Cause of our extinction:

[Steel.Inferno]

Due to all the hubabaloo over that comet last month, and then 06/06/06, my teacher decided to ask this question the other day:

What global issue will cause the end of the human race?

And so I'm wondering what ya'll think, as relatively intelligent beings.

We set some conditions, namely it had to be a cause of our own doing, IE, not "Aliens" or random meteor, etc.

My class, mostly made up of people who are failing, came up with:

1. Global Warming (The highest)
This is the only one of our classes issues that was 100% acceptable in my mind.

2. War (2nd highest)
Again technically "war" in general can't cause the end of the human race. Only widespread nuclear war can. But that's just an issue of being specific.

3. Racism/Prejudice (3rd highest)
This can't actually cause the end of the human race, directly, but is pretty likely to start the event that does. (War, in racisms case)

4. My own most likely was Religion
It's a cause of the cause, but the question wasn't really specific on that. Religion starts a majority of wars, encites prejudice, and in many cases does the opposite of its intent.

These were followed by a multitude of many more illogical ones, such as the "funny" Mass Suicide and Zombies, to the just plain stupid, "Killing off endangered species", as well as more "cause of a cause" ones like deforestation (global warming)

 

[AntiAnto]

Nuclear war, lack of resources or comet. Religion can't be an option, it's ridiculous.

 

[Ikerous]

I don't think we'll ever go extinct
But if I had to answer, I'd say bestiality.

 

[AntiAnto]

I don't think we'll ever go extinct
But if I had to answer, I'd say bestiality.

I'll miss you Ikerous

 

[Ikerous]

Am I going to die?

 

[99.vikram]

My vote goes to religion, which has a history of inciting ethnic clashes and starting wars.

Next most probable is "killing off endangered species". If the natural cycle is altered drastically, I think it will come back to bite our asses one day, and leave us with no food (or something like that).

 

[AntiAnto]

Am I going to die?

Yes :'(

 

[spookymooky]

http://www.exitmundi.nl/exitmundi.htm

 

[Raziaar]

Complete sexual abstinence by every human being. That'll do it.

 

[JNightshade]

Read Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. It explains our extinction very clearly

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Read Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. It explains our extinction very clearly

But it hasn't happened yet?

We will kill ourselves of course...and it'll probably be down to ignoring natural selection. We keep people alive with various genetic defects - syndromes, conditions, diseases, who reproduce and continue these defects. Eventually everyone across this planet will have faulty genes susceptable to particular diseases etc, and a epidemic could wipe us out. I'm not complaining about keeping these people alive, everyone deserves a life, a chance...its basic ethics, but it's the slow death of our own kind.

 

[Laivasse]

Some kind of technological takeover by out-of-control AI, that's my bet.

The idea of technological singularity as described on that exitmundi site is actually very interesting too. One of the guys mentioned who talks about it is Vernor Vinge. I've read one of his novels and he's no idiot. The idea of reaching a level of advancement where our collective processing power begins to grow exponentially until some form of godlike consciousness emerges...pretty fascinating.

 

[Ikerous]

Am I alone in thinking that we'll be around until the universe collapses?

 

[AntiAnto]

Am I alone in thinking that we'll be around until the universe collapses?

Yes. The sun will burst before the end of our universe. And there's a lot of things that can occur before we reach that moment.

 

[Laivasse]

Am I alone in thinking that we'll be around until the universe collapses?

Probably...esp. since our sun will probably pack up long before then.

Beaten D:

 

[Ikerous]

I'd imagine by the time the sun goes we'll be outta this solar system...
It took about 60 years to go from the first airplane to being on the moon
I'd imagine another solar system within the the next several billion years won't be too hard

 

[spookymooky]

Won't matter if we get off the planet.

 

[AntiAnto]

I'd imagine by the time the sun goes we'll be outta this solar system...
It took about 60 years to go from the first airplain to being on the moon
I'd imagine another solar system within the the next several billion years won't be too hard

Are you serious? We will never find another livable planet in our universe. Do you know all the factors that are precisely adjusted properly that only keep us from blowing apart?

 

[Laivasse]

I'd imagine by the time the sun goes we'll be outta this solar system...
It took about 60 years to go from the first airplane to being on the moon
I'd imagine another solar system within the the next several billion years won't be too hard

We've got a deadline to meet no matter how you look at it.

dammit, anti, stop it @the post times...

 

[AntiAnto]

We've got a deadline to meet no matter how you look at it.

dammit, anti, stop it @the post times...

Try and stop me.

 

[Ikerous]

I never said we didn't have a dealine, but c'mon, its billions of years
I'd be amazed if we didn't do it in a few thousand, let alone a million
It's a long ass time to find another planet to live on

And once we get to that point, nothing will stop us.

 

[Laivasse]

Considering the average lifetime of species on this planet so far, I'd say we'd be pretty fortunate to be around when the sun pops anyway, on this planet or off of it.

Granted we're probably the swankiest being to arrive on planet Earth so far - but that's what makes the prospect of technological singularity all the cooler. We'll turn into a god! And turn the Earth into a big metal barge with a flag on it and go floating around the universe, possibly.

Check out 'A Fire Upon the Deep' by Vernor Vinge for some cool mind stretching exercises regarding the whole out-of-control superconsciousness idea.

 

[Naudian]

And once we get to that point, nothing will stop us.

except for ALIENS! D:

 

[99.vikram]

Probably...esp. since our sun will probably pack up long before then.

Who cares? We'll be sunbathing in Alpha Centauri by then

 

[Ikerous]

except for ALIENS! D:

Ha, Thats a pretty valid point

 

[AntiAnto]

I never said we didn't have a dealine, but c'mon, its billions of years
It's a long ass time to find another planet to live on

And once we get to that point, nothing will stop us.

Considering we travel at the speed of light in, let's say, 500 years, and we all know it's the maximum speed we can reach, it will take us at least 100,000 years to get out of our galaxy. But let's be more generous, let's say there is a livable planet around the nearest stars (impossible), it will take us an average of 8 years to get there. Now try to move 6 billions (the actual population, and we know it will increase in 500 years) into a spaceship.

 

[Ikerous]

I don't think we'll get all of us out, but I do think we'll start a colony somewhere else
And no matter what, they'll end up surviving and our species will continue on

Also

 

[Dan]

I'd have to say meteor or some sort of nuclear war deliberately aimed at anhilating all human life. Other than that we're unstoppable

 

[99.vikram]

Considering we travel at the speed of light in, let's say, 500 years, and we all know it's the maximum speed we can reach, it will take us at least 100,000 years to get out of our galaxy. But let's be more generous, let's say there is a livable planet around the nearest stars (impossible), it will take us an average of 8 years to get there. Now try to move 6 billions (the actual population, and we know it will increase in 500 years) into a spaceship.

General relativity allows teleportation (wormholes) and "hyperspace" travel (wedges in space-time).

 

[Ikerous]

I'd have to say meteor or some sort of nuclear war deliberately aimed at anhilating all human life. Other than that we're unstoppable

Makes sense. I'm with danny ^_^

 

[AntiAnto]

General relativity allows teleportation (wormholes) and "hyperspace" travel (wedges in space-time).

Indeed, Mr. Spock, indeed...

EDIT: And by the way, am I the only one who think that transportation would only make a new copy of you, but that wouldn't be you. You would kind of have lost your "soul", what makes you yourself.

 

[Geogaddi]

http://www.exitmundi.nl/oilcrash.htm


This is probably the most likely scenario, considering it IS going to happen.

 

[Brazooka]

My guess: Racism/Prejudice + War = 90% of world population dead, 10% remaining will populate the world again with new wierd cultures, world gets packed again leading to intolerance, Racism/Prejudice + War = 90% of world population dead again, endless loop... humans are like a plague imho.

 

[Laivasse]

http://www.exitmundi.nl/oilcrash.htm


This is probably the most likely scenario, considering it IS going to happen.

Hmm, but while that might, at the very worst, wreck civilisation, there's a good chance we would, as a race, survive.

I have seen our doom...and it is commas.

 

[99.vikram]

My guess: Racism/Prejudice + War = 90% of world population dead, 10% remaining will populate the world again with new wierd cultures, world gets packed again leading to intolerance, Racism/Prejudice + War = 90% of world population dead again, endless loop... humans are like a plague imho.

Oh noes Matrix !!1!!!11

 

[Brazooka]

except for the machinery, robots and the matrix itself...

 

[theotherguy]

My list would be, by order of most severity and nearest in the future:

1.Global Warming or other ecological global problems, climate change.
2.Overpopulation and famine
3.widespread nuclear war
4.some terrible disease that we aren't immune to. possibly introduced by a wayward asteroid.
5.Celestial things we can't really do anything about like asteroids, nearby hypernovas, our own sun going nova or fissling out, etc.
6. the end of the universe. By this I mean universal spreading and cooling or the big crunch.

 

[AtomicSpark]

My list would be, by order of most severity and nearest in the future:

1.Global Warming or other ecological global problems, climate change.
2.Overpopulation and famine
3.widespread nuclear war
4.some terrible disease that we aren't immune to. possibly introduced by a wayward asteroid.
5.Celestial things we can't really do anything about like asteroids, nearby hypernovas, our own sun going nova or fissling out, etc.
6. the end of the universe. By this I mean universal spreading and cooling or the big crunch.

I saw the show on asteroids on the National Geographic Channel or whatever. It claimed we are supposed to have a near earth object pass us in 2027 (maybe 2037 I forget) but its going to be inside the orbit of our outer satellite (GPS i believe). Scary... I'm starting to wonder if that asteroid NASA crashed a satellite into to "see what would happen" was actually a plan to move the orbit of it to miss us. Crazy...

 

[Steel.Inferno]

I don't think we could actually die from overpopulation. People would starve until we reached a supportable population again.

Besides, we all know rich people would just hoard food and come out alright.

 

[Raziaar]

I saw the show on asteroids on the National Geographic Channel or whatever. It claimed we are supposed to have a near earth object pass us in 2027 (maybe 2037 I forget) but its going to be inside the orbit of our outer satellite (GPS i believe). Scary... I'm starting to wonder if that asteroid NASA crashed a satellite into to "see what would happen" was actually a plan to move the orbit of it to miss us. Crazy...

A satellite wouldn't change the orbit at all, unless it was significant weight/speed compared to the asteroid itself.