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Extinct species become extinct because there is some change in their environment to which they are not successful at adapting. Generally speaking, neither the h

Extinct species become extinct because there is some change in their environment to which they are not successful at adapting. Generally speaking, neither the human genome or the wilderness of Earth has changed since we built our first huts. You're correct in your regard for exceedingly high child mortality, though it bears no weight on the survival of humanity as a whole in a technology-breaking event. The human body is indeed a bet, and one that has paid off for ~300,000 years and about 12,000 generations, if we start counting from Homo Sapiens. I'd very much take that bet any day.

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wiredfool 4y ago
There's not that much wilderness left. Globally, The max distance to a road is something like 250km, in the middle of the Sahara. In the lower US, it's more like 40 miles. Entire ecosystems are gone (e.g. tallgrass prairie), or are only present in chunks that are only a few square miles. There are basically no old growth landscapes in Ireland/England. All the old trees were harvested, and sheep were farmed in the high places. Biomass of land mammals is heavily skewed to Humans and their livestock.
- wrycoder 4y ago
  It will revert very quickly. In two hundred years (outside of the dead cities and major highways), you'll have to look hard to find traces of the old civilization.
  - wiredfool 4y ago
    It may revert -- some -- but without the previous genetic diversity because what's gone is gone. Apex predators are mostly gone over large parts of their former range. The species of trees in the forests that we had in UK/Ireland just aren't there any more. It will probably be taken over by hedge laurels. Deer have been introduced where they used to not be. Florida is going to be a hellscape of escaped pets, like the pythons. The old growth forests of the PNW aren't going to come back for 1000 years or more, if they even can at all due to the extinction of some species and the addition of invasives.
mjburgess 4y ago
The earth has been here 4bn years... a species profliferating for over 300,000 years isn't even "making its money back". Almost all of past human history has been spent dealing with mass death, and it isnt clear almost that won't be the case for future history, until we're extinct. The world isnt made for us, and there's no reason to suppose we won't go faster than the dinos

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wiredfool 4y ago

There's not that much wilderness left. Globally, The max distance to a road is something like 250km, in the middle of the Sahara. In the lower US, it's more like 40 miles. Entire ecosystems are gone (e.g. tallgrass prairie), or are only present in chunks that are only a few square miles. There are basically no old growth landscapes in Ireland/England. All the old trees were harvested, and sheep were farmed in the high places. Biomass of land mammals is heavily skewed to Humans and their livestock.

wrycoder 4y ago
It will revert very quickly. In two hundred years (outside of the dead cities and major highways), you'll have to look hard to find traces of the old civilization.
- wiredfool 4y ago
  It may revert -- some -- but without the previous genetic diversity because what's gone is gone. Apex predators are mostly gone over large parts of their former range. The species of trees in the forests that we had in UK/Ireland just aren't there any more. It will probably be taken over by hedge laurels. Deer have been introduced where they used to not be. Florida is going to be a hellscape of escaped pets, like the pythons. The old growth forests of the PNW aren't going to come back for 1000 years or more, if they even can at all due to the extinction of some species and the addition of invasives.

mjburgess 4y ago

The earth has been here 4bn years... a species profliferating for over 300,000 years isn't even "making its money back". Almost all of past human history has been spent dealing with mass death, and it isnt clear almost that won't be the case for future history, until we're extinct. The world isnt made for us, and there's no reason to suppose we won't go faster than the dinos