How are humans going to become extinct?

[JimC]

We are the first species on the planet to think we're going to be here forever.

[rainbow]

It is not inconceivable that humans could go extinct, but it's a very long shot IMHO.

And why would it matter if they did?

That must be some serious mental disorder you have if you think your species becoming extinct is not a big deal. Self loathing is one thing, but self-species loathing is another level entirely.

Since you loathe most of your own species, I find that remark quite ironic.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

We are the first species on the planet to think we're going to be here forever.

Maybe not.

[pErvinalia]

It is not inconceivable that humans could go extinct, but it's a very long shot IMHO.

And why would it matter if they did?

That must be some serious mental disorder you have if you think your species becoming extinct is not a big deal. Self loathing is one thing, but self-species loathing is another level entirely.

Since you loathe most of your own species, I find that remark quite ironic.

(I love the Rainbow-Tyrannical battle! )

[En_Route]

It is not inconceivable that humans could go extinct, but it's a very long shot IMHO.

And why would it matter if they did?

That must be some serious mental disorder you have if you think your species becoming extinct is not a big deal. Self loathing is one thing, but self-species loathing is another level entirely.

I don't loathe myself (I leave that work to others) but the fact that I am not going to be around forever causes me no disquiet. What difference does it actually make if the species disappears in a hundred or a million years?

[Audley Strange]

It is not worth concerning ourselves with other than to not bring it on ourselves through our own stupidity, we could get hit by a massive solar fart at any time that would fry us alive, the planet's crust isn't particularly stable, there's some nice viruses that are cooking up ways to succeed, our entire system is protected by but threatened by a cloud of massive rocks on it's outskirts and even if we did get off planet and breed out, environmental adaptation would mean we would create so many new different descendant varients that we would probably end up a zoological footnote, or we might rise to universal prominence as the United Imperium of Humanity and in the end it'll all go away anyway.

Oh yeah added...

Rave On!

[Coito ergo sum]

Yellowstone Caldera.

[Jason]

If Homo Sapiens are to become extinct it will assuredly be a slow and lingering process. Either we will be dethroned and displaced, much like Homo neanderthalensis was by us, or we will drive our environment to the point where it can no longer sustain us and we will slowly dwindle away from starvation, predation, and disease.

Both are, I think, very unlikely. The human edifice, however, is sure to crumble. This is not extinction however.

[Tero]

bird flu

[FBM]

Yellowstone Caldera.

That could happen.

[SteveB]

Morlocs, right?

[pErvinalia]

If it's going to happen other than in a cataclysmic event like an asteroid impact, it will likely be a combination of events. Global warming with associated problems but most importantly severe disruption of ecosystem services and food webs, + a pandemic to sink the slipper in and finish us off. Or either of those plus a giant volcano. Or either of those plus a nuclear winter. etc etc.

[FBM]

If it's going to happen other than in a cataclysmic event like an asteroid impact, it will likely be a combination of events. Global warming with associated problems but most importantly severe disruption of ecosystem services and food webs, + a pandemic to sink the slipper in and finish us off. Or either of those plus a giant volcano. Or either of those plus a nuclear winter. etc etc.

Well, if NK really does have weaponized (rocket-mounted) nukes, then I can foresee a few different scenarios in which the dominoes in NE Asia start falling and the US and China wind up slinging them at each other. Not a very high probability, but not impossible, either.

[SteveB]

I think we can colonize another system and another one after that. We'll go out when the universe does, you know, when it expands so much and it gets really damn cold--an energy wasteland.

[Azathoth]