Yeah, I just saw the film. One of the scariest and most depressing movies I’ve ever seen, not so much for the specific scenario although it is one to be concerned about, as for the more general point that if and when the earth does face a mass extinction level situation, our dysfunctional political and economic systems will make it all but impossible to confront it properly.
And guess what, we ARE facing such a situation, in climate change, and failing miserably at it, because enough politicians benefit from not addressing it, not enough politicians benefit from addressing it, and the business community and economy isn’t set up to factor in such externalities in time to deal with them properly.
We’re set up for short-term gain and survival, not long-term, and the former makes the latter less likely. If we are to deal with it properly, the proper positive and negative incentives have to be put in place to incentivize politicians, businesses and the public to finally deal with it. And that’s just not happening.
