[ForGod'sSake]

...it appears Earth is set to plunge on a down-spike of the cycle.

My point being, it looks like it should have already happened based on the historical data in Figure 1-5. The moderate temperatures we currently enjoy appear to have been around a lot longer than they were during previous spikes. If figure 1-5 is to be believed, and given our present gaggle within the "scientific community"; flip a coin, the graph indicates some anomolous behaviour beginning at 75,000 - 80,000 years ago. About the time Toba exploded???

It would appear to the untrained eye, like mine, the temperature sampling becomes more frequent within the last 80,000 years or so, and even moreso during the last few thousand years. Is it a trick of the graph creator to make things appear worse than they actually are? Or is there cause for concern because we've been "stuck" at the current peak for far too long? Lacking more information regarding sampling rates and how they were applied to the graph, I submit we can't really tell.

FGS

[palmer]

Or is there cause for concern because we've been "stuck" at the current peak for far too long?

Being "stuck" has made the rise of civilization possible. Otherwise it would not have happened. What is your cause for concern. that being "stuck" might not last? If so, I agree, a new ice age would be a death sentence for billions of people.

[Zon]

In graph 1-6 (see post 45) showing 3 million years (time is reversed, that is, the left side is present day, the right three million years past) is looks like our present interglacial spike is well within the normal duration. In graph 1-5 the right most spike at 400 kyr is about the same duration as our present day interglacial.

IIRC the reason for greater abundance of temperature points plotted for more recent times is due to the overlay of more independent ice-core studies.