Survival

[Little Bang]

How much longer can the human race survive? A 1000 years, a 1,000,000, could it be as short as 50?

[MortenS]

Provided we do not kill ourselves, I think the human lineage (not necessarily the same species as today) can survive for much longer than 1 million years. We need to colonize Mars though, and terraform it, so that we do not put all our eggs in the same basket. This way, if some asteroid hits earth or mars, the population on the other planet can be used for recolonization and rebuilding. yeah, I am dreaming :hihi:

[Little Bang]

You then don't think that we are doing enough damage to the environment to cause a serious ecological threat to our own existance?

[infamous]

You then don't think that we are doing enough damage to the environment to cause a serious ecological threat to our own existance?

Enviornmental threats are certainly of importance, and coud cause serious consequences to the future of our civilization. I believe however that the greatest threat we face is the inability to find acceptable ways to live with each other. Simply said, War is the greatest threat we face.

[Little Bang]

I think the biggest threat that we face is ourselves, humans typically don't face up to a problem until they are forced. I will admit that humans are very good at finding solutions when they don't have any other choices. The environmental thing may be one that if we wait until we are forced to do something it may be to late.

[UncleAl]

US Social Security implodes in 2015 with all the Baby Boomers retired. Ditto all of Europe. Jackbooted State charity will be bankrupted inside out. Burn, baby, burn. Surviving 2015... the Earth accumulated about 60 miles^3 of petroleum. By 2030 will will have recovered about 45 miles^3 - and the rest doesn't want to come out. The First World irreversibly goes down.

 

It is inconceivable that global technological civilization will be more than a mythic memory by 2050. Pay your taxes. Uncle Al wants a luxuruous retirement prior to Ragnarok.

[MortenS]

You then don't think that we are doing enough damage to the environment to cause a serious ecological threat to our own existance?

 

Oh, we are doing more than enough damage to the environment, and the enviroment will change. It may very well lead to increased mortality. I just don't think the human population will reach zero.

[Dark Mind]

I see someone shares my pessimistic attitude towards the future of humanity :hihi:.

 

I mean, ;).

 

;)

[Little Bang]

Oh, we are doing more than enough damage to the environment, and the enviroment will change. It may very well lead to increased mortality. I just don't think the human population will reach zero.

 

 

250 million years ago the world saw an increase in CO2 levels quite simular to the one we are seeing today. Guess what, 95% of all life on this planet vanished.

[Dark Mind]

???

Is that true???

[Kizzi]

If I was president of USA I'd make sure secretly located, self supporting enviroments were created, housing enough to repopulate the world after an unexpected extinction event occurs (Nuclear war or meteor impact or whatever), and also focus my sights on creating bases on mars, and also spped up development of intelligent self replicating robots.

 

Hence my guess humans will survive on Earth until the sun goes supernovae.

 

Kizzi :rolleyes:

[Little Bang]

In that extinction it took 10 million years for the environment to come back.

 

http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&start=1&q=http://hannover.park.org/Canada/Museum/extinction/permass.html&e=9797

[Dark Mind]

The Permian mass extinction occurred about 248 million years ago and was the greatest mass extinction ever recorded in earth history; even larger than the previously discussed Ordovician and Devonian crises and the better known End Cretaceous extinction that felled the dinosaurs. Ninety to ninety-five percent of marine species were eliminated as a result of this Permian event. The primary marine and terrestrial victims included the fusulinid foraminifera, trilobites,rugose and tabulate corals, blastoids, acanthodians, placoderms, and pelycosaurs, which did not survive beyond the Permian boundary. Other groups that were substantially reduced included the bryozoans, brachiopods, ammonoids, sharks, bony fish, crinoids, eurypterids, ostracodes, and echinoderms.

 

...All marine life.:rolleyes:

[Little Bang]

I stand corrected, it was only 70% of all land species and 95% of all marine life.

[Dark Mind]

:rolleyes:

 

That's right...

[Little Bang]

I guess when you say "Thats right" it means that our species is out of danger.

[Dark Mind]

No, I'm just saying, "That's right... :hihi:"...

 

Well, I guess I'm saying it because I was right and you admitted you were wrong too :rolleyes:. Just my way of saying "YES!!! I got something right!" in a polite way :naughty:.