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How long til the human race extinct?

By ArSeNaLfAn32 on 23/09/2008
smile.gif

By Havochaha on 23/09/2008
tellie tubbies are coming 0.0

By Ragingwealth on 23/09/2008
TELETUBBIES!

By Lee on 23/09/2008
Russa will start soon. And thats world war 3 tbh, and 9/10 of humanity Die. FAIL

By Sativas on 23/09/2008
i just clicked random, anyway +1

By Angus0000 on 23/09/2008
The robots are going to annihilate the human race in 2012 with an android army made out of parts of people who died of lung cancer due to smoking.

By Dilz621 on 23/09/2008
Political and social chaos has been with us for a very long time. Given the revolutions of the past and present, class warfare, and scheming of those seeking power, the human race has shown a remarkable resilience and managed to survive thus far.

The new factors in the equation of the balance of mankind and the rest of nature are the technological advances that have changed how political and social chaos can develop, and the advances in industry that have the potential to inflict serious environmental alterations. Threats of nuclear war, biological catastrophe, and climate change now bring into question as to how humanity can continue to survive.

Personally, I think that with the growth of true threats to survival, there has been growth of human ingenuity as well. We have yet to release a Frankenstein's monster of technology upon the world. Despite the stockpiles of nuclear weapons, there has been no global warfare. Medical research is in a renaissance of advance. Climate change remains a concern, but I believe that we are an adaptable species, as we have adapted before and will again.

The larger question is how will humanity survive, which is what is asked. It's very likely that the resources of today may no longer be available in a century. But consider the resources available today that were not available a century before. As stated before, we are an adaptable species, and when one window of resources closes, it's likely that other windows will be openable.

Of course, the speed that everything progresses at has increased. Will we be able to adapt in time? Perhaps not for a lot of us, but consider that in the 14th century, the Black Death wiped out over a third of Europe's population. Yet Europe survived and prospered. We may again have a catastophe that has similarly devestating effects, but I feel confident that after the catastrophe, humankind will prosper.

Why do I place this faith in humanity? Because I must. Without the belief that we will continue to grow and overcome the pains of social chaos as we mature as a species, we might as well not have any faith at all. I'm not talking religion (although that may or may not be a part in its current forms), but simply the same belief that we will survive just as much as the sun will rise the next day.


From yahoo answers

By Eregion2 on 23/09/2008
Frankly, human beings are like cockroaches. No matter what you do they'll always be somebody left. tongue.gif

By rachellove9 on 23/09/2008
QUOTE (Eregion2 @ September 23, 2008 06:31 pm)
Frankly, human beings are like cockroaches. No matter what you do they'll always be somebody left. tongue.gif

It does seem like that to me too. But still Gore has put a lil fear into me.

By Winddancir on 23/09/2008
I'll be optimistic. 501-1000

By Samurai-JM on 24/09/2008
2012 isn't gonna happen IMO. There may be a cultural re-awakening or something like that, but the Mayan calendar does NOT predict the end of the world in a cataclysmic sense.

I say we got quite a while to go, unless WW3 ensues and we blow ourselves to bits.

By Twizlers300 on 24/09/2008
QUOTE (Samurai-JM @ September 24, 2008 01:15 am)
2012 isn't gonna happen IMO. There may be a cultural re-awakening or something like that, but the Mayan calendar does NOT predict the end of the world in a cataclysmic sense.

I say we got quite a while to go, unless WW3 ensues and we blow ourselves to bits.

Yup agreed with like everything you said.

By Firelion08 on 24/09/2008
QUOTE (Twizlers300 @ September 24, 2008 04:41 am)
QUOTE (Samurai-JM @ September 24, 2008 01:15 am)
2012 isn't gonna happen IMO. There may be a cultural re-awakening or something like that, but the Mayan calendar does NOT predict the end of the world in a cataclysmic sense.

I say we got quite a while to go, unless WW3 ensues and we blow ourselves to bits.

Yup agreed with like everything you said.

Indeed.

Besides... "The End is upon us!" fanatics are extremely annoying. Even if, by chance, they happen to be right one day. hash.png


I think part of this attitude is influenced similarly to how some people think they are the center of the universe and that everything revolves around them; that they are somehow special. A generation would want to feel that their generation is the last because they want to have a significant place in history -- so to speak.

By His Lordship on 24/09/2008
The human race is too advanced to be wiped out by war or climate change.
WW3 might kill 90% of us, but some will make it through.
Global warming might kill our plants and much of the environment, but some will persevere.
If there is a virus that nobody is immune to, we have the quarantines in place to send people underground and isolated and such.

The majority of the race would die in cataclysmic events, but there will be a portion that survives... unless the world were to disintegrate.

By Robertw56 on 24/09/2008
I give us 2 days to 100 years, we all know what Russia is like hash.png

By Mistah Vince on 24/09/2008
Tbh, it all doesn't really matter to me. tongue.gif

As long as I'm already dead before it happens.

By Havochaha on 24/09/2008
what vince said ill see u guys in heaven or hell lets have a war with satan or god and play rs

By Tnuac on 24/09/2008
I'll give us over 1000 years.

There's a very high chance of nuclear warefare over power and possibly oil, and a virus pandemic could take down a lot of us, but as lordy says, some will survive, and make an isolated civilisation. But that's only looking at the human aspect.

QUOTE
The human race is too advanced to be wiped out by war or climate change.

Global warming might kill our plants and much of the environment, but some will persevere.


Erm, global warming doesn't kill plants. There's many plants which will strive in heat, the only thing that might kill them is too little or too much. Climat change is predicted to bring about changes in weather patterns, meaning some areas will get much more rain, and some areas much less. Though, a lot of plants will survive. Similiarly, a lot of the environment will be fine. You'll lose the alpine and tundra environments, but others will strive in their place. You'll get a bit more desertification.

No, the thing we have to worry about it us. The climate's lived through many changes over the past 4.6billion years, but we are much more fragile. Sure, we're advanced, but that means we're also too complex. A lot of what we get is imported from all over the world, or transported from all over the country, all we need to do is pop to the supermarket and pick it up, thinking nothing of it. When trade gets disrupted because of limitations on fuel, or more dangerous waters, or whatever, a lot of people are screwed because they're not use to standing on their own feet.

Supposed climate change is also happening at the peak of a financial crisis. In the UK a hell of a lot of people are now in fuel poverty, pensions are being taxed, the government has to keep borrowing money, airlines are closing, banks are folding. And because of our complex society over the world, if the UK is in a crisis it will eventually become worldwide. Climate change is a huge issue, and so requires a lot of money to curb the effects of human population on. Everyone's short on money as it is, where's it going to come from?

The main problem when things get tight is riots. If it gets bad enough, people stop acting as a society, and take all they can get. You see increased looting violence, and all that sort of thing. It already happens in places which get wide power-outs. There again, it is a disastor scenario.

The worst part of global warming is the sea level rise. Can't remember the figures, but a hell of a lot of cities would be flooded if the sea level rose say 3-5m, and they say it could rise as much as 20m. With new york, for example, underwater, its pretty obvious we'll face difficulty. It will disrupt a lot of things. But again, it won't come close to making us extinct.

We will eventually come into an ice age. In fact, we're overdue one. Its very likely that global warming can bring about another ice age. We could never sustain society as it is. Really hard to predict what will happen, but we may lose at least 75% of the world population. To live in an ice age you really need a primitive lifestyle, to catch your own food, to fight the competiton. It would trigger civil wars and only the fittest would survive.

This sounds really off-in-the-future and film-like but we're talking anything from 50-5000 years away.


Maybe the thing we have to worry about the most is viral disease. It is the best way to wipe out a civilsation. Some diseases are so infectious, like the ebola virus. If we get caught off-guard, its extremely likely that the whole of modern civilisation would be affected (especially with increased travel). Even for those who aren't infected - they are no longer transported food and that sort of thing, they've got to live for themselves, which means leaving the house and swimming? to a far-off place from civilisation. Most people would be dead, but I think you'll still have life in the primitive tribes cut-off from civilisation. They could then spawn new life.


If anyone wants to rebuke me, feel free hash.png


By Pyro Blade26 on 24/09/2008
way over 1000 years. Dinosaurs were here for millions and ate each other. im pretty sure people can last longer.

By Baconman81 on 24/09/2008
Wasn't the world supposed to end like 2 Wednesdays ago? blink.gif

By Eregion2 on 24/09/2008
QUOTE (His Lordship @ September 24, 2008 02:00 am)
The human race is too advanced to be wiped out by war or climate change.
WW3 might kill 90% of us, but some will make it through.
Global warming might kill our plants and much of the environment, but some will persevere.
If there is a virus that nobody is immune to, we have the quarantines in place to send people underground and isolated and such.

The majority of the race would die in cataclysmic events, but there will be a portion that survives... unless the world were to disintegrate.

Agreed. Even Revelations doesn't allow for complete extinction. evilneko.gif

By Type Z Z Z on 24/09/2008
As soon as Gas runs out we're fucked anyways

By ArSeNaLfAn32 on 25/09/2008
QUOTE (Pyro Blade26 @ September 24, 2008 07:32 pm)
way over 1000 years. Dinosaurs were here for millions and ate each other. im pretty sure people can last longer.

They didn't have the capability to disintegrate and murder millions of people in an instant.

By Samurai-JM on 25/09/2008
QUOTE (His Lordship @ September 24, 2008 02:00 am)
The human race is too advanced to be wiped out by war or climate change.
WW3 might kill 90% of us, but some will make it through.
Global warming might kill our plants and much of the environment, but some will persevere.
If there is a virus that nobody is immune to, we have the quarantines in place to send people underground and isolated and such.

The majority of the race would die in cataclysmic events, but there will be a portion that survives... unless the world were to disintegrate.

And as history has shown, the Earth has been through a LOT. Meteors, ice ages, plagues, etc. But it's still here with hardly a scratch. Therefore my hypothesis is this, the only way the Earth can be destroyed is from one of the following:

Sun exploding(will take billions of years).
Time/Space continuum collapse causing black hole to suck up the universe(LHC!!!).
Alien force the size of the sun coming to eat us(Unicron!!!).

But we, humanity, ain't gonna do squat to it, and it certainly isn't gonna blow itself up.

By His Lordship on 29/09/2008
Mike, I know you are the geography expert, but I know that plants will die due to global warming.

It will start with the sea levels rising therefore consuming the coastal plants. Rain will cease, fucking up the hydrologic cycle.
Plants will die.

All of the ecosystems will be modified and natural selection will go into overdrive. Those species that can't move to higher ground will go extinct. Plants of course will suffer the most because they are the slowest to adapt to new environments.

By Eregion2 on 29/09/2008
Actually, I'm adjusting my argument.

I believe that humanity will become extinct the generation immediately following the one which succeeds in creating a perfectly, completely, and insurmountably safe existence. Because when that happens, there'll be no reason to keep on living.



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