why will we be extinct?

[etilit]

its going to happen....but why?

what didnt we understand? could we have changed it?

 

[Rebel7]

'cause we're screwing everything

 

[gb2000ie]

We'll go extinct in one of two ways:

1) we get it catastrophically wrong and blow our selves to kingdom come with nukes or biological weapons, or what not.

2) We get it right, and we evolve into a new species.

Either way - since all life is always changing, we'll cease to be because we moved on, or because it turned out we were an evolutionary dead end.

B.

 

[gorgik9]

We'll go extinct in one of two ways:

1) we get it catastrophically wrong and blow our selves to kingdom come with nukes or biological weapons, or what not.

2) We get it right, and we evolve into a new species.

Either way - since all life is always changing, we'll cease to be because we moved on, or because it turned out we were an evolutionary dead end.

B.

Hrmmm ... :thinking::thinking::thinking:...

Excuse me, dear gb2000ie, but this seems as yet another example of the prejudice, that everything about life and the universe is about the human mind, about our human ability to "get it".

You´re forgetting other ways to get extinct - such as a big asteroid ramming the earth and killing off - let´s say - 90% of all life. It´s happened before, it will happen again. And it does´nt matter if we "get it" or not.

The history of life isn´t just about hunky dory smooth evolution, where everything evolves in a nice slow way. It´s also about the gigantic disasters, bringing life well nigh to total collaps.

Or to put it in different words - Read the one and only Stephen Jay Gould! :cheers:

 

[gb2000ie]

Hrmmm ... :thinking::thinking::thinking:...

Excuse me, dear gb2000ie, but this seems as yet another example of the prejudice, that everything about life and the universe is about the human mind, about our human ability to "get it".

You´re forgetting other ways to get extinct - such as a big asteroid ramming the earth and killing off - let´s say - 90% of all life. It´s happened before, it will happen again. And it does´nt matter if we "get it" or not.

The history of life isn´t just about hunky dory smooth evolution, where everything evolves in a nice slow way. It´s also about the gigantic disasters, bringing life well nigh to total collaps.

Or to put it in different words - Read the one and only Stephen Jay Gould! :cheers:

OK - so there is a third option - but that's not one in our control. I don't think I'm being prejudiced in the context of this thread. But what ever - evolutionarily, my argument stands.

 

[gorgik9]

OK - so there is a third option - but that's not one in our control. I don't think I'm being prejudiced in the context of this thread. But what ever - evolutionarily, my argument stands.

gb, you´re a great guy and I like you - but let´s agree to disagree .

Assuming that the extinction of the human species (and shitloads of other species) should be about something we can control - that´s a nice piece of prejudice in my book.

You´re handing out the whiggish kind of interpretation of darwinism Steven Jay Gould protested against so eloquently in his many books and articles.

 

[gb2000ie]

gb, you´re a great guy and I like you - but let´s agree to disagree .

Assuming that the extinction of the human species (and shitloads of other species) should be about something we can control - that´s a nice piece of prejudice in my book.

You´re handing out the whiggish kind of interpretation of darwinism Steven Jay Gould protested against so eloquently in his many books and articles.

Can you explain what's wrong with my interpretation? Nothing I've ever read about evolution (and I've read quite a bit) suggests that stasis is something that you should expect to see. As I understand it, Homo Erectus is not going to be around for ever. We could get obliterated, we could obliterate ourselves, or we could evolve into some other Homo species.

What am I missing?

As for my prejudice - the way I see it, no other species has yet invented a way to annihilate itself. Our power is feeble when we turn it against nature, so although we can hold our own a little, nature can of course crush us like an ant under foot, just look at the Titanic disaster as an example. But, our power is not feeble when it comes to destroying ourselves. We could blow ourselves up, we could murder ourselves out of existence, or we could poison the planet so badly that we make it uninhabitable to our own species. We don't have the power to guarantee survival, be would do have the power to guarantee failure. So, what I was driving at (poorly I guess) in my short first comment, is that if we succeed in suppressing our destructive tendencies, we could go on evolutionarily, but if we fail to supreses those tendencies, we could turn ourselves into one of the billions of other evolutionary dead ends in the tree of life.

I hope that's a bit less whiggish?

B.

P.S.
I'm not picking a fight, I like to learn, and IMO, one of the best ways to learn is to debate with intelligent people. Please read this post in that spirit.

 

[billdunn666]

I'm picking asteroid.