If technology advances enough to avoid planetary extinctions from outside sources. What will cause the end of mankind?
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Are we even still evolving?22% Voted for by outofbreath, Soifwe Passedwest.
I have to wonder if we are evolving as a whole. We no longer have to fight off predators and wre progressively making the human race blind, deaf, and eventually have a lower IQ. With no predators to eat the sight and hearing impaired, the genes of those people are allowed to be passed down from generation to generation, and at the same time, allowing those genes to furthur mutate. As for our advancing technology; I think it is furthur hindering our development as a species because now, when an environment doestn suit us, we dont adapt, we just change our environment to suit us (and destroying it in the process).
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not so fastVoted for by were i to die.
the humans as we know our selves if adapting will change and while given a near infinite time for evolution at some point in time "we" would no longer resemble our selves yet we may be made of the same things as we are now (nothing more than a large lump of protiens and all held together by electro-magnetic attractions and repulsions i) it would be like comparing hybrid cars to a horse and carrige. though they are the same (both modes of transportation) they are vastly different in nature and operation.
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bacteriaVoted for by grant.
We owe our existance to bacteria. We, in fact, exist for the sake of bacteria. It is bacteria that evolves. When humans become extinct bacteria will live on. Bacteria has been found living in and feasting on nuclear waste. Living bacteria has been found on a camera lens that was on the moon for two years. Bacteria has been found to live in the hottest emissions from beneath the earth's crust. Existance is life and bacteria has a tendency to live in any known circumstance. It doesn't need human technology. It will feast on human corpses as well as maintain human existance. Bacteria may as well be labelled "god".
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Finite possibility always fulfilled with in an infinite system (not metaphysical possibilities, however)Voted for by TeChNoWC.
It wouldn't necessarily be an infinite amount of time. While we are bound to a seemingly finite realm (with time), it would seem that infinity could never be 'fulfilled', or the presence of the possibility of extinction, coupled with a near infinite existence, would mean that our chances of infinite survival would almost reach zero, as a possibility, if having a finite value (eg 1/10000000000), while having an infinite chance of occurence, will always come to pass.
That is, we will be faced with extinction, before we can live 'forever'.
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Two Possible thingsVoted for by Kazrith.
1) Us, Ourselves, we people. 2) a virus (no bigger then a nanometer)
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Probably not...Voted for by Oral Fixation.
Okay, so we're assuming that if a big meteor were to come and pretty much be headed straight for us, that NASA could save us? Okie dokie.
Go to funnyjunk.com and look at End of ze World for a funnier version of what I'm about to explain (End of ze World cusses alot, by the way. Real funny, though).
Pretty much, I think we'll just kill ourselves. We're creating things like nuke waste and pollution that can NEVER go away. Pretty soon people are gunna be born with defects that kill them. There already are people like that (or, were, since most die)...How long til we start a nuke war and cause a nuke winter?
A person is smart. People are stupid. Why do you think we have philisophical discussion?
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AlternativesVoted for by boxerlover31.
I believe that the human race is at an intersection in its evolution right now and there are a couple of realistic possibilities, as i see it.
1. Global breakdown. The human population & their technolgical, fuel and food requirements has exceeded the planets capability to meet the demand. It is potentially too late to arrest this course, and the planet will respond with continuing and increasingly intense natural 'disasters' until the balance is restored. Probably returning humankind to a manageable stage of evolution, if not eradicating the species.
2. Technological advancement, particularly in the field of quantum mechanics (specifically in quantum computers), will enable us to avert potential tragedies and, with increased computing power, solve problems otherwise considered impractical or impossible. This would affect every individual on the planet. Medicine, Genetic research, space travel, possibly even time will all be conquered. This would allow an expotential expansion of our knowledge, and with this we could indeed create our own evolutionary path which undoubtably would lead to the species continuing for an undefined period of time.
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Yes, I believe human existance is infiniteVoted for by wegg20.
I believe we will continue to advance and expand our technology at exponential rates considering all of the accomplishments of the last 100 years. If the next planatary extinction doesn't happen for a million years, our technolgy will ensure our safety. Leaving me to believe that mankind could potentially exist as long as the universe does.
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Soifwe Passedwest
February 18, 2007
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Meanwhile the geniuses commit their lives to furthering knowledge and have fewer kids, if any. And that's saying they don't give up and kill themselves first.
TeChNoWC
March 2, 2007
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Kill kill kill.
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