I could make the (true) argument that while this almost (their descendants are still around) happened, all of humanity was not extinguished. But it's an intere

I could make the (true) argument that while this almost (their descendants are still around) happened, all of humanity was not extinguished. But it's an interesting point. While the world never ends, entire peoples and nations do get extinguished with some regularity, and having people around who always look for ways this can happen could serve a credible evolutionary purpose, even though they're almost always wrong.