There are lots of animal races that became extinct now and we human beings populated the earth now. Do you think time will come that our race will become extinct too? What do you think are the factors that will cause it?
Subscription Note:
Choosing to subscribe to this topic will automatically register you for email notifications for comments and updates on this thread.
Email notifications will be sent out daily by default unless specified otherwise on your account which you can edit by going to your userpage here and clicking on the subscriptions tab.
First some technical detail. Race is a term used for phenotypically similar subgroups within a species, it therefore cannot be said to become extinct because it is NOT a species in itself. For example within bird species there may be races, which usually map to a particular geographical area within the overall species population. Example of one morph may disappear, but the species remains.
Homo is a species which has expanded due to the ability to manipulate its environment. However that manipulation has resulted in the accumulated of wastes which are altering the holding capacity of that environment. Homo, as species, has the clear potential to become extinct if it is incapable of adapting the new environment it is creating. There are insufficient generations available to permit natural selection to operate, and homo has developed a social structure that attempts to preserve all members irrespective of the capacity for the person to survive and pass on their genes.
Clairvoyance of course is impossible, but as the population of Homo has a limited distribution (3rd plant from sun) and the survival of this species requires conversion of solar energy by plants, and the land area available to plants will decline with rising sea levels (and river heights), and once oceanic pH declines sufficiently coral reefs will cease to deposit new structure leading to coastal erosion there will be a massive decline in flat arable land. This means reduced natural food production for the worlds population. This does not mean massive starvation at once, but will result in progressive collapse of societies, and increased conflict for resources.
The ability of Homo to avoid extinction depends therefore on several possible paths.
1. the ability to adapt to complete societal collapse with a probable return to simple tribalism.
2. The capacity to synthesise and use nutrients from non natural sources ( e.g. fossil fuels --> protein.)
3. The ability of Homo to begin to apply its technology by overcoming the primitive belief systems that have allowed the species to prosper (i.e. religion) and curb its unbridled population expansion that has resulted in accumulation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
4. The ability to minimise the adverse biological effects of the warming of the planet on the global biosphere.
Can the species do it?
no matter what we can survive since we can move from 1 planet to the next in the coming 100 years, there are already projects on the way for just this.
A single strong enough solar flare from the sun can kill us in an instant.
This unfortunately is a reality which can happen any moment.
Studies and research are trying to find solutions for this situation for many years now.
So yes our specie can be wiped out very easyly but in the future we can also avoid this if we put our head to it.
Since our sun is getting older human race should raise its technology to be able to penetrate livable planets from other galaxies to be able to survive.
No one knows.
Probably, if for no reason other than the second law.
Perhaps we will go extinct, we certainly could go extinct. We destroy the environment and possibly our planet to survive, and no creature that does that is likely to last forever, we may end up destroying ourselves. We make wars with each other over whose invisible friends are real, we destroy our only source of fresh oxygen to clean our asses, and prefer to like facebook posts rather than do something to fix it.
I hope we come to a realization that we are responsible in taking good care of our environment.
Im afraid I am of the opinion that as a species we are possesed of a vast curiosity which has given rise to a pernicious and powerful instinct for self destruction.
Consider that at the time of the initial development of nuclear weapons , many were not sure whether the detonation of such a device would start a chain reaction that would ,atom by atom ,destroy the entire world.
And yet we went ahead with the project.
Similarly when the large Hadron Collider at CERN was due to "go live" there were some who thought that a black hole could be generated destroying a large chunk of the solar system if not the galaxy...
Again we went ahead... .
So even assuming we miss being wiped out by disease ,global natural disasters , perennial warfare engendered by our own vicious nature , cosmic cataclysms from meteors or comets ....
I am quite convinced that the last words uttered by the last of our species will not be some great philosophical truth nor a secret name of a God or deity....
it is much more likely to be something along the lines of "I wonder what this button does ?? ...... "
watchman - "Similarly when the large Hadron Collider at CERN was due to "go live" there were some who thought that a black hole could be generated destroying a large chunk of the solar system if not the galaxy..."
only fruitcakes thought that, since higher energy collisions that those at the LHC take place all the time. Only a fruitcake can stand next to a freeway where cars are going 60 mph, and suggest that cars will spontaneously disintegrate if they go faster than 10 mph...
Nyarlhotep..
Indeed ...but it was non the less a view that was current at the time ,however much a minority one. As indeed was the view at the time of the atom bomb development ....
But the point I'm trying to make is that even with the possibility (however infinitesimally small) that these projects could result in the total eradication of life on this planet .... we went ahead any way.
The quest for knowledge ,it seems out-weighs ,all other considerations.
I'm not saying this is a bad thing .
But as an attitude it does seem to mitigate against the chances of our long term survival .
I tend to agree with you watchman, we most likely be our own doom unless we learn to understand one an other and the universe we live in.
If we learn to share and let go of envy, greed and ownership, we might survive ourselves.
Unfortunately until there is power and material value, there will always be fighting.
WW2 atomic bomb thought us what could have happened in a nuclear war and it helped to bring peace in a way but we are still far from understanding each other.
99% of all species are extinct. What makes us so special? You never know though, we are the first that could actually prevent it. Although, we most likely will cause it, lol.
There are lots of things that can kill off our species.
Global warming could boil us to death, or destroy our food resources.
A disease capable of beating our medicines could become a pandemic and wipe us out, perhaps a man made piece of nano tech could do it.
Another asteroid could hit the Earth or a solar eruption.
We could just evolve to the point where homo-sapiens has been replaced by a new species of descendants or perhaps we will make a synthetic / android version of ourselves and leave no biological humans behind.
OTOH we may send a few ark ships off to other solar systems that survive the generations long journey and establish some colonies. Then we have an increased chance of only becoming extinct by the last cause, evolving into a new species or synthetic creatures.