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Chapter 4 - Ice Ages.We enjoyed certain advantages that gave us a slight edge on Ross' rock, over the rest of the U.S. population. Since Ross' surveillance station was hooked into the international strategic communications network, Ross and I were able to bypass a lot of closed door to contact Nicolai directly, once we had figured out how to do it. We thanked Nicolai for the lecture, but expressed our frustration with the blindness of our own nation that has the resources to rescue the world, but chooses not to apply them. Instead it chooses to put itself to sleep. Nicolai suggested that this calls for a big chill and he offered to deliver the message once he would figure out what it should be. Tony suggested that the answer was really quite simple. He asked Nicolai which single future occurrence promises to be more dangerous to humanity than the old nuclear weapons Cold War confrontation. Nicolai suggested that a total, global, financial disintegration would fit such a description, or the outbreak of a deadly virus that spreads as fast as the 1918 flu did. Tony told him that this wasn't the worst. "Every one of these can be avoided," said Tony. He suggested that this makes them less dangerous. "Please try again." There was a long silence on the phone. "I am not check mate," Nicolai came back, "my knight can block your queen," he hesitated momentarily, "It's the ice age," he added. "You are referring to the coming of the next ice age, right? That is something that no one can avoid." Tony affirmed the answer. Nicolai promised to deliver a lecture some day on the impact of the coming ice age. He praised Tony for his insight. "We may indeed survive the still continuing nuclear arms confrontation if we find the wisdom to do so," he said, "because that problem can be resolved in the space of a single day when humanity puts its mind to it. Evidently, there exists no natural law or fundamental principle that dictates that we must kill each other with these terrible things. Nuclear war can be avoided, but the coming ice age cannot be avoided. It will come with the precision of the unvarying astrophysical clock of the universe in which we live." Tony congratulated Nicolai. "We may not be able to avoid the coming of the ice age itself," said Tony, "but we can certainly avoid the worst of its impact on human existence if we begin to make preparations very soon, preferably now." Nicolai agreed, "but what, then, makes that more dangerous than a nuclear war?" he asked. "The danger lies in the simple fact that one can see no indication on the horizon that anyone in the world has the slightest intention to create the kinds of infrastructures that will be required to enable humanity to survive in an ice age world in which a large portion of the northern hemisphere gets covered over with a sheet of ice a thousand feet thick. It will be a world in which the global mean temperatures drop 30% below what they are now." Tony suggested to Nicolai that when this happens, humanity would have to rely almost totally on indoor agriculture to maintain itself. Not only will large sections of the northern food producing regions be buried under ice, but the lower temperatures will also render many of the other major food producing areas of the world unproductive. Tony suggested that powerful new technologies would be required to make the necessary economic transformation possible. "But those have not yet been developed," he said. He suggested to Nicolai that they aren't extremely difficult to create. He pointed out, however, that they cannot be created under the present world-financial setup that prevents scientific discoveries on the scale that will be needed, and that also prevents the technological development from taking place, that must take place to fulfill the future needs of mankind. He said to Nicolai that humanity must create for itself a totally different mind set if it wants to survive in the long run, especially if it wants to survive during the more demanding times of the coming ice age that typically lasts for 100,000 years. Tony suggested that preparations for humanity's future survival should begin now, which are not even being talked about, though the transition towards an ice age has already begun. || - page index - || - chapter index - || - Exit - ||
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