BABloggee Colby Latocha told me that people are making YouTube videos about the Lucifer Project nonsense, ridiculosity about the Cassini space probe somehow igniting in a nuclear fireball and causing Saturn to turn into a star.
This is a bland repeat of the silly idea that the Galileo probe would turn Jupiter into a star — Hoagland jumped on the idea, so you know it’s gotta be garbage!
But this new stuff apparently has more legs than the older version. The YouTube videos are really bad about it. But it gets worse: this video is particularly galling. It says "The theory is that a constant radiation shower will hit the Earth lasting many weeks killing millions".
Shame on them.
I was going to simply link to my debunking of this nonsense but I have to say it again: shame on them. Seriously. Talking about this stuff as if it had any chance of happening, and then scaring people with claims of radiation and explosions. They are trying to make money by scaring people about made up crap, and that is the lowest of the low. I sometimes wish I could break my own swearing rule; that’s how strongly I feel about this.
This Lucifer Project offal is just hogwash, yet people will promote it and no doubt really terrify other people who don’t know the science well enough to understand this is baloney. Some people I have talked to tend to blame the victim, saying caveat emptor. There is a case to be made there; if these people who get bilked knew more science they’d know to avoid this kind of con. But that’s not entirely fair. Some people never got a chance to understand the science, because our society downplays learning in general and science specifically. Others may simply be ignorant of the reality, or in fact they may simply not understand science. Maybe it’s their fault, maybe it’s not. But either way, that doesn’t excuse the evil people promoting ideas like the Lucifer Project. These doomcriers should know better; it’s not hard to find what I and others have written about it, debunking the nonsense thoroughly and completely. Yet they promote it anyway, and that makes them evil in my book.
So if you hear someone spouting off about this, send ‘em my way. I’ll show them what’s what. This kind of garbage is precisely why I fight.
Shame on them.
November 22nd, 2007 at 5:20 pm
This is exactly the kind of idiocy that used to scare me pantsless, and that needs to be debunked loudly and frequently; thanks for doing that. The worst part is, just from watching that video, I could see any number of my friends or family members who are well-educated, even rational people, but who don’t know enough about science to see that it’s obviously ridiculous. Shame is right.
November 22nd, 2007 at 5:21 pm
Wait ’till New Horizons turn Pluto into a white dwarf :p
November 22nd, 2007 at 5:28 pm
Almost as weird:
ASTRONOMERS may have unwittingly hastened the end of the Universe by simply looking at it, according to a theory reported in the latest edition of New Scientist.
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,22801758-5005962,00.html
Somehow- I doubt this is true.
November 22nd, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Is the apocalypse upon us? Perhaps, but probably not
Is there anything we can do about it if it is? Undoubtedly not.
So why worry? It’s friday, get me a deckchair and a beer, If I’m going to die from space radiation I might as well enjoy the view, that’s going to be one hell of an aurora.
widespread panic? I think not.
November 22nd, 2007 at 6:03 pm
If you’re so smart, mister debunker, why don’t you block the comment spam? (sotto voce: akismet)
Seriously, I have never understood even the motivation behind stuff like this, or what the imagined motivation of the “illuminati” would be to create a second star. So, some people see the movie or read the book “2010″ and think that it could really happen and either bring world peace or domination, take your pick, and then they run with it.
It’s just not clicking why they do this, or what they think that they have to gain. Is it the same motivation as what is behind virus creators?
November 22nd, 2007 at 6:06 pm
But, Phil – If they turn it into a star, then it will throw our whole solar system out of whack. Stars are heavy, and that means Saturn will suddenly become much heavier, throwing all the planets out of their orbits!
November 22nd, 2007 at 6:23 pm
I thought we were showered with radiation everyday. Constantly.
A second sun would be kind of cool. Literally. It would be further away than sun number one.
November 22nd, 2007 at 6:26 pm
Why not trick PZed into posting about this? He doesn’t have any “bad word” policy that I know of.
November 22nd, 2007 at 6:54 pm
“It says “The theory is that a constant radiation shower will hit the Earth lasting many weeks killing millions”.”
The thing that always gets me when people claim ‘generic conspiracy x’ will do something that results in this is the illogic of it. I mean, suppose it’s true for a moment that one of these impossibilities is actually possible to do. What would generic conspiracy x have to gain by killing a large but random percentage of earth’s population in a manner that’s either impractical to repeat, or isn’t easily identifiable as being their doing? It’s not like you could easily leverage that into political or financial power.
November 22nd, 2007 at 7:00 pm
I think it would be kind of cool to have Jupiter turn into a star. I work during the day, so it would be convenient to be able to work on my tan at night.
Incidentally, doesn’t Jupiter turn into a star at the end of Arthur C. Clark’s “2010?” That’s only three years away, you know.
November 22nd, 2007 at 7:24 pm
Now, I don’t laugh at the poor folks who buy into this nonsense, but I do, most certainly, mock and ridicule those who spread this paranoia.
Aside from that, I hope your Thanksgiving was a grand affair and a rowdy good time.
November 22nd, 2007 at 7:42 pm
“And every year at this time, the lemmings march into the sea thus wiping out the species.
Oh, wait. There must be some left, because they do it every year.
Nevermind!
November 22nd, 2007 at 7:50 pm
So pathetic… People will believe anything when they see it on the Internet. Sadly, so many people will be fooled by the “facts” and special effects and the epic music soundtrack.
November 22nd, 2007 at 8:52 pm
M.L, the story about lemmings is also false, see http://www.snopes.com/disney/films/lemmings.asp
The key weakness in most conspiracy claims is that multiple and competing government agencies, serial US government administrations, NGOs, and academia can collaborate and collude better in secret than in public. Common sense should make one ask, if we can’t keep the little stuff secret, how can we keep the big stuff secret?
Anyway, we really could use a black hole in the neighborhood to dispose of toxic waste and spent nuclear fuel
November 22nd, 2007 at 8:56 pm
I don’t get this. Watching some of these videos, the guy refers to this as a weapon. A weapon against who? Saturn? I mean, what good is a weapon that kills everyone, including the person who launched it? Forget the science, just use common sense people. Excuse me, I have to go bang my head against the wall now.
November 22nd, 2007 at 9:37 pm
It is a weapon against the Zetans that have put their world under the clouds of Saturn. You see Galileo into Jupiter was just a test run for NASA. (sorry could help myself.)
formula for the internet
idiotic ideal + youtube = a lot of people believing it
November 22nd, 2007 at 9:49 pm
“They are trying to make money by scaring people about made up crap, and that is the lowest of the low.”
Yeah, who does that Al Gore think he is?
November 22nd, 2007 at 9:57 pm
one thing i found interesting in the comments of that video, out of dozens of people who see realtiy through the fog of lies this lucifer project is portraying there i one that stated the “obvious” one world govt conspriacy at work here. thats it. if you have enough paranoya, or hatred, of you govt then your the perfect recruit for crackpot line of thinking
November 22nd, 2007 at 11:17 pm
So are they sending Cassini into Saturn then?
Could they not move it on to a trajectory to send it back to Earth?
November 22nd, 2007 at 11:36 pm
Ed Minchau
>Yeah, who does that Al Gore think he is?
neoGodwin! neoGodwin! You lose!
neoGodwin: As a discussion
November 22nd, 2007 at 11:43 pm
Ed Minchau:
>Yeah, who does that Al Gore think he is?
neoGodwin! neoGodwin! You lose!
neoGodwin’s Law: As a internet discussion’s length increases, the probability of someone mentioning Al Gore and Global Warming approaches 1.
Addendum to NGL: Whoever is first to mention Al Gore and Global Warming (on a thread unrelated to those subjects), is considered the loser of the argument.
Stuart’s addendum to NGL: Everyone else is allowed to subject said loser to virtual smacks upside the head.
@Ed Minchau: !!SMACK!!
November 22nd, 2007 at 11:44 pm
Yes. And it’s called “Lucifer”.
So these people seriously think there’s some similarity between the Cassini space probe and a huge mysterious black monolith of inter-galactic technology, that can reproduce and eat a planet? Man, these people give NASA just a little bit too much credit.
November 22nd, 2007 at 11:45 pm
Sorry ’bout double post.
P.S. Ed – I hope you’re aware that not all silly jokes necessarily have smilies in them, right?
November 22nd, 2007 at 11:58 pm
snoopy, its not pluto into a white dwarf, but a black hole.
November 23rd, 2007 at 12:14 am
>”Seriously, I have never understood even the motivation behind stuff like this”
Money. The RINF site asks for money and they sell videos. It’s as simple as that. They are just budget rate Michael Moores and Ann Coulters.
November 23rd, 2007 at 12:44 am
You can safely abandon the swearing rule.
November 23rd, 2007 at 1:14 am
If the end of civilization is at hand, why are these goofs still taking money for their stuff? Inquiring minds want to know!
November 23rd, 2007 at 1:22 am
It doesn’t take a genius to tell this is evil stuff. According to Christian mythology, isn’t Lucifer the original name of Satan before he was kicked out of heaven?
November 23rd, 2007 at 1:33 am
These guys aren’t even ordinary garden-variety cranks, they’re in it for the money.
Back in the days before 2000, the company I was working for at the time paid out an exorbitant sum of money for a set of “Y2K Compliance” software. As the junior man in the IT shop it was on me to run the thing on every PC in the place, over top of my objections that nothing in our office was susceptible to the largely non-existent “Y2K Bug.”
So, 8 hours of time wasted and about 40 or so employees day disrupted for no gain.
As for the dumb “Lucifer Project” idea — I ran afoul of a guy back in the 80s who claimed that a single H-Bomb detonated close to the sun would cause it to transition into it’s Red Giant phase. When I stopped laughing I tried to explain to him the silliness of the idea, but he wouldn’t believe me.
November 23rd, 2007 at 1:36 am
K9 Kaos, as far as I know, and I could be wrong, “Lucifer” as a synonym for the devil was invented by the poet Pope.
The name “Satan” is never identified in the Bible as a word for a devil, it is roughly translated from the Hebrew as “opposer”, and Satan was always presented in the Bible as being in the presence of God, but asking questions about God’s ideas. Job was tormented because Satan asked if he was only pious because of his fortunate circumstance. It was actually the supreme being (jerk) who ordered Satan to inflict the capricious and unnecessary tortures.
November 23rd, 2007 at 2:19 am
Not to argue against the validity of your point that the Lucifer Project is a load of garbage, but isn’t the reference to Hoagland basically an inverse version of the appeal to authority (X believes Y, therefore not Y)…
November 23rd, 2007 at 3:02 am
The problem with reality-based catastrophic scenarios, like peak oil and global warming, is that the end of the world isn’t expected to occur within our lifetimes. So who cares?
Worse, these scenarios aren’t sudden spectacular catastrophes, just a slow decline. Millions or billions may die, but they’re expected to struggle, starve and die in the way we’re already used to. It’s nothing to get excited about.
November 23rd, 2007 at 3:20 am
Autumn,
That’s very interesting – thanks for the info. I remember that story about Job being mentioned in the TV show South Park, but I never knew that it really was in the Bible. I remember reading in the Bible about God approving some God-awful things, like saying that a slave may be beaten to death with no punishment for the perpetrator as long as the slave doesn’t die too quickly (Exodus 21:20-21).
I think I’ve heard of Pope – are there some moons of Uranus named after his characters?
November 23rd, 2007 at 4:46 am
When I read the post I thought, “Nobody could believe that garbage.” Then I read the comments left on You Tube…
November 23rd, 2007 at 5:26 am
k9_kaos
You left out verse 26
(Not that you will read this if and when this post is ever released from the spam filters as there will be hundreds of posts after it.
November 23rd, 2007 at 5:34 am
Lucifer is latin for “light bringer” and originally was used to apply to Venus in the morning, it was synonymous with “morning star” and had a lot to do with the Prometheus myth. It had no evil connotations.
How the christians confused it with the devil is a bit complicated, and goes back to at least Dante. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucifer has an overview…
And yes, the saddest thing about this whole mess is the comments left on YouTube… Thought people were smarter then this…
November 23rd, 2007 at 5:37 am
Oh, forgot to mention, when matches were first invented they were called lucifers, may still be called that in parts of the world, not sure.
November 23rd, 2007 at 5:52 am
Well. I liked the bit in the comments about Saturn’s moon “Titus” becoming a new earth.
November 23rd, 2007 at 6:18 am
“The theory is that a constant radiation shower will hit the Earth lasting many weeks killing millions”.
I’m sure we’ll see SPF 2,000,000 appearing on eBay any day now
November 23rd, 2007 at 6:29 am
The victims have to be ashamed too, though. For an analogy, look at the various e-mail scares which make the rounds. A few years back, my sister and mother were both forwarding those scares to me, because they failed to do the research. I’d always politely respond by forwarding a link from snopes or urbanlegends, with the steps I followed to find it.
Now, my sister occasionally sends me an e-mail about how stupid the latest scare she received was. My mom no longer does, because she knows I’d debunk them, but her contacts sometimes occasionally forward her e-mail to me. (They get it from her before forwarding it to me.)
Like the BA said, the correct information is out there, and it’s freely available. Anyone who falls for an astonishing claim without putting in the effort to know the truth have themselves to blame when they get scammed. Their gullibility is the reason why such scammers continue to exist. And shame on them both.
November 23rd, 2007 at 7:48 am
I just can’t understand people anymore. I don’t have
a college education, but it seems to me that I can
tell a farce from actuality.
Maybe I am too old.
November 23rd, 2007 at 8:07 am
“Some people never got a chance to understand the science, because our society downplays learning in general and science specifically.”
I’m not a scientist, but I know Jupiter can’t be turned into a star just like that, or that a glaciation can’t happen in a few weeks, or that beings from the fourth planet around Eridani don’t come here on weekends. Anyway, what I see is that the United States have more universities and colleges and research institutes (real ones) and literature programs, and historical societies, and astronomers, than any other country. All this debunking is a waste of time, in my opinion, because there will always be people who want or need to believe in magic.
November 23rd, 2007 at 8:09 am
Where I am from, we have a word for such people:
Besondlicki!
November 23rd, 2007 at 8:42 am
On the surface, baloney like this seems appalling, but I’d say that no more careful scrutiny one finds they are actually providing a useful service. It’s true they give us, on the one hand, a lunatic fringe that will believe almost anything that makes them feel “in the know” without any actual investment of critical thought, and on the other, scientifically knowledgeable people who have no difficulty seeing through these hoaxes, but neither of those groups is affected in any significant way. It is the middle group, those with basic common sense but little scientific knowledge, that are the actual beneficiaries here– they are vulnerable to gullibility, but they are in the camp of “fool me once…”. So the service provided by science charlatans is to fool them once, and this is indeed a great service to those of us who would like to elevate the general sophistication of critical thinking skills in the population.
In that light, consider the following hypotheses, in order of “woo-woo factor”:
1) the proponents of such conspiracy theories are misguided individuals who want to be famous despite no particular talents beyond a fertile imagination
2) the proponents have seen the truth and are persecuted for it
3) the proponents are part of a government conspiracy designed to so clutter the internet with false conspiracies that when the real ones are exposed no one will pay any attention
4) the proponents are part of an educational conspiracy to fool people so many times that they become motivated to learn actual science so they won’t feel so gullible all the time.
Now, those inclined to dismiss conspiracy theories would tend to gravitate toward conclusion #1, but for those inclined to be intrigued by them, why stop at #2? Why not go on to #3 or even #4? Note that only #2 actually results in the conspiracy theory having merit.
November 23rd, 2007 at 8:51 am
What would generic conspiracy x have to gain by killing a large but random percentage of earth’s population in a manner that’s either impractical to repeat, or isn’t easily identifiable as being their doing?
But they’re eeeevil! They do evil things for evil reasons! Pure evil!
Oh, and Ken G: option 3 has always been a particular favourite of mine. Especially when lobbed at a bunch of conspiracy theorists, like a hand grenade.
November 23rd, 2007 at 9:01 am
Geeze, people are such paranoid freaks sometimes.
I also don’t have a science phd but I learned from GRADE SCHOOL that Jupiter is not big enough for being a star. You just gotta think that Jupiter VS a Brown Dwarf is not even a fight. Seriously. And now Saturn? It’s even more of a joke!!
Delusional people that think they know better than common sense makes me laugh.
November 23rd, 2007 at 9:28 am
Can’t these people be exploited somehow? Could we offer them $100 now for their houses after the predicted date of doom? They’d have money to enjoy themselves with before the end *and* there would be a penalty for being too ignorant to be let out alone.
November 23rd, 2007 at 9:48 am
To me, there are few things that are more fun than a good conspiracy theory, especially if it is modeled on a good science fiction novel.
As for people commenting on You Tube: http://xkcd.com/202/
November 23rd, 2007 at 10:27 am
Hahaha, the first xkcd cartoon I have seen that is funny!
November 23rd, 2007 at 11:14 am
Harlan Ellison once said “The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.” This kind of nutcase theory shows that you can even combine them.
November 23rd, 2007 at 11:51 am
I believe it was Albert Einstein who said,” Genius has its limits. Stupidity, infortunately, is not so constrained,,,”
,,,or something like that,,,
GAry 7
November 23rd, 2007 at 12:31 pm
I think the quote was more along the following lines: There are two things infinite: the universe and human stupidity. However, I am not too sure about the former…
November 23rd, 2007 at 2:21 pm
You know, there are more things to consider. Like, Saturn being what, 120,000 some kilometers wide at about 9 AU away from the Sun at BEST…
The Sun’s a million kilometers wide and is basically in our backyard compared to Saturn. WHY aren’t we dead yet, I ask you?! I say it’s a conspiracy. NASA made the Sun harmless so they can kill us with Saturn instead!
November 23rd, 2007 at 2:26 pm
I’m utterly convinced my tin-foil hat will protect me from the radiation, just as it’s thwarted ‘them’ in finding me to know where to direct the radiation! Mwuhahahahaha!
November 23rd, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Wow… you know, I made that comment about the tin-foil hat without reading the comments on You-Tube. I just read them.
I’m far more concerned about the fate of our society now. It has nothing to do with turning planets into stars though. I simply cannot believe people stupid enough to believe this tripe are intelligent enough to find the ‘On’ switch and connect to the internet to post…
Thank you, BA, for doing at least some small part in debunking crackpot theories like these.
November 23rd, 2007 at 8:12 pm
When comet Shoemaker-Levi hit Jupiter as soon as the impact point rotated within view the effect of the impact was evident. Even if the probe hit the eastern limb of Jupiter as it was rotating out of site 5 hrs later the impact should have been visible. Yet by the dates shown there was a few days between Gallileo’s impact & the large dark spot showing. On the date shown, for Jupiter with the dark spot, Io’s shadow passed across Jupiter’s face at the same approximate latitude shown for the photos between 5:40 UT & 7:50 UT. Unfortunately the uTube video is so blurry I can’t see the times of the two Jupiter photos with the dark spot shown.
November 24th, 2007 at 12:45 am
Anything > n=2 when used in any a, b, (c) or x, y, (z) Math Calculations is based on Non-Proven Theorems or Theory. When ever you use “Thune” or “Jocabian” Math in Calculations or to prove a Theorem it is still a Theory. I have been doing my own thing since I was 10 1/2 and when ever I came accross a Conjecture or what I always call; ” The Cross Roads”. I would stop and THINK, not dream up a Theory to amuze myself and to educate millions with Fantasy Math. I have kept Math Pure and Just like my Father before me. We are ONE now and all you PHDed Phillies could just set there amuzed to death. 2008, 2010, 2012 or beyond is a proven fact of a future date. If you till me you know the future, than go amuze yourself playing the lottery. I don’t have much energy left to install any other proofs. I could till you that I have gone with The ONE way beyond where you lay your heads. All ONE’s work is there and I hold the KEYS. Don’t bother trying to squeeze them out of me. They are stored in a way that I can’t even force them out. I say to you; “go back and prove all your theories and fix all your sores before you stick your head up into space any further. I could say that when using 3,4,5 or 6 in an Ecliptical Module you better come to me with more than dreams. You better have all the facts or you will have no chance. You have everything you need minus patience. Fear not and come in peace and all will be revealed and you could be like The ONE. Don’t come like a pack of wolves, approach me from the front, face to FACE, eye to EYE and the knowledge will flow like water. SHE is here for ONE’s last time and if you do anything wrong or evil your on your own. I used The Laws Of Physics Of My Father’s and Mastered your Magnetosphere and Planetary System and I am not going to fail this time. If you want more theories to amuze yourselves, show me if you have ever seen a; ” Double Ecliptical Double Star Planetary System”. I have and long for you to see The Heaven like beauty and grace of an Infanite Loop Orbital Pattern. It is so perfect you can’t even smash your heads into it and mess it up. Quit using up all you matter for next to none anti-matter. You will need it for positive progress.
With Love of The ONE, Patmos David
pdpettibone@comcast.net
If the house is rocking, don’t bother knocking. Come in peace with respect to my privacy and Thy Will Be Done.
November 24th, 2007 at 8:24 am
Sure he does. It’s just pretty much the opposite of Phil’s.
November 24th, 2007 at 6:43 pm
As for the dumb “Lucifer Project†idea — I ran afoul of a guy back in the 80s who claimed that a single H-Bomb detonated close to the sun would cause it to transition into it’s Red Giant phase. When I stopped laughing I tried to explain to him the silliness of the idea, but he wouldn’t believe me.
Ironically, a couple of the Manhattan Project scientists were afraid the Trinity test would do something similar to Earth — set the entire atmosphere aflame and kill everything. Obviously that didn’t happen, but it just shows what’s now a clearly idiotic idea has roots in something intelligent people thought briefly…
November 25th, 2007 at 8:24 am
jay denari, that idea (of igniting the atmosphere) was discussed briefly at Los Alamos and rejected as unlikely. I believe Teller was involved in this. Nevertheless, it has taken on a life of its own. In that respect it is similar to the creation of black holes in the LHC: of course scientists consider it, because they are careful. But it doesn’t take much to work out that it is not going to happen.
November 25th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Where I live “crap” is a swearword.
Also, your use of “offal” as a perjorative offends me – offal is GREAT! I love kidneys in mustard cream and medium-rare lam’s liver. Give offal a break and stop being so sanctimonious about “bad words” … otherwise, what a cool site – keep it goin’ …
November 26th, 2007 at 9:26 am
Since I teach this stuff, I know that Jupiter would have to be some 80 times bigger than it is before it would be big enough to ignite and become a star.
November 26th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
So what’s the problem with Jupiter becoming a star? I am not a scientist, and I don’t profess to have the answers, but it seems to me to be a problem in simple math along with some basic and probably faulty assumptions.
Some studies suggest that the Earth increases its mass by approximately 10E8 KG each day. Thus, in a mere 10E14 years the Earth will double in mass. Actually it will probably be somewhat less since mass and gravity are related and gravity probably has some effect on the amount of space debris is collected and deposited on the Earth. I propose a figure of around 25% as the reduction in time to achieve a doubling of the mass. This would reduce the required time to about 10E11 years.
If we assume that Jupiter increases its mass at a rate proportionate to Earth, which may or may not be the case, then Jupiter will double its mass approximately every 10E11 years as well. Given these figures, Jupiter will attain its “critical mass” to be come a sun in only about 10E75 years give or take a day or two. Actually, this figure may be a little long; since the Sun (Sol) is scheduled to expand or blow up or something in around 4.5 billion years. If this happens, there will be a period of time when there will perhaps be more available space debris within the solar system. Jupiter, assuming that it still exists, could possibly grow a little faster during this time.
Now then, I claim to be in direct communication with the powers that can, if they wish, control the speed of this process. If any individual or group of individuals is willing to present me with incredible wealth, I will negotiate with those powers and convince them to delay the process until after the natural death of that individual or group of individuals. As a result, you will never have to be faced with an additional sun in the sky.
December 2nd, 2007 at 1:54 pm
Cassini turning Saturn into a star? What a bunch of nonsense!!!! If this was true then how come the Pioneer or Voyager crafts didn’t do this decades ago? Some people have been reading to much into “2010:odyseey two” WAY too much!!! What’s next? New Horizons turning Pluto into one? The Dawn mission turning Ceres into one as well? When will this kind of dumb stuff end?
January 28th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
bad Jjim said; “The problem with reality-based catastrophic scenarios, like peak oil and global warming, is that the end of the world isn’t expected to occur within our lifetimes. So who cares?” Hmm, why do you think peak oil won’t have catastrophic effects within your lifetime? Do you only listen to estimates that chime with your personal aspirations? Oil production has been on an undulating plateau for a couple of years and most estimates of peak (or at least the time when supplies can’t match demand – actual production has already done that for 2 years but stocks have made up the difference) are converging on 2011-2015. Global warming is already affecting our planet, so that’s wrong too?
If you’re extremely old and don’t have any kids, I guess there might not be much to worry about with either of these real problems (unlike the asteroid).