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Humans Could Go the Way of the Dinosaur
- crispinb 4y agoGiven H. Sapiens' manifest unfitness for the planet-dominating role it has bred and slaughtered itself into, loss of it would be no bad thing. Shame about the other species though.
- Avshalom 4y agoHave the run of things for 200 million years then learn to fly?
- kwhitefoot 4y agoExactly. It's time to retire the cliche that the dinosaurs were a failure.
- colinrand 4y agoI would love to see a future of small hairless Galvespians inhabiting the planet.
- lostfocus 4y agoI'm fine with it. Let the ants take over, they seem to have their shit together.
- donkeydoug 4y agowe'd make great pets...
- timbit42 4y agoI think a smaller mammal will take over. Perhaps mice or rats.
- m3kw9 4y agoSeems nobody in earth wants to sell insurance for itself
- victorclf 4y agoFound the daily doomsday post. Today our cause of death will be a meteor impact.
- pard68 4y agoI wonder what's the longest period in human history in which someone was not predicting the imminent demise of humanity... it's like a very small period.
- earthboundkid 4y agoThis is Kaliyuga, buddy, the Iron Age. Anybody over sixteen without an ulcer's a goddam spy.
- onychomys 4y ago> We could see the collapse of not just one, but all human civilization, and possibly the extinction of our species—or even all the species on the planet. In short, it would be really, really bad. We should probably note here that there's been exactly one sterilizing event in the entire history of life, and that was the formation of the moon. So even if we go, something else will survive. Even the end-Permian left survivors!
- zabzonk 4y agowhile i agree that the moon formation would almost certainly have sterilised the earth, i don't know of any evidence that there was anything to sterilise.
- neerajk 4y agoRight! And per some theories it was the Theia collision that brought carbon and nitrogen to Earth to kick start life in the first place.
- gowld 4y ago> The rate of an asteroid larger than 3 miles across striking the Earth is approximately once every 6 million years. We've got time for this to bubble up on the priority list.
- palata 4y ago> There is no technology, survey, or program in operation today to monitor all the potential threats to Earth. Because it's much easier to prepare to go live on Mars, apparently. /s
- zpeti 4y agoI mean, I get the sarcasm, but at the same time we could probably monitor all asteroids from what we’re spending on climate change atm. This is one big issue I have with the hysterical end of the climate change debate, there are 100 other threats to humanity, yet we don’t really care about them, probably because the media doesn’t care as much. Covid is a pretty good example also, it’s killed way more people than the climate has for a long long time. A pandemic is a much bigger threat to both humanity and the economy. But somehow we’ve latched on to some event that might happen based on computer models in 50-200 years, as the biggest threat. At least according to the media. In reality even the IPCC doesn’t predict any fall in GDP due to climate change, just a slow in growth. Covid actually decreased worldwide gdp. An asteroid definitely would too. My point is, we spend resources on a lot of things as humans. Lots of stupid things sometimes. I don’t see how one man’s goal to get to mars isn’t on the more positive side of things, and the technologies that will be developed for it will be definite positives for everyone, just look at reusable rockets.
- Tagbert 4y agoHave you missed the people dying in major, atypical weather events? As climate change increases, those events and death will increase. Hurricanes, flood, drought, etc. Tropical diseases migrating into new territory are another thing to look forward to. Once things get bad enough, you start to have population migrations and political instability. Add in hunger and thirst and that leads to societal collapse and war. Climate change gets attention because it has such wide ranging effects, both primary and secondary. Yes, there are other risks. Some, like asteroids and diseases do have people watching for them though we could always do more.
- zpeti 4y agoYou should google deaths from climate events over time. You’ll be surprised.
- 0xblinq 4y agoAnd probably we also deserve it a lot more than them.
- zabzonk 4y agoanyone that thinks humans will be around in even a million years time is, imho, delusional. we were not there up until now in that timespan, and won't be after it. and don't get started on living on mars, or elsewhere - not going to happen.
- sushisource 4y agoYou could've said the same thing about crocodiles 54 million years ago, but, hey, 54 million years later we've still got crocs. It's a specious argument. Just because our species lifespan has been short until now doesn't mean anything about how long it will last from here out. There are other, legitimate reasons to think maybe humans won't last very long, but, this certainly isn't one.
- onepointsixC 4y agoWhy do you think that it's so certain? There are moments in history were the number of humans in existence numbered in the thousands. What kind of event are you imagining of that is certain to occur that will kill every single last human?
- zabzonk 4y agoi was thinking that we are obviously a fast-evolving species - look at all our mostly extinct relatives. so in a million years we will probably go the same way.
- Johnny555 4y agoI think it’s likely that humans will go extinct, but probably at our own hands.
- seper8 4y agoPeople are so skeptic and negative about humans nowadays. We are an incredibly hardy species. We are clever. We find ways to survive in deserts, mountains, small islands, icey tundras and anything in between. We plan ahead, we can eat and digest pretty much anything (except for cellulose) and we have as much drive to survive as your average cockroach. Sure our species is vulnerable. And I wouldn't rule out large percentages of our population dying at some point. But don't bet against the inventiveness and flexibility of humans. We may be one of the last species on this planet to become extinct.
- nathanvanfleet 4y agoAnd you know, we've been poisoning ourselves for a really long time amiright? The industrial age, smog, bpa, micro plastics. THERE IS NO LIMIT TO THE ABUSE WE CAN PUT ON OURSELVES. Woo
- korroziya 4y agoThis but unironically. Spare me your left-wing progressive snark. Humans thrive despite our propensity for self-harm. Something to celebrate, not criticize.
- cjohnson318 4y agoConservation and awareness of our natural resources is not a "left-wing progressive" thing. Exhibit A: Ducks Unlimited. A lot of very right-wing hunters contribute millions of dollars every year to preserve natural habitats. They see and understand the impact humans have on the natural environment, and pay good money to preserve those habitats.
- korroziya 4y agoThat's not the original post's argument and was not my response. Sanctimonious criticizing of the environmental effects of industrialization via sarcasm is absolutely a left-wing progressive thing. It's not clever, it's not cute, and it's not effective at arguing in favor of conservation.
- reactspa 4y agoI've noticed an uptick in car accidents in my area. Students sit in the classroom scrolling tiktok. I don't think we're going to make it.
- theandrewbailey 4y agoEvery generation has said similar despairing things about the next, yet there always is a next generation to complain about. No, it's not different this time.
- crispinb 4y agoI don't know that this is true. Christendom has a longstanding eschatological tradition, but I'm not sure that it's been in any way universal. Cyclical views of long time are pretty common, for example. Humanity hasn't always had nukes. I think Ukraine/Russia is somewhat likely to go worldwide, and it's going to be hard to stop a large nuclear exchange at that point. I'd be surprised if we have 5 years left.
- floodle 4y ago> Since light has momentum What now?
- jpollock 4y agop=h/λ https://pressbooks.online.ucf.edu/phy2053bc/chapter/photon-momentum/#:~:text=Photons%20have%20momentum%2C%20given%20by,%CE%BB%20is%20the%20photon%20wavelength https://pressbooks.online.ucf.edu/phy2053bc/chapter/photon-m.... Edit - mislead by Google, corrected.
- BizarreByte 4y agoThe fate of humans is extinction, saying otherwise is simply wrong. Be it 200 years or 2,000,000,000 at some point our species will go extinct, or whatever species we evolve into. I understand why people get angry when you say it, but anger won’t change it because on a long enough time scale nothing will survive.
- einpoklum 4y agoWell, eventually the sun will explode into a red giant; and if we make it past that somehow, the universe will cool down and spread out so much that we won't be able to have enough energy to do stuff. So, even if we don't "go extinct", either our solar system or our universe will. Still, I think the question on people's minds is whether it's 2 Billion years, 200 years, or - if the US and Russia play their nuke cards - maybe less :-(
- palata 4y agoSure. But that's not the question. I see the question more as this: "Say life will get extinct in 1000 years no matter why. And say that if you do nothing, it goes extinct in 10 years, but if you act now, it will get closer to those 1000 years. Should you do something?". That's the same thing about the current mass extinction/biodiversity problem/climate change: we are not talking about saving the species in 200 years, we've long proven that we don't care about that. We are talking about saving our butts. Us, currently living.
- korroziya 4y agoMore progressive propaganda thinly packaged as journalism. Humans are animals, and nature has selected us to survive again and again. For crying outloud, we've made it to outer space, one of the most hostile environments for life forms, and we're pushing to go further. The spread of the "humans suck, we're so awful" rhetoric in the left-wing media really puts a bad taste in my mouth.
- crispinb 4y ago> Humans are animals, and nature has selected us to survive again and again. Huh? H. Sapiens is a recent species, and has in its short career already brought most ecosystems worldwide to near collapse. It is 'successful' in the way a wastrel scion of a wealthy family appears at the height of his spending, just before penury, destitution, and syphilis hits. I happen to think a major nuclear exchange will take us out in the next few decades, but if not, nothing is likely to prevent the continuing destruction of most life on our planet. Fouling the nest can work for a while. But then it doesn't.
- chasing 4y agoI am for the jobs the asteroid will provide.
- FpUser 4y ago>"Humans Could Go the Way of the Dinosaur" Yes Sherlock we can. So fucking what? If there are actionable things that can be researched and developed to protect us from some potential existential disaster I believe we have started doing it. If however something that we can not prevent comes crushing down, what's the point thinking about it?
- geodel 4y agoI mean humans can steroids that would save them from asteroids.
- DueDilligence 4y ago.. and earth would be better for it.
- crispinb 4y agoAbsolutely. I don't understand why people think there is something grand in their neurotic reflexive attachment to the species they just happen to belong to. Supporting the human attack on the ecosphere (now near-terminal) is as crudely chauvanistic as pub fights over football games. But it's dressed up as belief in 'destiny' (which, like so many views professed by people who misunderstand theirselves as inheritors of scientific beliefs, is purely religious in origin).