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We are now officially entering Earth's Sixth Mass Extinction Event

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HeelPower

Member
I if only we took the astronomically tiny chance of working together and being proactive about fixing it.
Its not happening.

Most people are too busy fighting over religion,politics,and resources ,and there's too many of us.

We're still a fairly dumb species overall.The elite thinkers that rise to a different level are but outliers and even then most of them tend to stupid in at least one area.
 
This planet is doomed. Elon Musk tried to give us affordable Teslas to save the planet, but once he realized that wasn't going to happen, he started his own privately funded space program with the end goal of getting humanity including himself on Mars. This planet is doomed, so Musk and his people will be able to start over on Mars.
 

Foffy

Banned
If you believe in yourself and love yourself, you override these issues. Receptive others gravitate towards you, like planets around the sun, or the circle of gum you often see around street-rubbish bins - because you feed yourself until you are satisfied, and by that nature you have something of worth to others - yourself.

You - Foffy, the person - you are seeking negativity, and you are finding it in quotes that agree with the concepts you are exploring and solidifying. Negativity is drawing you with its very gravity, because people are either one or the other - positive or negative - that's the nature of our perception - that's the nature of pack instinct - that is human nature.

Humans have intellect. Humans have a level of will somewhere on the spectrum between free-will and fate - and the more aware and accepting you are, the more capable you are of travelling towards the positive side of the spectrum - which one would that be, to you? Once an individual is aware, they are capable of making a choice.

Division is a unit of measurement - a binary duality that humans can more easily perceive and use - but the nature of reality is that it is constantly flowing. It's a pristine, beautiful constant, not separated by frames per second, or centimetres, or any measurement. It is infinite, basically. Our ability to exude our belief is such.

A moment lasts as long as you give it credence.

You had me on an interesting, albeit New Agey entertainment until you brought in the spooks, which I bolded. Prove anything close to fate, as free-will has long been proven to be horseshit. Some points you have are far more true than others, but it's that element of will that you enter la la land.

Unless, of course, you were being metaphorical, but concepts like the illusion of free-will and fate are the last things you want in a thread like this, which is talking about objective things, not subjective projections.
 

Dryk

Member
To everyone claiming "It's fine we'll just engineer new species"...we actually need to preserve the gene pool to be able to engineer things out of it.

Related: We're facing a disaster with regards to fruit in the next few decades because all commercial variates lack genetic diversity so much that disease will very easily wipe them out and there won't be anything we can do about it. People are tearing up the wild trees to plant crops and once they're gone it's a death sentence for those species.

This. Also solar/wind/geothermal/hydro/fusion will continue to get cheaper and cheaper plus more efficient. IMO electric cars will be the norm in 20 years and we will be getting close to colonizing mars. Yeah we are killing wildlife and some of the environment but we should be fine.
Switching to sustainable energy in 20 years is like grabbing your seatbelt to put it on when you're already halfway through the windshield. It'll mitigate the effects a little but it's not going to save you.
 

way more

Member
You are using scientific consensus to be patronizing and "demolish" arguments against "your" opinion which is just an absolutist repetition of what SC says.

But there's actually no scientific consensus on global warming causing humanity go extinct. It may cause billions of death and a civilization reset in the most extreme takes on the situation, but there's really not an apocalyptic fear monguering from the scientific community related to global warming, in the sense of "it will cause the end of us all". That doesn't mean it isn't pivotal to act on it and reverse it as much and as soon as possible.

Someone needs to school marm us on the big issues. Otherwise GAF would never know about these things.
 
Switching to sustainable energy in 20 years is like grabbing your seatbelt to put it on when you're already halfway through the windshield. It'll mitigate the effects a little but it's not going to save you.

We still have hundreds of years. No human can fathom that time because..nobody lives for hundreds of years.
 
Bees are already dead or sick.Humans can do the magic too (see China). Cats extinct only a few species. The End will be connected with water resources. Rising salt water, less land, Mass migration, war, the End. 200 years plus for the whole process. Sometimes I hate my studies and I know why it's taking me so long to finish University, it's depressing ;_;
 
Guess what, the earth doesn't give a shit... Just like it didn't give a fuck about the last 5. Nor will it give a single fuck about the next 1000 "mass extinction" event.

One day in a few billion years, the sun is going to expand enormously before it dies. When that happens, the earth will be consumed. When the sun finally collapses on itself and explodes, the solar system will be obliterated.

The galaxy will not make a thread about it... Because it gives even less shits about all this.
 

ugly

Member
You had me on an interesting, albeit New Agey entertainment until you brought in the spooks, which I bolded. Prove anything close to fate, as free-will has long been proven to be horseshit. Some points you have are far more true than others, but it's that element of will that you enter la la land.

Unless, of course, you were being metaphorical, but concepts like the illusion of free-will and fate are the last things you want in a thread like this, which is talking about objective things, not subjective projections.

Free will is an absolute which is completely unattainable by humans, but it does represent one end of a spectrum. At the end of the day, trying to claim ownership for the firing of synapses in our brains is a silly thing - but as a self aware human being (and I am not being metaphorical or esoteric - I mean an individual who seeks knowledge of his limitations, place in the world, etc), one can guide their attitude. Would I be right in saying that's pretty basic stuff?

I mean, words hold slightly different cognitive meaning in the mind of each individual. I'm simply referring to free choice as a concept - and gaining control of our own lives in any way we can, however fleeting or meager, is something I think every person would say they would like to achieve, when asked.

Will is real. It is our desire to impose ourselves on the reality that we exist within. The thought that humans are able to control this with no restriction is horseshit, you are correct. By fate, I mean to say - things that are completely out of our control. So it represents a theoretical opposite end of the same spectrum I've been referring to.

As an aside, I work at a liquor store and when serving the customers I often say "have a good night". Some of the old folks say "I will". They're the happiest.
 
Humans were a mistake. They're nothing but trash.

Intelligent Crow decedents posting on the tweeternet will squawk in fury about their "ruined hatchlinghoods" when they learn that the glorious mammals of the Cenozoic had fuzzy fluffy hair like those goofy bats and mangy rodents that eat trash off their glorious tree top cities.

Dinosaurs (a.k.a birds) will reclaim the earth and I'll laugh my decomposing fossilized ass off at the stupidity and irresponsibility of my species.
 
Guess what, the earth doesn't give a shit... Just like it didn't give a fuck about the last 5. Nor will it give a single fuck about the next 1000 "mass extinction" event.

One day in a few billion years, the sun is going to expand enormously before it dies. When that happens, the earth will be consumed. When the sun finally collapses on itself and explodes, the solar system will be obliterated.

The galaxy will not make a thread about it... Because it gives even less shits about all this.

At the bolded, sun isn't large enough to blow up - it'll simply contract after expansion. You are right in it expanding and leaving Earth a lifeless rock. But that won't happen for another several million years.

Either way this thinking of "not worth doing anything we're doomed anyway" is about as prevalent as the thinking that denies humans are doing *any* sort of human activity that is causing the Earth harm (i.e. often which conservative politics paving the way for such ignorance).

The hope for our kids/grandkids/generational future depends on those whose thinking does not fall into those two categories.
 
it was always going to be a race between our growth in technology vs the decreasing viability of the planet as a suitable host world

I think humanity will survive because the concessions and drop of quality of life needed to deal with climate change is likely to happen one way or another. If it's not done willingly, conditions will be such that it's forced upon us. Only question is if we can deal with that without nuking each other or tearing each other apart in the race for diminishing resources.

TLDR: fallout, mad max, etc

build the vaults now imo, srs
 

DiscoJer

Member
At the bolded, sun isn't large enough to blow up - it'll simply contract after expansion. You are right in it expanding and leaving Earth a lifeless rock. But that won't happen for another several million years.

Several billion (6 or so) actually before it becomes a red giant.

However, the sun will get hotter and hotter, by about 1% every 100 million years, which will eventually have dramatic effects.
 

ibyea

Banned
Guys, sorry to say but technology isn't some sort of magic that will automatically solve this mass extinction problem. Think about it, the world produces enough food to feed everyone in it and yet so many people in the world are starving. There are things technology just can't solve by itself. It requires the collective action of people and reorganization of society. For this mass extinction, we can reverse course, but we need to do it fast, as in right now. Unfortunately people have decided that looking away from the problem is far more palatable than confronting the very tears of the fabric of our society. There is no political will and some of the most polluting nations have people actively working against bettering the environment because it inconveniences business. In the face of this, people will have to be directly hit by this environmental disaster before they act. And it will be too late by then.
 

AcridMeat

Banned
guys... it's not happening to us, it's us happening to everything else on the planet.

Guys, sorry to say but technology isn't some sort of magic that will automatically solve this mass extinction problem. Think about it, the world produces enough food to feed everyone in it and yet so many people in the world are starving. There are things technology just can't solve by itself. It requires the collective action of people and reorganization of society. For this mass extinction, we can reverse course, but we need to do it fast, as in right now. Unfortunately people have decided that looking away from the problem is far more palatable than confronting the very tears of the fabric of our society. There is no political will and some of the most polluting nations have people actively working against bettering the environment because it inconveniences business. In the face of this, people will have to be directly hit by this environmental disaster before they act. And it will be too late by then.
Bingo bango.
 

ibyea

Banned
The fact that there were already 5 mass extection event just proves that the nature is quite efficiently at recovering from it.

The point is that humanity will suffer greatly from the 6th one. It's our current generation setting up the next generation to live terrible lives because we couldn't get our shit together.
 
The point is that humanity will suffer greatly from the 6th one. It's our current generation setting up the next generation to live terrible lives because we couldn't get our shit together.

Well, one can't seriously think that a population of over 7 billion of a single species doesn't have an impact on the biodiversity of a planet. With the right policy you can try to control the impact so that ecosystems aren't breaking apart but our planet will change like it did it the last billions of years.

There is no Mother Gaia or status quo in nature.
 

ibyea

Banned
Well, one can't seriously think that a population of over 7 billion of a single species doesn't have an impact on the biodiversity of a planet. With the right policy you can try to control the impact so that ecosystems aren't breaking apart but our planet will change like it did it the last billions of years.

There is no Mother Gaia or status quo in nature.

Again you are missing the point. a)if things keep going as it is, change will be coming too quickly for humans to deal with and I personally don't want future generations to suffer. b)humans are right now very unmotivated to implement the right policies.
 
Again you are missing the point. a)if things keep going as it is, change will be coming too quickly for humans to deal with and I personally don't want future generations to suffer. b)humans are right now very unmotivated to implement the right policies.

The study in OP doesn't try to quantify the impact of mass extiction on the planet. Looking at past events many of such events didn't affect the flora and ecosystems (which are foten already human controlled in the western world and wouldn't survive without humanity).
 

ibyea

Banned
The study in OP doesn't try to quantify the impact of mass extiction on the planet. Looking at past events many of such events didn't affect the flora and ecosystems (which are foten already human controlled in the western world and wouldn't survive without humanity).

What do you mean it didn't affect the ecosystem? They are called great mass extinctions for a reason. There is a reason we are in the age of mammals and not the age of reptiles. The environment changed too fast and most dinosaurs died out. I would call that a huge change in the ecosystem, one that caused untold suffering. And the one that caused dinosaur extinction is the lesser of the great mass extinctions.
 
What do you mean it didn't affect the ecosystem? They are called great mass extinctions for a reason. There is a reason we are in the age of mammals and not the age of reptiles. The environment changed too fast and most dinosaurs died out. I would call that a huge change in the ecosystem, one that caused untold suffering. And the one that caused dinosaur extinction is the lesser of the great mass extinctions.

Ecosystems are robust. It's quite rare that all life dies in an area, normally it happens only if there is an extreme change of the climate like it happened at the end of the permian period.
 

ibyea

Banned
Ecosystems are robust. It's quite rare that all life dies in an area, normally it happens only if there is an extreme change of the climate like it happened at the end of the permian period.

Yeah like the way it is happening now due to global warming, ocean acidification, deforestation, pollution, etc etc etc.
 
Yeah like it is happening now due to global warming, ocean acidification, deforestation, pollution, etc etc etc.

No, that's not the same. Life isn't at the edge of collapsing today or in the near future. We are talking about biodiversity for the sake of biodiversity right now.
 

ibyea

Banned
No, that's not the same. Life isn't at the edge of collapsing today or in the near future. We are talking about biodiversity for the sake of biodiversity right now.

You are wrong. The process towards a mass extinction is happening right now due to primarily human activity. I don't know when we can say life will exactly collapse as great mass extinctions are a process and not just a single spontaneous event, but at the current rate of human consumption it will happen whether you want it or not due to habitat loss, ocean acidification, global warming, and other onslaught caused by human activity.
 
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