Is humanity in decline?

Conservationist · 10-22-07, 09:06 PM

Quote:

It is no longer recommended to eat fish from the ocean, because they have toxic levels of heavy metals.

It is no longer recommended to stop your car in over 1/3 of the average American or European city, because crime is so out of control.

It is no longer recommended to send smart children to regular schools, because the schools are designed to make dumb children feel accepted.

It is no longer recommended to drink water from rivers, or to eat fruit from trees grown in the suburbs.

It is no longer recommended to live in cities, because the pollution is so strong.

Today, seven billion... in ten years, nine billion. The average IQ is 85-92. Each one of these people produces a bag of garbage a day, and needs food that leaves more heavy metals in the water, more pesticides and fertilizer in our waterways.

Our politicians approve those things that make many people happy because it's what they think they want, but those things never turn out well, and problems remain. These are not problems like war, poverty and inequality, which are universal and will never go away, but problems like corruption, bad leadership, and the results.

Most cities are ugly places lined with advertising. Whatever is popular sells. Whatever sells is good, by most people's definition. They consider themselves successes if they make money and own things, but never think of the condition of their souls or minds.

Where does this course end? Nothing opposes it. It is popular. But who is thinking of the future? And most of all, who is thinking of making great art, great architecture, great music, great thinking? None of these things exist, only an incessant stream of pretty good alternatives.

Is the future of humanity doom, to fade out with a whimper and not a bang?

Humanity is Doomed, or is it?

Some good points here. The right pretends to support traditional values by banning abortion, keeping gays unmarried and bombing Iran. The left claims to support freedom by endorsing a civil rights agenda that penalizes anyone talented, while avoiding foreign policy that needs correcting. The pattern plays itself out in every industrialized nation. The population keeps rising, as does pollution. Are we heading for doom?

1069 · 10-22-07, 09:17 PM

Quote:

It is no longer recommended to eat fish from the ocean, because they have toxic levels of heavy metals.

It is no longer recommended to stop your car in over 1/3 of the average American or European city, because crime is so out of control.

It is no longer recommended to send smart children to regular schools, because the schools are designed to make dumb children feel accepted.

It is no longer recommended to drink water from rivers, or to eat fruit from trees grown in the suburbs.

It is no longer recommended to live in cities, because the pollution is so strong.

Today, seven billion... in ten years, nine billion. The average IQ is 85-92. Each one of these people produces a bag of garbage a day, and needs food that leaves more heavy metals in the water, more pesticides and fertilizer in our waterways.

1. The median IQ is 100.

2. Link for any of this?
Who "no longer recommends" these things?
Where did these statistics come from?

Re: decline? No! Absolutely not!
Humanity is currently in an accelerated phase of evolution.
We evolve more in five years now than we previously did in five centuries.
Until the industrial revolution a couple hundred years ago, we were largely agricultural, and nothing about civilization had changed for millenia, since we crawled out of caves, quit being hunters and foragers, nomads and scavengers, and started cultivating crops instead.

Now look.
We are advancing at an unprecendented and undreamed-of pace, and this rapid evolution is building up more momentum all the time.

bhkad · 10-22-07, 09:46 PM

Re: Is humanity in decline?

Yes.

Onine · 10-22-07, 11:28 PM

umm... if I think about it long enough, I come to the conclusion that humanity has been in a constant state of decline since we've been here. Maybe now more than before but in no varied measure. A lot more people died in the past... look at the black plague. So many europeans died and we are still here. So am I concerned? no. humans are stupid. stupidity goes hand in hand with being stubborn though.

Kelzie · 10-23-07, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Onine

umm... if I think about it long enough, I come to the conclusion that humanity has been in a constant state of decline since we've been here. Maybe now more than before but in no varied measure. A lot more people died in the past... look at the black plague. So many europeans died and we are still here. So am I concerned? no. humans are stupid. stupidity goes hand in hand with being stubborn though.

Everything dies. That's not a measure of decline though.

WI Crippler · 10-23-07, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1069

Re: decline? No! Absolutely not!
Humanity is currently in an accelerated phase of evolution.
We evolve more in five years now than we previously did in five centuries.
Until the industrial revolution a couple hundred years ago, we were largely agricultural, and nothing about civilization had changed for millenia, since we crawled out of caves, quit being hunters and foragers, nomads and scavengers, and started cultivating crops instead.

Now look.
We are advancing at an unprecendented and undreamed-of pace, and this rapid evolution is building up more momentum all the time.

Interesting outlook from someone who posted this not so long ago.....

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1069

And honestly... the human race needs to end.
We're so destructive to the planet and to every other form of life; we're parasites. We're like a disease.
It would be for the best, in the long run.

phil88 · 01-21-08, 12:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1069

1.

Re: decline? No! Absolutely not!
Humanity is currently in an accelerated phase of evolution.
We evolve more in five years now than we previously did in five centuries.
Until the industrial revolution a couple hundred years ago, we were largely agricultural, and nothing about civilization had changed for millenia, since we crawled out of caves, quit being hunters and foragers, nomads and scavengers, and started cultivating crops instead.

Now look.
We are advancing at an unprecendented and undreamed-of pace, and this rapid evolution is building up more momentum all the time.

Tis I who am confused!

AS a biologist I think you are confusing technological gains for evolution.
In essence Homo sapiens have not 'evolved' significantly, genetically at least,
for several millennia.

I would also hasten to add that as society and technology develop, specialisation and interdependence make each technological gain less impactful on the world and the infrastructure more fragile.

Secondary to that, much of our technological efforts are directed to corrective measures to self-inflicted problems of our own design. whether in the fields of agriculture, medicine, climate, ocean resources etc etc.
Indices from the WHO and UNESCO indicate than mankind is depleting the earths resources faster than the earth's ability to replenish them, In fact that bench mark was passed in 1984. as population increases outstripped potential resource supply. Technology has, so far not filled the gap created.

SO the outlook is rather grim, what will, or is likely to, occur is increased competition for the worlds diminishing resources, leading to more wars, famines and diseases.

Perhaps if you traveled to Africa, India or China you would see the evidence for yourself.

Phil88

Hymns · 04-06-08, 09:00 PM

The world is built to sustain small communities of hunter-gatherers, and some famers. Now that humans have decided to build up, and make cities where thousands of people live with no food production, the world can't keep up. Every "innovation" that keeps people alive longer and allows more people to live in a concentrated area is grinding the human race into the dirt.

conquer · 04-06-08, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1069

1. The median IQ is 100.

2. Link for any of this?
Who "no longer recommends" these things?
Where did these statistics come from?

Re: decline? No! Absolutely not!
Humanity is currently in an accelerated phase of evolution.
We evolve more in five years now than we previously did in five centuries.
Until the industrial revolution a couple hundred years ago, we were largely agricultural, and nothing about civilization had changed for millenia, since we crawled out of caves, quit being hunters and foragers, nomads and scavengers, and started cultivating crops instead.

Now look.
We are advancing at an unprecendented and undreamed-of pace, and this rapid evolution is building up more momentum all the time.

Evolving? where? Our bodies are degenerating at a lower rate than our developing technology, but still "we" as humans are degenerating only.

Our technology is greater than ever, still the price is a polluted world that is agressive in great proportions against us.

While we survive better thanks to antibiotics and medicines, we live longer but sicker as well.

If you call the current degeneration of living organisms as "evolution"..well....

vvx · 04-06-08, 09:55 PM

Do your part to save humanity. Refrain from being a breeder.