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How long will humanity last?

Masterhawk

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The belief in the future of humanity varies: optimists see us using teleporters similar to those seen in star trek while pessimists see us living in a dystopian future similar to modern sci fi movies such as the hunger games. Let's discuss the possible ways that humanity could go extinct.


Nuclear War

Probably the most common belief in human extinction is that the powers of Earth will destroy each other in a destructive but glorious end. This possibility remained high from 1949 when the soviets tested their own nuclear bomb up until the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Both sides were able to avoid nuclear war by passing UN resolutions to restrict the distribution and manufacture of nuclear warheads such as the NPT and just plain realizing that destroying each other would do neither side any good. Despite rising tensions between Nato and Russia, it seems rather unlikely that either side is willing to start a nuclear war. And even if they did, it wouldn't actually doom the rest of humanity but rather it would allow China to colonize the US and Europe, forming an empire. A nuclear war could also result between India and Pakistan which is just as likely if not moreso due to deescalating tensions between the two countries since the nineties (that is assuming that the taliban don't get their hands on one of them and know how to operate it). The last possibility is that Iran develops a warhead, leading to nuclear proliferation in the middle east. This has more potential to start a nuclear war than the previous listings because there's not as much of a fear of mutual annihilation when you're driven by religion. None of these will actually destroy humanity.

Climate Change

Another common way many say will push us to the brink will be climate change. The biggest concern with climate change is that rising temperatures will cause our ice caps to melt, causing sea levels to rise. Another concern is that many animal species are endangered or even extinct because of CC. If nothing is done to reverse these changes, people living at low elevations could be forced to relocate. Although many coastline cities, bangladesh, netherlands, belguim, and the maldives are threatened in a worst case scenario, it will not doom the human race.
 
Continued:

Running out of fossil fuels

Fossil fuels, our modern world couldn't function without them. They are the source of a majority of electrical power in the modern world and cause motor vehicles to start. Many items are actually made partially out of oil. Therefore, it comes of no surprise when we find luxurious lifestyles in the middle east, particularly the UAE. However, all good things must come to an end as fossils are a non renewable energy source. When it comes to oil, there's something called peak oil production. It's when a country reaches its maximum oil production. After this point, production goes down until it is completely dry. The US reached peak oil in the late 60s and Nigeria and Angola reached theirs in 2010. Although "peak production" specifically refers to oil, it also applies to coal and natural gas. Although alternate sources have been proposed, coal plants are still better than wind farms (only works when it's windy and it requires lots of windmills), nuclear plants (very expensive), dams (can only be used in rivers plus it's so damn expensive to build them :lol:), and geothermal plants (can only be used in a few places). ITER is an international effort to defelop a nuclear fusion reactor. Nuclear fusion is a very effective and renewable power source but the project is lagging behind: EU reaffirms support for ?challenging? fusion project - Science|Business If an alternate source is not found by the time it runs out, we could see a possibly indefinite return to pre-industrial times.

Overpopulation

Here's a popular dystopian setup: overpopulation. The idea is based around the idea that humanity is growing and that the earth has limited resources. The idea was brought up by greek philosophers but it first became mainstream when Thomas Malthus, at the end of the 18th century, predicted that in a hundred years, everyone would be living in slums because there would be too many people for enough farmland to grow food. That didn't happen because of the industrial revolution. Then Paul Ehrlich, in the 60s, predicted a worldwide famine by the 70s. This didn't happen because of the green revolution. Overpopulation seems to only be a problem in less developed countries where the population growth is higher. According to the medium variant of the UN projections: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_...on_(United_Nations,_medium_fertility_variant) most of the west will reach their population peak before the end of the 21st century and the ones which don't will maintain a steady population growth. The UN also expects the population to peak at 11 billion in 2100. Here's a documentary for more information: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UbmG8gtBPM

Alien invasion

This scenario is super unlikely simply because of the motives for invading. There is more water vapor in space than on Earth and even if they can't collect enough vapor, Europa has more H2O than Earth does, most of which is in frozen form. All of our most valuable resources can be found on other planets except oil and any alien race which can reach us doesn't need oil. They definitely don't need human slaves because if they can reach us, then they also have the tech to build robots which can do a better job than we can. Probably the only legitimate reason to invade earth is to colonize it. But why would they need to do that when there are probably plenty of other planets with no intelligent life to resist their efforts?

Asteroid, neutron star, black hole, or any space object

While it is certainly possible that an asteroid could cause significant damage to our ecosystem, it's rather unlikely. Scientists have also not detected any neutron stars, regular stars, or black holes moving towards our vicinity.

AI takeover

While the idea of rogue AI enslaving or exterminating humanity makes for a nice sci fi flick, it just won't happen. Robots only do what they are programmed to do. To rebel is to make an independent decision, something a robot cannot do. The only way a robot will seek to kill all humans is if it's programmed that way or there's a glitch, neither of which will happen on a large scale.
 
Zombies

Ok, I kind of lied when I said that nuclar war was the most popular apocalypse, this one is. It's highly unlikely we'll see real life zombies but if we do, the pentagon actually created a plan to deal with them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOhmkI9ZJyI

Pandemic

The last possibility is that there will be a pandemic similar to the spanish flu or the black death. Because of our connectivity, a pandemic would be far more dangerous than it was when the spanish flu was around. A natural disease would likely start in an impoverished country but those aren't as well connected so the disease doesn't spread outside of the affected region. Antibiotic resistant bacteria would pose a far greater threat, especially if it came to be through cows being fed antibiotics (we drink milk and don't even recognize it). Our immune system adapts to fend off diseases which it has previously fought; so does bacteria mutate to fight off antibiotics. However, bacteria does not spread as quickly as viruses
 
How long will humanity last?

Too long, that's how long. I say bring on the nukes! I've always wanted to know what being torn apart on an atomic scale feels like anyway.
 
How long will humanity last?

Too long, that's how long. I say bring on the nukes! I've always wanted to know what being torn apart on an atomic scale feels like anyway.

I prefer the Zombies. The dying is somehow more personal.
 
How long will humanity last?

Too long, that's how long. I say bring on the nukes! I've always wanted to know what being torn apart on an atomic scale feels like anyway.

 
Glad to see optimism is rampant here abouts.

Good old posititive thinking.
 
It will all end when Jesus comes back
 
The earth and its inhabitants will continue for many millennia.

Many of the scenarios above will occur. We are like cockroaches in many ways. We will adapt and continue forward.

I foresee both nuclear and pandemic as most likely within the next 50 or so years. Regardless some will always survive.

My grandmother nursed people through the Spanish flu with no body suits, gloves or masks with only hot water and soap and disinfectant...she held the dying and helped to move them after. Then she went home to her daughter, husband and grandkids one of whom was my mum. No one got sick. Always some will have a natural immunity to whatever plagues us. Always some will survive.

Maybe that is a good thing, maybe not, regardless it will be.
 
I give it a week, two at tops
 
Next Friday. 0244 hours Eastern Time.
 
It ended a long time ago, or haven't you all seen the documentary called the Matrix?
 
Somewhere between 100 and 1,000 years, give or take.
 
According to many, the beginning of the end will be about a week and a day into Nov. 2016.

Of course some said it was going to be in Nov of 2012. Some said it was going to be Nov. 2008.
Some said it was going to be Nov. 2004.

So....
 
Nuclear War
Unlikely to totally wipe out Humanity, it is somewhat self limiting,
eventually you wipe out the infrastructure to continue launching weapons.

Climate Change
The planet clearly has some built in feedback mechanisms, and spends about 80% of it's time
very cold, we would adapt.

Running out of fossil fuels
We can now make our own fuels from scratch (non issue)

Overpopulation
Real overpopulation would lead to Pandemic, which would reduce the population,
It dosent usually come to that, usually we seem to have a war, to limit population.

Alien invasion
The fact that intelligent life is out there, is that they have not tried to contact us.
There is a reason that Port au Prince, Haiti is not on the top 10 vacation list.

Asteroid, neutron star, black hole, or any space object
Always a small possibility.

AI takeover
Fairly unlikely soon, but the day is still young!

Zombies,
Type of Pandemic

Pandemic
As with any Pandemic, there would be isolated pockets that survive.
 
It will all end when Jesus comes back

If he didn't learn his lesson form the first time then history will repeat itself. Stay away Jesus!!! You were not wanted back then and you will be not be welcome on the second try.
 
I sort of want a Walking Dead scenario so I can try to hook up with that Maggie chick. Daaaaayum, she hawt!
 
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