logoalt Hacker News

ajuctoday at 1:24 PM1 replyview on HN

It will become an issue in 150-200 years even if we just continue on our current trajectory.


Replies

apitoday at 6:31 PM

Only if exponential growth continues, but population growth is already falling off a cliff and that is the ultimate driver.

If population stabilizes or contracts, then the only way this could happen is if per capita energy use continued to increase exponentially to the point that we were radiating enough heat to do this. That seems unlikely.

The only scenario I can imagine where per capita energy use goes that high is the "The Expanse LARP" scenario where people are rocketing around on fusion rockets, and that's not on Earth anymore so it doesn't matter.

What terrestrial products or services would demand power use per capita across the whole population that high?

show 1 reply