At least we have online gaming

[rhoenix]

[quote="PhysOrg.com"](PhysOrg.com) -- Eminent Australian scientist Professor Frank Fenner, who helped to wipe out smallpox, predicts humans will probably be extinct within 100 years, because of overpopulation, environmental destruction and climate change.

Fenner, who is emeritus professor of microbiology at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, said homo sapiens will not be able to survive the population explosion and “unbridled consumption,â€

[General Havoc]

I recall the eminent prediction that Britain would be uninhabitable in the year 2000 due to environmental devastation. I also recall my previous rant about doomspeakers.

I do not consider this worthy of comment beyond that point.

[rhoenix]

I recall the eminent prediction that Britain would be uninhabitable in the year 2000 due to environmental devastation. I also recall my previous rant about doomspeakers.

I do not consider this worthy of comment beyond that point.

Pretty much. Dude is 95; I'm marking this in the same category as "THE WORLD WILL END IN 2000! What? It's 2001?"

[frigidmagi]

Over population? Given the sinking birth rates, unlikely as a long term problem. Short to medium term sure but a survival one. The next 30 or so odd years are gonna be stressful, tough and challenging but I don't recall anyone worth listening to promising an easy time of it to us in life.

I'll make my own prediction, the world will be held. Humanity will survive and our civilization will be in a recognizable form at the end of it. It will be changed and perhaps deeply but we will be able to recognize it as our own at the end of it.

[Mayabird]

Overpopulation can still be a problem even if populations are declining because it's about resource consumption, and a large population will consume a lot of resources continuously.

Also, there were still Easter Islanders after they basically destroyed their island. A few people living in absolute destitute squalor (which is why everybody kept thinking that aliens/Atlantians/the Atlantians who are aliens must've built them, because how could these pathetic starvelings have built all these statues when they barely have pointy sticks?)

I could go on, but the important thing is that I seriously doubt that human extinction would occur. Lots of other extinctions? Oh yes. The remaining humans living a really shitty life? If we screw up enough, quite possibly. But not extinction. We're too spread out, willing to eat anything, and able to survive in ridiculously harsh environments. How many and how well? We'll see, won't we?

[The Minx]

These kinds of silly predictions almost always go by two kinds of assumptions:

• A given rate of change of something will continue unabated when there is no justification for assuming that, especially when that rate of change is determined by social and economic forces which are not constant.
• A given capability or behavioral pattern will remain constant when there is no reason for assuming that it will be, especially if it is determined by social and economic forces which are not constant.

So, yea. This extinction thing is a load of BS.


PS: well, eventually we'll go extinct as all things must. But only on the very long timescale.

[frigidmagi]

PS: well, eventually we'll go extinct as all things must. But only on the very long timescale.

We'll see about that as well.

[Mayabird]

Man, if there are still humans that we can breed with in a few million years and they haven't fixed up anything better, I will be deeply disappointed in them. The longer the time-span the more hysterically I would wave my hands around and yell, "There hasn't even been significant genetic drift! What have you people been doing?"

[frigidmagi]

Maya in a few million years if there aren't at least several dozen species of humanity living on at least a few million planets and habitats across the galaxy at the very least, then I'll be disappointed.

As for genetic drift, is it wise to count on it? I mean if anything it seems fairly likely to me that in the future people will be taking an increasing control over their own genetics.

[Hotfoot]

Yeah, actually, genetic drift makes sense in nature, because it's designed to allow a species to adapt to changing conditions. If we control our conditions, make habitats suit us, there's not much call for natural selection and thus significant genetic drift.

After a certain point, it would become more of a genetic course, meaning that we would control certain things, like removing harmful aspects, junk DNA, and even geneering people to live on specific planets.