This time it's for real. This time, technology and human ingenuity isn't going to save us.
We could do the same thing with antibiotic overuse and it would indeed prevent disaster. That's pretty much what every article about the problem advocates, explicitly or implicitly. Well that, and funding more research on new antibiotics, which we're not doing much of right now.
Just waving our hands and trusting to the magic of technology and ingenuity isn't going to get us out of this. We have to actually do something about it.
A man is walking to a village when he falls into a puddle of quicksand. His attempts to escape are futile and he is nearly about to die when a farmer happens by and hauls him out. The farmer tells him that he should watch out for that puddle. The man suggests placing a sign there to warn travellers, to which the farmer remarks, "Oh, we had one. But no one was falling in, so we took it away.".
About the ozone layer:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_Convention_for_the_Prot...
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Protocol
How quickly we forget the lessons of the past!
Whether it's environmental disasters or internet social media activities, there's an interesting bias towards thinking that the status quo is stable, just because it's been that way for a few years. Stuff changes. Take a step back and actually look at the whole picture.
[1] http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/06/27/environment-china-...
> Scientists largely credit the Montreal Protocol, signed by about 150 countries, with reversing the depletion of the ozone layer
Also, apparently there isn't agreement that the hole has gotten better: "Work has suggested that a detectable (and statistically significant) recovery will not occur until around 2024, with ozone levels recovering to 1980 levels by around 2068."
So which is it?
How many times can we get lucky with rapid, unforeseen advances in technology?
> the ozone layer fading away and UV rays destroying us all,
Avoided by being proactive
> Y2K breaking every computer on the planet.
Avoided by being proactive
An infinite number of times. There's no "luck" to it - there are people actively searching for solutions to this shit so we don't end up dead.
If an asteroid is going to strike tomorrow the only solutions that matter are the ones that are economically and technically feasible today.
Even in the current article, no one is saying this is going to happen for sure, just that it could if we don't do anything about it or invest in new antibiotics.