One of the wildest parts of geology from a "meta" level is that plate tectonics as a theory wasn't fully accepted until the 1960s!
"Plate tectonics came to be accepted by geoscientists after seafloor spreading was validated in the mid-to-late 1960s." (from the Plate Tectonics Wikipedia page)
Plate tectonics created a serious rift in the Geology community, with both supporters and detractors citing serious faults.
griffzhowl · 2h ago
Yes, it was ground-breaking (too easy)
msisk6 · 4h ago
The idea that the surface of the earth consists of a bunch of rock "rafts" floating around on a hidden mantle, occasionally running into each other -- with some falling and others rising -- seems rather crazy. It took a lot of data to convince folks it was real.
griffzhowl · 1h ago
Still, the 1960s feels very late for something that has become so foundational to our understanding of geology. One obvious analogy is the Copernican revolution where the crazy idea that the entire Earth is spinning on a daily basis was recognized centuries ago.
With plate tectonics there was the major clue with how the outline of South America fits so neatly into Africa, and I assume that it was known that the rocks were similar on each side of the ocean.
Nevertheless, if the idea remained speculative till the sea-floor spreading was observed then I suppose it had to wait till we had robust enough subs to get down there to see it.
aaroninsf · 1h ago
John McPhee's wonderful and Pulitzer-winning non-fiction natural history The Annals of the Former World about geology—specifically North American geology as exposed in highway road cuts!
This title which was collects a series of books originally published in series and only collected in a single volume subsequently,
happened to have been written over the years during which plate tectonic theory was still being fiercely debated, indeed some of the characters contested it.
By that happy accident the book is thus simultaneously several things:
- a marvelous natural history of the United States revealed through characteristically engaging and evocative personal narratives
- a look at North American geology which over the course of the books collected is increasingly revealed
- a very effective communication of what geological _deep time_ really means, and
- a fascinating look into the inner workings of scientific inquiry and discourse: messy, passionate, exquisite, invaluable
Of particular local interest is the must-read Assembling California, the final book collected, which contains a duly famous second by second account of how the Loma Prieta earthquake went down.
This reminded me of The Overstory by Richard Powers, once you start seeing the world on the time and spatial scales of trees, everything shifts. Human timelines feel like flickers. It’s not just a change in perspective; it’s a change in what even counts as meaningful.
Somebody told me that in the Tibetan culture, partly because of the centrality of belief in reincarnation, they often think on timescales of thousands of years
patcon · 2h ago
This story was so unexpectedly emotional. I'd never read a book where I so palpably felt that the main characters were in fact the non-conscious ones.
turnsout · 4h ago
> As for the amber stream pouring into my gas tank as I stand at the self-service pump on my way to Walden, I now take it and all the other plant-based fossil fuels to be an infinity of petrified sunlight, best understood through the compound lens of the Lyell-Darwin eye.
This is the most nihilistic essay I've read in a long time. It contemplates climate change and the extinction of humanity with a lyrical nonchalance that is misanthropic at best. Keep pumping that liquid sunshine, Lewis.
Every single one of us needs to wake the fuck up. The author is right that the planet itself will be fine without us. If we want to survive as a species, we can't bask in decadence and romanticize the decline.
MarkusQ · 3h ago
There is also a sort of blindness to the same sort of processes Hyde is quite reasonably (and evocatively) gobsmacked by: if Darwin could be said to have invented a sort of integral Calculus to grapple with deep time, a differential version is just as needed to look at changes in the rate at which the rate at which changes are changing, and perhaps on to even higher derivatives.
Too many of these melancholy (or as you say, nihilistic) takes are rooted in a model of the form "we are here, now, and if things go on as they have been will inevitably wind up there, by then" and fail to acknowledge that things are not going to "go on like they have been". Things are changing, but the rate, manner and even direction of changes are also changing, and we need to recognize that as well.
CalRobert · 4h ago
“Wine is sunlight, held together by water” - and a renewable resource too if we don’t screw things up.
I share your worries though.
patcon · 4h ago
I think humans have a coping mechanism to find some beauty in things they're forced to participate in, good or bad.
Maybe there's some small edge of anti-fragility in that -- we seem more willing to confront beauty and inspect its contours
tuyiown · 3h ago
> Every single one of us needs to wake the fuck up.
And how do you plan to achieve that ? The denial of reality of human psychology and politics is one of the reasons denial of climate change is still rampant. Yelling at people with urgency only works that much, and it also amplifies resistance.
In the end, everyone needs to wake the fuck up implies a sheer resolution of the need for change, and you won't bring that by schooling people, yelling at them or even violence. The inevitable is there, do what you think is best, tell what you think is best and you'll probably have maximized your contribution already.
Contemplating how things plays out in the end is not nihilistic, it's a form of acceptance of the real hard truth about the grip we have, as individuals, on the mater.
turnsout · 3h ago
I guess you're right—if people are not resolved in the need for change now, they never will be. Are you willing to just say our extinction is "inevitable" and face it with "acceptance?"
jodrellblank · 2h ago
Donald Trump was on the UK national TV news yesterday, at his golf course in Scotland[1] and the reporter said that he was still complaining about 'windmills'[2] spoiling the view and vowing never to allow any to be built in the USA.
Sorry to make everything about Donald Trump, but in the face of the most powerful country on earth voting a climate change denying party into power where they are happy to shut down green movements for personal reasons, and promised to "drill, baby, drill" what do you, turnsout, think it matters whether we HN peanut gallery "accept" that our extinction is "inevitable" or not? It sure seems inevitable no matter what I do or don't accept and I assume that's the case for most people reading your comment.
[1] where he was caught on camera cheating at golf
[2] off-shore wind turbines visible from his golf course, which he tried to get stopped years ago, and lost, and is now holding a grudge about it.
"Plate tectonics came to be accepted by geoscientists after seafloor spreading was validated in the mid-to-late 1960s." (from the Plate Tectonics Wikipedia page)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_tectonics
With plate tectonics there was the major clue with how the outline of South America fits so neatly into Africa, and I assume that it was known that the rocks were similar on each side of the ocean.
Nevertheless, if the idea remained speculative till the sea-floor spreading was observed then I suppose it had to wait till we had robust enough subs to get down there to see it.
This title which was collects a series of books originally published in series and only collected in a single volume subsequently,
happened to have been written over the years during which plate tectonic theory was still being fiercely debated, indeed some of the characters contested it.
By that happy accident the book is thus simultaneously several things:
- a marvelous natural history of the United States revealed through characteristically engaging and evocative personal narratives
- a look at North American geology which over the course of the books collected is increasingly revealed
- a very effective communication of what geological _deep time_ really means, and
- a fascinating look into the inner workings of scientific inquiry and discourse: messy, passionate, exquisite, invaluable
Of particular local interest is the must-read Assembling California, the final book collected, which contains a duly famous second by second account of how the Loma Prieta earthquake went down.
A nice introduction:
https://californiacurated.com/2024/09/06/looking-back-john-m...
Every single one of us needs to wake the fuck up. The author is right that the planet itself will be fine without us. If we want to survive as a species, we can't bask in decadence and romanticize the decline.
Too many of these melancholy (or as you say, nihilistic) takes are rooted in a model of the form "we are here, now, and if things go on as they have been will inevitably wind up there, by then" and fail to acknowledge that things are not going to "go on like they have been". Things are changing, but the rate, manner and even direction of changes are also changing, and we need to recognize that as well.
I share your worries though.
Maybe there's some small edge of anti-fragility in that -- we seem more willing to confront beauty and inspect its contours
And how do you plan to achieve that ? The denial of reality of human psychology and politics is one of the reasons denial of climate change is still rampant. Yelling at people with urgency only works that much, and it also amplifies resistance.
In the end, everyone needs to wake the fuck up implies a sheer resolution of the need for change, and you won't bring that by schooling people, yelling at them or even violence. The inevitable is there, do what you think is best, tell what you think is best and you'll probably have maximized your contribution already.
Contemplating how things plays out in the end is not nihilistic, it's a form of acceptance of the real hard truth about the grip we have, as individuals, on the mater.
Sorry to make everything about Donald Trump, but in the face of the most powerful country on earth voting a climate change denying party into power where they are happy to shut down green movements for personal reasons, and promised to "drill, baby, drill" what do you, turnsout, think it matters whether we HN peanut gallery "accept" that our extinction is "inevitable" or not? It sure seems inevitable no matter what I do or don't accept and I assume that's the case for most people reading your comment.
[1] where he was caught on camera cheating at golf
[2] off-shore wind turbines visible from his golf course, which he tried to get stopped years ago, and lost, and is now holding a grudge about it.