kevboard
Member
...I mean... yeah? the action of a spacecraft moving through space is still also called flying.
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We're not going to make it, are we?
- Thread starter IDKFA
- Start date
...I mean... yeah? the action of a spacecraft moving through space is still also called flying.
Hrk69
Member
Musashipan
Member
I hope not
bender
What time is it?
Sounds like my ex.
Hrk69
Member
bender
What time is it?
Hrk69
Member
No. My ex.
bender
What time is it?
Love and Rocket - The Infosphere, the Futurama Wiki
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Hrk69
Member
Love and Rocket
" I've never been able to put into words how I feel about you. But somewhere among these trillions of hearts, those words must already exist. And I'm gonna find them." ―Fry to Leela "Love and Rocket" is the 57th episode of Futurama, and the fourth episode of Season 4. It features the guest...futurama.fandom.com
Shubh_C63
Member
Even with coordinated efforts and budget to secure Mars colony, there has to be money coming in by mining resources on Moon or Mercury (mainly by automated drones/factories).it's actually not that hard to creat settlements on Mars. it's all about budget and manpower. if all the biggest nations on earth worked together, with a near infinite budget, with minimal restrictions in terms of testing and test flights... we would have settlers on Mars within a decade.
but that's not how the world (currently) works
For long sustainability Mars environment might still prove way harsher and dangerous. How can humanity justify literal rigorous 365x24x7 maintenance of an entire city with these energy and money cost.
Safe space colonization is the definitive metric of human survivability in the galaxy which can only happen via the dyson sphere thing. Just constructing that would require raw material from Moon, Mercury and maybe more planets, Not to mention human cost with that "one in a million" great minds which might get bombed in a war, choked by viruses or consumed by TikTok lol
Reizo Ryuu
Member
Yes, humanity will 100% go extinct sooner rather than later, there's just too much that can go wrong and we only have one home; random super volcano, cme, or asteroid a thousand years from now could wipe the slate clean like we never existed.
XXL
Member
I just look at all the amazing things humanity has achieved in even the last 100 years and it gives me hope.
My Dad literally lived in a hut with dirt floors and a oil lamp, he came to this country with nothing and made something of himself.
That inspires me everyday.
V1LÆM
Gold Member
The earth will be fine and humans won’t go extinct.
But what is left of humanity is the real question. Millions or even billions will die from climate change. Parts of the earth will become inhabitable, water will be a resource fought over, no modern luxuries, etc. we’ll set ourselves back centuries or millennia.
Same goes for nuclear war but that’ll be worse. That could easily wipe us all out. Maybe not at first when bombs drop but those unlucky enough to survive will be riddled with radiation and give birth to failed humans. We’ll be nothing but radioactive monkeys and then we’ll disappear.
Don’t know about AI/Singularity. I don’t really believe in it being a threat just yet.
But what is left of humanity is the real question. Millions or even billions will die from climate change. Parts of the earth will become inhabitable, water will be a resource fought over, no modern luxuries, etc. we’ll set ourselves back centuries or millennia.
Same goes for nuclear war but that’ll be worse. That could easily wipe us all out. Maybe not at first when bombs drop but those unlucky enough to survive will be riddled with radiation and give birth to failed humans. We’ll be nothing but radioactive monkeys and then we’ll disappear.
Don’t know about AI/Singularity. I don’t really believe in it being a threat just yet.
IDKFA
I am Become Bilbo Baggins
No, I'm pretty sure the Earth isn't a fan of the extra CO2. Add deforestation on top and I'm certain the Earth doesn't like the rapid change.
There is no theory. CO2 warms the planet. Without CO2 and other greenhouse gasses life probably wouldn't exist on earth.
However, too much CO2 and the planet warms too much.
It doesn't really work that way. Life needs time to adapt.
Why not? It has before.
The Stig
Banned
jufonuk
not tag worthy
The acting in this clip is masterful.. so subtle and sublime. It should be taught in all acting schools.
Mistake
Member
The earth has been a lot warmer with more CO2 previous times in history. The planet will be fine, we won't be
Sakura
Member
None of those would cause human extinction, let's be real.
While climate change will make life harder for a lot of people (for example those who live in areas near sea level), and many people may die, it isn't an extinction event for humans, and even the scientists don't believe it would cause human extinction (especially not in our lifetime). Much of the Earth would still be habitable to us.
As for biodiversity etc these are all problems solvable by science. We can engineer crops. We could engineer insects if we needed to, we can already genetically modify them. Hell, worst case scenario we could create giant greenhouse like facilities to grow food. There isn't a world where there are no human settlements that have access to food.
The singularity stuff is nonsense. It is more likely that some virus is created that wipes out the human race rather than the singularity event you are describing.
While climate change will make life harder for a lot of people (for example those who live in areas near sea level), and many people may die, it isn't an extinction event for humans, and even the scientists don't believe it would cause human extinction (especially not in our lifetime). Much of the Earth would still be habitable to us.
As for biodiversity etc these are all problems solvable by science. We can engineer crops. We could engineer insects if we needed to, we can already genetically modify them. Hell, worst case scenario we could create giant greenhouse like facilities to grow food. There isn't a world where there are no human settlements that have access to food.
The singularity stuff is nonsense. It is more likely that some virus is created that wipes out the human race rather than the singularity event you are describing.
Mr Reasonable
Completely Unreasonable
I used to think about the effects of climate change and how it might affect future generations, but now I realize that the time scale is much closer.
Anyone committed to denying the severity of the situation (for various reasons) will be able to find a scientist who'll spout something calming but the reality is that they are outliers sometimes with interesting associations and motivations. The scientific community are in full agreement beyond any meaningful level of dissent. The people that you would ask for insight on this will say that we are in a terrible situation.
We ought to be much further along in making changes, but somehow we're in a position where people have been convinced that considering doing so is needless and would be a waste of time, money and effort. We're utterly screwed by a lack of leadership on this.
Anyone committed to denying the severity of the situation (for various reasons) will be able to find a scientist who'll spout something calming but the reality is that they are outliers sometimes with interesting associations and motivations. The scientific community are in full agreement beyond any meaningful level of dissent. The people that you would ask for insight on this will say that we are in a terrible situation.
We ought to be much further along in making changes, but somehow we're in a position where people have been convinced that considering doing so is needless and would be a waste of time, money and effort. We're utterly screwed by a lack of leadership on this.
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IDKFA
I am Become Bilbo Baggins
I agree. When I mean Earth I'm talking about our current ecosystem. Earth will be fine without humans. It's faced rapid climate change before and made it through fine. Humans and other species might not make it.
efyu_lemonardo
May I have a cookie?
In our lifetime? No
In the next generations? I would not be surprised if climate change forces us to adapt in such extreme ways that our numbers on this planet diminish significantly.
So, from a maximum of 9 billion down to perhaps 5 billion, more densely distributed across smaller areas of the globe.
Do I see anything wiping us out completely over the next few centuries? No
In fact I'm rather optimistic for humanity in the long run. A couple centuries of extreme hardship on a global level may be what finally gets us to pull our heads out of our own asses and start working together like all of our lives depend on it. Because they do.
Economics will change. Government will change. International cooperation will change. And once those happen, perhaps more will follow. I don't know if we'll start colonizing space or other planetary bodies, because the effort required to do so may be higher than fixing Earth's climate. But the dream of becoming multiplanetary will not go away, and perhaps some day it'll be feasible. It could be that by then we will have transformed ourselves into something else that no longer qualifies as strictly human. Hopefully it'll be something better and more suitable to thriving in extra terrestrial environments.
In the next generations? I would not be surprised if climate change forces us to adapt in such extreme ways that our numbers on this planet diminish significantly.
So, from a maximum of 9 billion down to perhaps 5 billion, more densely distributed across smaller areas of the globe.
Do I see anything wiping us out completely over the next few centuries? No
In fact I'm rather optimistic for humanity in the long run. A couple centuries of extreme hardship on a global level may be what finally gets us to pull our heads out of our own asses and start working together like all of our lives depend on it. Because they do.
Economics will change. Government will change. International cooperation will change. And once those happen, perhaps more will follow. I don't know if we'll start colonizing space or other planetary bodies, because the effort required to do so may be higher than fixing Earth's climate. But the dream of becoming multiplanetary will not go away, and perhaps some day it'll be feasible. It could be that by then we will have transformed ourselves into something else that no longer qualifies as strictly human. Hopefully it'll be something better and more suitable to thriving in extra terrestrial environments.
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Mr Reasonable
Completely Unreasonable
That sounds quite unlikely to me. Far more likely that we'll see wars over resources than friendly cooperation imo.
I'm not sure why people debating possible positive futures always end up talking about abandoning earth and colonising other planets. Like it's better to not moderate behaviour whatsoever, let it destroy one planet and then somehow traverse the vast distances and deal with the incredible hostility of space and other atmospheres to start a multi decade plan to live miserably on a dusty rock.
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efyu_lemonardo
May I have a cookie?
The Earth has seen plenty of mass extinctions before. It's gone through far greater climate changes than what we're causing. Large, complex life forms may take a big hit because of how rapid the change is this time, but multicellular life in general will not be wiped out.
Already there are complex organisms evolving the ability to host, in their digestive systems, bacteria that can metabolize plastics. Plastics have been abundant for a century at most. This is evolution happening before our eyes and at a rapid pace!
efyu_lemonardo
May I have a cookie?
There will definitely be wars over resources, until the number of humans stabilizes around a value that fits the amount of available resources. Billions will die, like I said.
But unless we hit unstoppable runaway global warming, there will be a point where things do stabilize and that number will stop going down.
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RickSanchez
Member
Right this. If we consider a slightly more extreme possibility.....then between the years 2050 and 2060, the planet may be almost out of fresh water sources. World War 3 will break out as countries fight to gain control over sources of fresh water. I will be too old to be conscripted by then (i'll be in my late 60s), so that's cool i guess, or maybe countries will just execute people when they turn 60 so as to not waste precious fresh water rations on useless old people.
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winjer
Gold Member
"no politics". Two Doritos later: "climate change is incontrovertible" , an apocalyptic prophecy 100% based on politics, the same as the demographic inferno and many others
I'm old enough to remember how the Earth would be cooked after the ozone layer disappeared 20 years ago. It's still there. Nobody cares anymore. Every few years we recycle our prophecies so the sheep keep clapping at 7 PM.
BTW, there was already an apocalyptic event several centuries ago, when a supervolcano darkened the atmosphere for almost two years, pretty much like the impact of an asteroid.
‘Mysterious’ Volcanic Eruption That Plunged Europe Into The Dark Ages Pinpointed In Central America
A massive volcanic eruption set the stage for a cold snap in Europe, contributing even to the collapse of the Roman Empire. But where — or precisely when — it happened remained a mystery. Now research pinpointed a possible volcano in Central America.www.forbes.com
Men won't kill humankind. Only a major natural event or a bigger asteroid would.
The reason why we don't talk about the ozone layer, is because we did something to fix it.
Instead of ignoring science, we actually banned CFCs worldwide, allowing the ozone layer to regenerate.
It's the perfect example of how listening to science and facts can fix a major issue.
efyu_lemonardo
May I have a cookie?
I don't know about abandoning earth, but extraterrestrial colonization is likely.
Because, assuming humanity survives at a level that enables us to keep improving our technology, these kinds of dreams don't just go away.
Look at how long we've been dreaming about flight. Or how long we've been dreaming about building automatons (aka robots). These dreams have persisted for millennia, until the time was finally right to achieve them. At no point did we ever give up.
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efyu_lemonardo
May I have a cookie?
Source for the bolded?
IDKFA
I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Agreed, however previous extinction events caused by greenhouse gasses happened over tens of thousands of years. Human activity is speeding up the process by a large margin.
I also agree that life will survive. The Earth will recover like it has before, but that process before took a very, very long time. Hundreds of thousands if not millions of years.
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E-Cat
I didn't choose war because that would mean bringing up politics.
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The inability to collectively solve major global problems anymore is what worries me the most. Remember in the late 1980's when the world came together to ban chlorofluorocarbons and solve the depletion of the ozone layer? I can't imagine if a similar problem came about today that the world could come together and solve it.
Mr Reasonable
Completely Unreasonable
It's because the problem today is fossil fuels and nobody wants to say unpopular things and nobody wants to make less money than they could before the need to change cannot be put off any longer.
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Mr Reasonable
Completely Unreasonable
I think a grasp of reality is key, that's not for everyone and arguably doesn't do you any good.
Boralf
Member
I know you're dutch so I could recommend reading Tim Fransen: In onze tijd: Leven in het calamiteitperk. It touches on a lot of these topics.
kurisu_1974
Member
Pretty sure the so called singularity will have a power outlet we can just pull out, no?
Never understood how that could be a real threat.
Never understood how that could be a real threat.
There is a distinct difference between "we did something to fix it" and "we stopped hurting it and thank god it fixed itself" that goes beyond semantics.
WE can see the measurable impact on the climate when certain human activity ramps down (saw it during covid, immediately after 9/11) or humans experience a mass extinction event themselves (during the mongolian expansion). So the easy answer is the fragile net of civilization enabling BILLIONS to get barely adequate food, water, and medicine will break and we will see human death on a scale that can't even be imagined. Something like HALF the worlds population lives in a 2000 mile radius on southeat asia (https://www.tropicalhainan.com/the-...-that-contains-half-of-the-worlds-population/). Just think about the level of food distribution, water, and fuel necessary to keep those teeming masses fed. ANY disruption in fertilizer, transportation, or crop yield and it gets ugly real fast.
And Africa is set to overtake that region in a few decades with a MASSIVE population boom. This age distribution graph should TERRIFY EVERYONE
Europe, for example, has a population bulge that is passing and a significant population DROP forthcoming.
There is a significant difference between population drop due to low birth rate and a drop due to starvation and disease, I think we can all see where each is likely to occur.
IDKFA
I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Good question.
An AI that advanced would be a lot smarter than us and could easily counter any attack we throw at it. It wouldn't just be a static computer we can just turn off. It could, for example take control of physical systems, hack into networks or create digital backups. It could be anywhere that has a network connection. It could also plan for this in advance and have a whole host of contingency plans in place before we pick up on the danger.
Kraz
Member
Perhaps one of the more unlikely, but possible, would be a GRB from Eta Carinae.
Even then, probably not all currently living humans within their lifetimes. There's a lot of bunkers where some could die slowly and horribly over generations.
That aside, there are many that believe the destruction of the Earth is their way to an imagined heaven and return of their religious idol. They want to see this and are accelerating the destruction of the Earth and prevent anything to slow it. It's not just greed, it's hubris.
The quoted attitude, while possibly mocked by the poster, is not unusual and taken seriously by many, it's prevalent:
If there is any chance for humans to mitigate climate change and build toward a real future they'd have to deal with the efforts of these death cultists.
Even then, probably not all currently living humans within their lifetimes. There's a lot of bunkers where some could die slowly and horribly over generations.
That aside, there are many that believe the destruction of the Earth is their way to an imagined heaven and return of their religious idol. They want to see this and are accelerating the destruction of the Earth and prevent anything to slow it. It's not just greed, it's hubris.
The quoted attitude, while possibly mocked by the poster, is not unusual and taken seriously by many, it's prevalent:
The schadenfreude, if they succeed in making Earth unlivable for humans in their lifetimes, is that the zealotry of the belief that allowed the destruction will also keep them clinging to their life on Earth waiting to see the return of their imaginary savior. Vainly enduring the misery they enabled the longest, and die in terror.
If there is any chance for humans to mitigate climate change and build toward a real future they'd have to deal with the efforts of these death cultists.
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Humdinger
Gold Member
No one would mistake me for an optimist, but I'm cynical about doomsday pessimism. I'm old enough to have heard one doomsday scenario after another trotted out and for things to work out okay. The first one I remember was the threat of atomic war, being coached to hide under our desks in elementary school. Then we were going to run out of fossil fuels and the world would be plunged into chaos. Then civilization was going be collapse because of overpopulation. Then Y2K was going to cause everything to go haywire. Now it's climate change or whatever the doomsday scenario de jour is.
It's a distinct pattern. You'll recognize it once you've been around awhile. Fear is an attention-magnet. The media love to fan the flames. Everyone gets in a lather, their attention riveted on the threat. No surprise (because if the threat is real, what could be more important). The thing is, most of the threats turn out to be, if not bogus, at least greatly exaggerated.
In a broader way, this has been going on since the dawn of civilization.
en.wikipedia.org
It's a distinct pattern. You'll recognize it once you've been around awhile. Fear is an attention-magnet. The media love to fan the flames. Everyone gets in a lather, their attention riveted on the threat. No surprise (because if the threat is real, what could be more important). The thing is, most of the threats turn out to be, if not bogus, at least greatly exaggerated.
In a broader way, this has been going on since the dawn of civilization.
List of dates predicted for apocalyptic events - Wikipedia
SF Kosmo
Al Jazeera Special Reporter
Climate is gonna kill and displace a lot of people but not end the species.
Humans will inevitably be killed off by post-humans. I think once people get skilled at editing the human genome they will begin a period of rapid, artificial evolution that will be iterated on and improved for a few centuries until the result is something that can no longer be called human. At that point, remaining legacy humans will be enslaved or killed or just die from being unable to adapt to a world where they are no longer useful, just like other human ancestors.
Humans will inevitably be killed off by post-humans. I think once people get skilled at editing the human genome they will begin a period of rapid, artificial evolution that will be iterated on and improved for a few centuries until the result is something that can no longer be called human. At that point, remaining legacy humans will be enslaved or killed or just die from being unable to adapt to a world where they are no longer useful, just like other human ancestors.
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Kraz
Member
daffyduck
Member
They also banned paper grocery bags, in favor of plastic. Oops.
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