europe and really hope the AMOC will not collapse.


Replies

timschmidttoday at 5:05 AM

Global cooling could be worse. But the danger from either comes from the speed with which it happens, and inflexible sociopolitical structures, more than the absolute difference in temperature. Rapid change doesn't permit gradual adaptation like relocation to more habitable areas. The danger from the current global warming trend comes from it's incredible rapidity compared to historical trends.

Given time, humans and other animals will move toward the poles or toward the equator to find habitable zones. Put that on a rush schedule and everyone suffers.

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lproventoday at 10:58 AM

> I'm in western Europe

Me too.

> and really hope the AMOC will not collapse.

It absolutely categorically will, probably in a decade or two.

However, as the rest of the planet rapidly warms, for a decade or so western Europe gets cooler and wetter. I only have 2 or 3 decades to live at best, so it's swings and roundabouts: some you lose, some you win.