With nuclear weapons, we could literally wipe out humanity. And because of environmental cataclysms, if we get closer to worst-case scenarios, if we keep going like this, civilization will collapse. Large portions of the Earth will become unlivable. There are people who will live on a very different planet from the current one. If they are still alive, and in the case of a nuclear war they probably won’t be.

The entropy of the universe causes it to become increasingly disordered as time passes. But for terrestrial civilization it is not so much entropy as it is about collapse.

It is not a slow process. Entropy does its duty and ultimately prevails. But the timing relevant for these processes, the physical ones, are very long. While what we are talking about it’s happening very fast.

As for nuclear power, at this moment, if anyone – Biden or Putin – decides they are bored, it is the end. One person is enough, one person who decides. Just press a button. As the system is structured, there is no way to counter it. In thirty minutes it’s all over. A person. C.What kind of civilization is it that one person can wipe out everyone and destroy the entire planet? Everything, all living beings, everything. It’s a bit different from simple entropy and historical progression.

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I’m not trying to be depressing. It’s a beautiful day here in Chicago. It’s just that it is very easy to get discouraged. When I go back to working on black holes, I find it is uplifting in a very strange way. They are beautiful. As is the fact that we, as a species, can sit here and contemplate the age of the universe.

I feel a kind of meandering nihilism, because there are so many things that are beyond our control as individuals. In my case, I tried to turn it into constructive nihilism. I am very dejected by the planetary upheavals. But thinking about the universe more generally, I think it’s reassuring to realize that we are insignificant. So the problem becomes the temptation to give up.

I know exactly what you are talking about, because I do the same thing too. It is very easy to get discouraged. Thinking that nothing matters, that we don’t count, consoles me. It’s like you don’t have to take it personally. For the universe, things will be fine in any case.

But the planet really needs people to work harder, this is clear. And it won’t happen thanks to enlightened politicians, unless everyone starts pushing in this direction. But we need enlightened politicians, enlightened business leaders, and we also need enlightened citizens who simply say: “When it is too much it is too much. Let’s see what is happening to the planet. What the scientists said would happen is happening, and they are telling us that the situation will get worse. This is not good.”

This article originally appeared on Wired US.

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