I feel inclined to put a totally different spin on climate change than that I've presented in the past.

It's hopeless. We are doomed. There is no recovery from the disaster we are facing. If we had done something some time ago, then maybe. But getting carbon dioxide below the point where the temperature of our atmosphere starts declining, instead of increasing it is an impossible task.

Now wait a minute, how is that different? Well, for one, I had been optimistic about our ability to address climate change. No longer.

I'll remain optimistic about the world. Without us the world will survive very well. It's been around for around 4 billion years. It has only known us for a few tens of thousands. Enough time to make a very small dent in it, but not to destroy it. It's got another 4 billion or more years yet before our sun swallows all its planets. We won't be around by then. You and I will be long gone, and so will our species.

Even with evolution, our species will not evolve much beyond what it has achieved in the last few thousand years. Why? Because that's not how biology works. And all the DNA manipulation which we might attempt has little hope of achieving the kind of changes required to enable us to survive.

Our biology is geared to reproduction. The only merited DNA changes are those that encourage our ability to reproduce. Changes that might reduce our population for instance are not biologically sustainable. Failure to reproduce does not increase our species' ability to survive. Yet in our current predicament that's precisely what is required. Changes that might improve our ability to deal with catastrophes of one kind or another similarly won't arise naturally. People will continue to live in earthquake zones and littoral zones because that's where life is relatively easy. No incentive to change, nor to change the structure of their DNA. Our ability to address such challenges only comes with adulthood, long after our success at reproduction, and therefore cannot be transmitted to future generations.

I am singularly despondent about our ability to manipulate our DNA. Each of us as an adult consists of some 37 trillion cells. Each one of those cells contains the entire genome. For any genetic modification to be successful, it has to find its way into every one of those cells. Though perhaps it only has to be a change in the DNA of our germ cells. Of which there are millions. And only half of our DNA is passed on, which then has to compete with the other half for expression. We should be able to adjust for deleterious side effects in a few generations. No problem, eh?

So, OK, you start by adding the required genetic change to our embryos. Starting with the initial zygote of a single cell. Maybe we can get to the point that successful implantation can occur at that level. Not what we are doing today. Today we are able to modify a strand of RNA in a desired way and then duplicate that RNA multiple times. Our success with COVID-19 vaccines is remarkable, but far from enabling genomic modification to address psychological features such as aggression. And who's going to grant permission, supposing permission is required? Remember a Chinese researcher lost his career following genetic modification of human embryos. That's going too far.

And there are now 8 billion people on this earth. Who's going to grant the privilege of modifying all living humans? There is no god, nor a multi-national, or international level of government. So that ain't going to happen.

The hope I have for the world, rests with the Sentinelese and other isolated groups of homo. The Sentinelese live in the Indian Ocean refusing contact with outsiders, killing those that try to do so. They will survive whatever we achieve, if achieve is the appropriately optimistic word to use.

A few million years will see tectonic changes to the earth that will swallow up all evidence of our existence. All our waste and pollution will be recycled back through the volcanic chasms of our world and will emerge unrecognizable. Then perhaps we can begin again, with renewed DNA. The Sentinelese may become the sentinels of our renewed future, way down the line.

Bring it on. Don't let's push for COP29. Let's encourage Alberta and the UAE to burn all the fossil fuel they can pump. It just speeds up the progress from our so-called enlightened and progressive world to one where we cannot exist as an advanced civilization.

No, the earth will survive without us and be very happy for it. Of that I can be very happy.