4 ms·

We've not proven very good at ending ourselves as a species in the past. Quite the opposite. Not sure where the pessimism is coming from.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
mellosouls 6y ago
The species has barely existed for the blink of an eye in evolutionary terms so there's not much past in that regard. On our own timescale terms we have a rare tendency to group together for intra species battles, and a unique tendency to do that with groups numbering millions. We have an evolutionarily unprecedented and unmatched phenomenon, advanced intelligence, which we employ in scaling the destruction in those battles, to the point we now have the ability to cause catastrophic, possibly existential damage to our species, at least as a civilisation wherein this discussion makes sense; let alone the collateral damage to our environment and co-habitees. That's just the war stuff. The peaceful things we do are too depressing to mention.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- Retric 6y ago
  Humans have had advanced intelligence across evolutionary timescales because that’s how long it took to evolve. Handmade stone tools are dated all the way back to 3.3 million years, with other examples at 2.8 million years.
IkmoIkmo 6y ago
Source of pessimism? For example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_close_calls https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_close_calls Assign a non-zero probability that it'll actually go wrong, then extrapolate 10.000 years into the future. The odds aren't necessarily in our favour. And that's just one of many risks out there, over the course of a blink of an eye in the history of the universe/galaxy/earth/humanity.
Voloskaya 6y ago
> We've not proven very good at ending ourselves as a species in the past. We did not have the ability to end ourselves in the past. How would dolphins or monkeys end themselves even if they wanted to, short of mass suicide? We have had this capability only in the last 100 years or so in mainly 2 ways: * atomic armageddon * destroying our habitat We managed to hold on for that first one for the last 50 years but we are busily and productively working on that second point, so I'm not quite sure where your optimism comes from.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

mellosouls 6y ago

The species has barely existed for the blink of an eye in evolutionary terms so there's not much past in that regard. On our own timescale terms we have a rare tendency to group together for intra species battles, and a unique tendency to do that with groups numbering millions. We have an evolutionarily unprecedented and unmatched phenomenon, advanced intelligence, which we employ in scaling the destruction in those battles, to the point we now have the ability to cause catastrophic, possibly existential damage to our species, at least as a civilisation wherein this discussion makes sense; let alone the collateral damage to our environment and co-habitees. That's just the war stuff. The peaceful things we do are too depressing to mention.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
Retric 6y ago
Humans have had advanced intelligence across evolutionary timescales because that’s how long it took to evolve. Handmade stone tools are dated all the way back to 3.3 million years, with other examples at 2.8 million years.

IkmoIkmo 6y ago

Source of pessimism? For example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_close_calls https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_close_calls Assign a non-zero probability that it'll actually go wrong, then extrapolate 10.000 years into the future. The odds aren't necessarily in our favour. And that's just one of many risks out there, over the course of a blink of an eye in the history of the universe/galaxy/earth/humanity.

Voloskaya 6y ago

> We've not proven very good at ending ourselves as a species in the past. We did not have the ability to end ourselves in the past. How would dolphins or monkeys end themselves even if they wanted to, short of mass suicide? We have had this capability only in the last 100 years or so in mainly 2 ways: * atomic armageddon * destroying our habitat We managed to hold on for that first one for the last 50 years but we are busily and productively working on that second point, so I'm not quite sure where your optimism comes from.