Will mankind destroy itself?

[Ace]

Came across this a while ago.
Two vids, one with Michio Kaku, and another which talks about global dimming and global warming.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NPC47qM ... H8ufOavkVg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8RyNSzQ ... H8ufOavkVg

[Atheist-Lite]

Came across this a while ago.
Two vids, one with Michio Kaku, and another which talks about global dimming and global warming.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NPC47qM ... H8ufOavkVg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8RyNSzQ ... H8ufOavkVg

Romney is the best near term bet.

[That Alien Guy.]

I hope not, well not until "Chimp Wars" jumps the shark and gets cancelled, but we've got a good few seasons before that happens. Besides our next project is to have a death cult take charge of one of your "western democracy" packs. So I wouldn't worry to much about the long range weather forecast.

[FBM]

I just watched the first vid and would respond to it by comparing the planet to a collection of microbes in an uncovered petri dish. One set of populations dominates until the nutrients that support it are exhausted. But the dish doesn't go sterile. A second set of populations that can make use of the waste products of the first set becomes dominant. Like the uncovered petri dish, the ecosystem is now changing faster than our DNA can adapt to it. However, we have pretty advanced technologies that can mimic adaptation. That sword cuts both ways, though. As long as we have technologies that can compensate for the damage to the environment that we're doing, we may have insufficient motivation to change the things that we do that damage that environment. I sure as hell don't know how that's going to turn out.

As far as the terrorists go, I seriously doubt they will ever take over the majority of the planet or muster enough firepower to get us to a MAD situation. The trend seems to be going in the other direction, I think. That is, they're losing globally, although they have some local 'wins'.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Ladies and Germs, I give you Chernobyl. The area is a heaven for wildlife now that the humans have life. So if we do destroy ourselves I'm confident the planet will recover and carry on. As for humans, we giant mutant reptiles will miss some of you.

[Rum]

I agree with your analysis FBM. We need to take a longer view. What's happening now is like a string of firecrackers going off (the incredibly fast developments that human beings have introduced). I suspect we will eventually fade away either with a few dramatic events kicking things off or simply into the background and return to a slightly more staid phase of petri dish propagation.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Humans have bottlenecked before with less resources than we have now. If we can keep a core going we'll get through just about any disaster.

[Tyrannical]

Climate change, meaning primarily changing weather and rain patterns is probably the leading cause for civilizations to "mysteriously" fall into decline and vanish. But that is easily survivable by humans as a species.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Humans are like rats, very hard to dislodge once they have a toe-hold. But there will be a long period of grunting savages surrounding small pockets of "civilization" I think. Thousands of years, perhaps.

[FBM]

I agree with your analysis FBM. We need to take a longer view. What's happening now is like a string of firecrackers going off (the incredibly fast developments that human beings have introduced). I suspect we will eventually fade away either with a few dramatic events kicking things off or simply into the background and return to a slightly more staid phase of petri dish propagation.

Yup. However it pans out, it'll be within a blink of the cosmic eye, won't it?

[Red Celt]

This sums up my views.

[laklak]

But there will be a long period of grunting savages surrounding small pockets of "civilization" I think. Thousands of years, perhaps.

We're in that bit now.

[Clinton Huxley]

I have a cellar full of champagne and larks tongues in aspic. I will be fine.

[Coito ergo sum]

Without a manned space program, certainly our civilization and way of life has a good chance of being gone in short order. And, in the long term, the odds go to 100%, because our planet is temporary by nature.

"Earth is the cradle of humankind... one cannot live in the cradle forever." Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1895)

[Tero]

All mass entictions are caused by external events. We will go only when all the mammals go.

Rabbits did not disappear from Australia even when a virus was introduced.