mit_catastrophe OP t1_j8ti53d wrote on February 16, 2023 at 9:02 PM

Reply to comment by Veszerin in We are MIT scientists studying past global environmental catastrophes (mass extinctions, etc.) and their relevance to modern-day climate change. Ask us anything! by mit_catastrophe

This is extremely difficult to answer. Our own work has focused on a small piece of the puzzle: what happened in the geologic past, and how does it inform us about our problems today? But past events played out in the absence of human societies, and what could happen to human societies over long term (1000s to millions of years) is fascinating but very poorly understood problem.