5 ms·

It recovered multiple times before, it will recover again, luckily humanity is not yet powerful enough to sterilise or destroy the biosphere of the whole planet

It recovered multiple times before, it will recover again, luckily humanity is not yet powerful enough to sterilise or destroy the biosphere of the whole planet and I hope the next time evolution comes up with something psychologically better suited for long term survival then our own species since we are so obsessed to change our environment without thinking through the long term consequences. And even if we thinking it through we fail to prioritise to keep our environment in a state where the next 10 generation have a chance to survive. We also fail to look at humanity as part of the environment and biosphere and not as some kind of higher being who is independent from the consequences of its doing to the environment. Evolution have time to start over, I’m sad that we failing to realise we don’t.

613style 5y ago
Evolution better get to work fast. We only have around 500 million years until the sun's increasing luminosity leaves Earth uninhabitable.
- mdavidn 5y ago
  The extinction event that wiped out dinosaurs was "just" 66 million years ago.
- matheusmoreira 5y ago
  Hopefully humanity will have developed enough space exploration technology to get off this rock by then.
  - brandonmenc 5y ago
    Half a billion years is probably enough time to figure out how to jump start a star.
    - imoverclocked 5y ago
      It would be except the longevity of any human civilization will probably stop that from happening.
- grumple 5y ago
  All sources I've seen say we have much longer than that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_of_Earth#:~:text=Four%20billion%20years%20from%20now,the%20Earth%20will%20be%20extinct https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_of_Earth#:~:text=Four%2....
jelsisi 5y ago
If the 6th extinction we are in takes humans with it, I doubt that new intelligent species that pop up as a result of evolution on earth will behave any differently. One powerful difference that could change that: our fossil records. We can look to dinosaurs and see that with a little bit of bad luck we could be wiped out, but it's not a strong enough message. Our remains will show future species that collectively, individuals have the power to completely destroy the earth, and that might be a strong enough lesson to prevent this from happening again.
- Loughla 5y ago
  I'm afraid that evolution favors a species that can quickly and efficiently exploit resources. Honestly, I'm afraid that our problems are such that they're at the genetic and species level, and therefore unsolvable. I am honestly afraid that we are literally unable, as a species, to fix these things, because it's what we are. And I believe that will be the case for whatever comes after us as well.
asdff 5y ago
What we have to worry about in the mean time is environmental changes leading to crop failures. The earth will be fine, whether we are able to continually feed ourselves in this society is an open question that we are actively trying to solve. But it's an uphill battle when even liberal minded people have villianized GMOs. GMOs are the tools we need to use to ensure our world is not like what was pictured in Interstellar. Inaction means famine.
- ozim 5y ago
  That is the point I always see when someone is promoting "save the Earth", Earth will be fine. It is humans who will have it tough while some bugs or bacteria will not even notice when those pesky people died out.
  - 77pt77 5y ago
    It's not save the Earth. It's save me and my descendants. It just doesn't have the same ring to it...
  - Buldak 5y ago
    If you just mean that the earth will continue to exist, or that some manner of organism will live on it, then yeah that seems like a safe bet. But a lot of people think it would be a bad thing if we drove elephants to extinction, or destroyed the Great Barrier Reef (and not for any prudential reasons tied to human interests, either), and that's what they mean when they urge us to "Save the Earth."
    - robben1234 5y ago
      Extinct elephants and destroyed reefs are small steps towards the total annihilation of humanity. It'd be much easier on personal level for everyone to justify not using plastic and voting for people who prioritize sustainability over short-term profit if green movement campaigned for saving our grand children from living in hell, than saving a floaty rock from an ephemeral threat.
- ifdefdebug 5y ago
esarbe 5y ago
How do you come to the idea that evolution would ever come up with something more psychologically suited for long-term survival? Nothing is going to optimize for long-term survival. Any species that is not using all its capacity to extract resources and reproduce is going to be out-competed by everything else. A sensible long-term approach for regenerative resource consumption is not something that nature will ever select for. It will optimize for eat-as-much-as-you-can-without-having-to-vomit and reproduce-the-shit-out-of-the-free-energy-available-in-the-environment. I'm sad about us failing too. Humans are a fascinating species, and I think we have a lot of 'redeeming' qualities, ike our incredible ability to cooperate and our empathy. It's a shame that we're a dead-end.
jay_kyburz 5y ago
Humans wont care about the environment until humans live forever and their actions now will impact their own lives later.
- pphysch 5y ago
  A ridiculously anthropocentric statement. Humans are part of a very long lineage of life increasing in complexity without achieving immortality. Compare: "Mitochondria wont care about non-mitochondria (i.e. their environment) until mitochondria are individually immortal..."

613style 5y ago

Evolution better get to work fast. We only have around 500 million years until the sun's increasing luminosity leaves Earth uninhabitable.

mdavidn 5y ago
The extinction event that wiped out dinosaurs was "just" 66 million years ago.
matheusmoreira 5y ago
Hopefully humanity will have developed enough space exploration technology to get off this rock by then.
- brandonmenc 5y ago
  Half a billion years is probably enough time to figure out how to jump start a star.
  - imoverclocked 5y ago
    It would be except the longevity of any human civilization will probably stop that from happening.
grumple 5y ago
All sources I've seen say we have much longer than that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_of_Earth#:~:text=Four%20billion%20years%20from%20now,the%20Earth%20will%20be%20extinct https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_of_Earth#:~:text=Four%2....

jelsisi 5y ago

If the 6th extinction we are in takes humans with it, I doubt that new intelligent species that pop up as a result of evolution on earth will behave any differently. One powerful difference that could change that: our fossil records. We can look to dinosaurs and see that with a little bit of bad luck we could be wiped out, but it's not a strong enough message. Our remains will show future species that collectively, individuals have the power to completely destroy the earth, and that might be a strong enough lesson to prevent this from happening again.

Loughla 5y ago
I'm afraid that evolution favors a species that can quickly and efficiently exploit resources. Honestly, I'm afraid that our problems are such that they're at the genetic and species level, and therefore unsolvable. I am honestly afraid that we are literally unable, as a species, to fix these things, because it's what we are. And I believe that will be the case for whatever comes after us as well.

asdff 5y ago

What we have to worry about in the mean time is environmental changes leading to crop failures. The earth will be fine, whether we are able to continually feed ourselves in this society is an open question that we are actively trying to solve. But it's an uphill battle when even liberal minded people have villianized GMOs. GMOs are the tools we need to use to ensure our world is not like what was pictured in Interstellar. Inaction means famine.

ozim 5y ago
That is the point I always see when someone is promoting "save the Earth", Earth will be fine. It is humans who will have it tough while some bugs or bacteria will not even notice when those pesky people died out.
- 77pt77 5y ago
  It's not save the Earth. It's save me and my descendants. It just doesn't have the same ring to it...
- Buldak 5y ago
  If you just mean that the earth will continue to exist, or that some manner of organism will live on it, then yeah that seems like a safe bet. But a lot of people think it would be a bad thing if we drove elephants to extinction, or destroyed the Great Barrier Reef (and not for any prudential reasons tied to human interests, either), and that's what they mean when they urge us to "Save the Earth."
  - robben1234 5y ago
    Extinct elephants and destroyed reefs are small steps towards the total annihilation of humanity. It'd be much easier on personal level for everyone to justify not using plastic and voting for people who prioritize sustainability over short-term profit if green movement campaigned for saving our grand children from living in hell, than saving a floaty rock from an ephemeral threat.
ifdefdebug 5y ago

esarbe 5y ago

How do you come to the idea that evolution would ever come up with something more psychologically suited for long-term survival? Nothing is going to optimize for long-term survival. Any species that is not using all its capacity to extract resources and reproduce is going to be out-competed by everything else. A sensible long-term approach for regenerative resource consumption is not something that nature will ever select for. It will optimize for eat-as-much-as-you-can-without-having-to-vomit and reproduce-the-shit-out-of-the-free-energy-available-in-the-environment. I'm sad about us failing too. Humans are a fascinating species, and I think we have a lot of 'redeeming' qualities, ike our incredible ability to cooperate and our empathy. It's a shame that we're a dead-end.

jay_kyburz 5y ago

Humans wont care about the environment until humans live forever and their actions now will impact their own lives later.

pphysch 5y ago
A ridiculously anthropocentric statement. Humans are part of a very long lineage of life increasing in complexity without achieving immortality. Compare: "Mitochondria wont care about non-mitochondria (i.e. their environment) until mitochondria are individually immortal..."