Extinction!!!

[sai blaine]

How will we become extinct? There’s so many ways in which we can become extinct it’s scary and amazing that we have survived as long as we have. But I think it’s more of a “when” will we, then a “if” we will. So how do you think we will become extinct? Will some deadly plague strike that wipes out all life? Will a sleeping super volcano awaken and spew out a black cloud so big and so think it blacks out the sun? Or will we simply destroy each other? There was too many to list in the poll, some more unlikely then others, some inevitable… So what’s your views on how and if we do become extinct?

While thinking that over, bear in mind a couple of things. One, humans are nicknamed “The Great Survivors” due to out ability to adapt and overcome life’s problems as a race, will our ability to survive help us again? Or was it just luck?

Edit: <_< Thread didnt add my poll...

[OchrisO]

On December 21, 2012, the great feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl will return and eat us all. If you start sacrificing babies now, you may be allowed to transcend the mortal flesh instead. You have roughly 4 years. I'd get started immediately.

[ManOfWesternesse]

I'm rather afraid that we will over-populate & over-poison this poor planet to such an extent that one of these days it's gonna say "screw the lot of you!" - then it's 'bye-bye human race'.

[sai blaine]

I'm rather afraid that we will over-populate & over-poison this poor planet to such an extent that one of these days it's gonna say "screw the lot of you!" - then it's 'bye-bye human race'.
You talking about global warming?

[Jean]

Edit: <_< Thread didnt add my poll...
PM to me the poll options, I'll add it.

[ManOfWesternesse]

Global warming is certainly a part of it David, but only a part.
Earth can only support so much life - and human-population is growing too damn fast worldwide. (Note: Read a book called "Nature's End" by Whitley Streiber if you ever see it - it'll scare the shit outta you).
How are we gonna feed humanity in 50 or 100 years? 500 years???

Then there's pollution in general (of whicg Global Warming is one symptom). We're poisioning our whole system (Earth/Air/Oceans...) - and we think the Earth is gonna keep on giving? What are we gonna breathe when the air is too poisioned? / what we gonna drink when the water is too poisioned?

Man's gonna go out in one looooonnnng whimper - not with a bang! (imho)

[sai blaine]

Global warming is certainly a part of it David, but only a part.
Earth can only support so much life - and human-population is growing too damn fast worldwide. (Note: Read a book called "Nature's End" by Whitley Streiber if you ever see it - it'll scare the shit outta you).
How are we gonna feed humanity in 50 or 100 years? 500 years???

Then there's pollution in general (of whicg Global Warming is one symptom). We're poisioning our whole system (Earth/Air/Oceans...) - and we think the Earth is gonna keep on giving? What are we gonna breathe when the air is too poisioned? / what we gonna drink when the water is too poisioned?

Man's gonna go out in one looooonnnng whimper - not with a bang! (imho)
Yes, and since we are at the top of the food chain, nothing keeps down our population...well except one thing...Humans, humans and war. Just think that at the press of a button, over crowding will be a thing of the past, yes.. again another reason for man to start wars. But will our advancement into space save us from both?

I think that man is realising is mistakes on how it threats the planet, maybe if we all put our mind to it we could save ourselfs from that fate... or again another reason for war, to fight over "clean zones"

[sai blaine]

Edit: <_< Thread didnt add my poll...
PM to me the poll options, I'll add it.
Thank you Jean :grouphug:

[Jean]

welcome http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/bear_cool.gif
(I didn't vote. I don't think we'll become extinct.)

[sai blaine]

welcome http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/bear_cool.gif
(I didn't vote. I don't think we'll become extinct.)
Oh? Whys that Jean? (i got a quote you'll like on this issue but cant find it at the moment <_<)

[Jean]

well, probably because as a Christian, I believe in The Last Judgement, which is different from the options given. (I didn't say it to start a religious discussion here. I said it solely to explain why I abstained from voting.)

[sai blaine]

Like, some go to heaven others to hell?

[Jean]

Like, some go to Heaven, most to Purgatory, but we're not discussing it here. It really has nothing to do with the hypothetically possible extinction of human race. I find this possibility very remote, and I gave my reason for thinking so, that's it.

[ManOfWesternesse]

....will our advancement into space save us from both?....

Possible.
Given how much we have advanced 'technically' in say the last 50 years - then we are capable of getting off-planet ok - but can we survive in a single-system, where only Mars + (possibly) some Saturn/Jupiter moons might be 'liveable' + whatever we can build in the way of 'stations'.
Probably not? We need to get to other Systems - and that may well be a step too far? Interstellar travel is very much still Science-fiction and not remotely Science-fact. But who knows what we may yet discover.

[JasKo]

I voted Global Warming = We'll poison our own world until death :)

[sai blaine]

....will our advancement into space save us from both?....

Possible.
Given how much we have advanced 'technically' in say the last 50 years - then we are capable of getting off-planet ok - but can we survive in a single-system, where only Mars + (possibly) some Saturn/Jupiter moons might be 'liveable' + whatever we can build in the way of 'stations'.
Probably not? We need to get to other Systems - and that may well be a step too far? Interstellar travel is very much still Science-fiction and not remotely Science-fact. But who knows what we may yet discover.
Terraforming and Interstellar may seem too much Science-fiction, but if you were living in the medieval ages.. the fought of being able to fly around the world in giant steel birds most likely was too much Science-fiction.


I voted Global Warming = We'll poison our own world until death :)
:lol: And you sound so cheerful about that :lol: ...linch him...:beat:

[JasKo]

I voted Global Warming = We'll poison our own world until death :)
:lol: And you sound so cheerful about that :lol: ...linch him...:beat:

Hehe, well what should I do? Cry myself to sleep every night? I do my best not to poison the world and my surroundings. But when people with much more power then me and you and all the members here together don't do shit, it's not much we would be able to do.

I just read an article saying that by 2013(in 5 years), the artic ice will melt. So much for taking care of our home(earth).

[sai blaine]

:lol: It seems to me that if we overcome one disater another will follow shortly..



Many scientists predict that in fewer than one billion years, the runaway greenhouse effect will make Earth unsuitable for life.
Wow :lol: Thats a downer...but wait theres more


Projections indicate that the Andromeda Galaxy is on a collision course with the Milky Way. Impact is predicted in about 3 billion years, and so Andromeda will approach at an average speed of about 140 kilometres (87 miles) per second; the two galaxies will probably merge to form a giant elliptical. This merging could eject the solar system in a more eccentric orbit[citation needed] and an unwanted position in the merged galaxy causing our planet to become uninhabitable.
Reminds me of the song "When worlds collide" :panic:


The Sun is expected to become a red giant in about 5.5 billion years.It is calculated that the Sun will become almost sufficiently large to engulf the current orbits of some of the solar system's inner planets, including Earth.However, the gravitational pull of the Sun will have weakened by then due to its loss of mass, and all planets but Mercury will escape to a wider orbit. That said, Earth's biosphere will be destroyed as the Sun gets brighter while its hydrogen supply becomes depleted. The extra solar energy will cause the oceans to evaporate to space, causing Earth's atmosphere to become temporarily similar to that of Venus, before its atmosphere also gets driven off into space.Venus will become a burnt out planet; its atmosphere having long been driven off, and its rock will melt.

...:onfire: Burn Baby Burn?

[ManOfWesternesse]

Yes David, but the 3 examples you post from wiki are c. 1 billion, 3 billion & 5.5 billion years.
Our point is that mankind won't necessarily be around to see those things happen because we will have poisioned ourselves out of existence long before those come to pass.

I have'nt voted yet as I'm unsure which to pick. The 'Global Warming' is probably the closest option for me - but it's far from all-encompassing?

[Brice]

I'm not sure I agree we'll become extinct, but if we must I hope all the above happen at once. At least we'd be (briefly) entertained. :lol:

[sai blaine]

I'm not sure I agree we'll become extinct, but if we must I hope all the above happen at once. At least we'd be (briefly) entertained. :lol:
Pffft losser :P

I should of added "We wont become extinct" Option lol but meh

[Brice]

I'm not sure I agree we'll become extinct, but if we must I hope all the above happen at once. At least we'd be (briefly) entertained. :lol:
Pffft losser :P

I should of added "We wont become extinct" Option lol but meh

We as a race will die of stupidity.

[Storyslinger]

well, probably because as a Christian, I believe in The Last Judgement, which is different from the options given. (I didn't say it to start a religious discussion here. I said it solely to explain why I abstained from voting.)

This is what I believe, so the closest thing I could find, was Hand of God

[OchrisO]

There's an amazing book called Ishmael by Daniel Quinn that deals with how and why the human race has gotten to where it is and why we are on a oath to extinction. I highly suggest it as a read for everyone.

[Storyslinger]

There's an amazing book called Ishmael by Daniel Quinn that deals with how and why the human race has gotten to where it is and why we are on a oath to extinction. I highly suggest it as a read for everyone.

General over view, please. Is it really that good?

[OchrisO]

There's an amazing book called Ishmael by Daniel Quinn that deals with how and why the human race has gotten to where it is and why we are on a oath to extinction. I highly suggest it as a read for everyone.

General over view, please. Is it really that good?

From wikipedia:

Ishmael is a novel by Daniel Quinn. It presents an alternative view of human history and proposes a different method for human lifestyle change. Ishmael was awarded the $500,000 Turner Tomorrow Fellowship Award. The book is the first of a trilogy including The Story of B and My Ishmael.





Basically it is about how the shift from hunter gatherer society to an agricultural society by the human race has sort of doomed us because we are now fundamentally breaking the innate rules of nature. It is presented in the most interesting and engaging manner that I have ever seen. The book will certainly make you think, at the very least, and might even be life changing.

[Storyslinger]

Sounds like a good read, thanks. :thumbsup:

[Matt]

I agree with what Brian said pretty much.

Except I think when it happens it will be because of the Earths natural life span. Its spent most of its life uninhabitable, I believe it will again.

<--does not subscribe to the "man is causing global warming" crowd. :D

[TerribleT]

I don't necessarily think that we'll become extinct, but I do believe that we will have an event that VASTLY reduces the number of humans on the planet, wipes out all of our technology, and sends us back to the stone age. I think that a world wide plague is the most likely cause.

I don't subscribe to the "THEORY" of man made global warming either Matt. Well, lemme rephrase, I don't necessarily think it's not so, but I'm a loooong way from convinved that it is so.

[Storyslinger]

<--does not subscribe to the "man is causing global warming" crowd. :D

Also on that boat

[She-Oy]

There's an amazing book called Ishmael by Daniel Quinn that deals with how and why the human race has gotten to where it is and why we are on a oath to extinction. I highly suggest it as a read for everyone.

General over view, please. Is it really that good?

From wikipedia:

Ishmael is a novel by Daniel Quinn. It presents an alternative view of human history and proposes a different method for human lifestyle change. Ishmael was awarded the $500,000 Turner Tomorrow Fellowship Award. The book is the first of a trilogy including The Story of B and My Ishmael.





Basically it is about how the shift from hunter gatherer society to an agricultural society by the human race has sort of doomed us because we are now fundamentally breaking the innate rules of nature. It is presented in the most interesting and engaging manner that I have ever seen. The book will certainly make you think, at the very least, and might even be life changing.


I keep forgetting about this book. I know you and at least one other person have told me to read it. Maybe I should make a note on my hand or something..LOL

I didn't vote because my vote would include a combination of several things...and sort of like what ManofWestnesses said, it's gonna be a slow process to completely wipe out the human race, if it can even be done at all. We are pretty adaptable creatures when we need to be...dinosaurs were dumb...they didn't build fortresses underground or send probes to Mars (see the Pheonix Rising Thread)...so I'm not sure it's fair to classify our possible extinction like theirs.

Basically I think there will just a massive population decrease (500 million anyone? anyone? Bueller?)

And from that population decrease, those who remain will probably be the predecessors for a more enlightened human. Perhaps that's when the chromosomes will make their jump. Who knows...

[Kevin]

500 mil is a pretty low estimate. I'd say more like 5 billion.

But yes, extinction is not in our forseable future at the hands of pollution/global warming. Some cosmic calamity might cause a worldwide extinction of the human race, but I'm not too worried since there is very little we can do about it. Also, I wont be alive. :)

I lean more towards a super virus/plague right now, or a nuclear holocaust. Man does not have it in him to not blow each other up every once in a while.

[Matt]

What I wonder is if it has ever happened before?

Meaning we rose from some other mass extinction of our race. Scientists are find evidence of new mass extinctions every day

[She-Oy]

What I wonder is if it has ever happened before?

Meaning we rose from some other mass extinction of our race. Scientists are find evidence of new mass extinctions every day

There are many bizarre findings that point to this very thing, Matt. I'm on the fence whether or not I believe them, but I haven't completely shut it out all together.

Atlantis, the Dogon tribe, Egyptians...lots of legends that could be steeped in some truths..it's enough to make your mind spin if you let it!

[Aesculapius]

Atlantis, the Dogon tribe, Egyptians...lots of legends that could be steeped in some truths..it's enough to make your mind spin if you let it!

We are READYMADE


YouTube - NASA UFOs: STS-75 The Tether Incident

[LadyHitchhiker]

Yeah I don't like apocalyptic stuff very much, but I voted plague because it's the most easy to happen with how inter-connected our world is.
Either plague or stupidity or both will kill us :P

[ManOfWesternesse]

500 mil is a pretty low estimate. I'd say more like 5 billion....
..but - that's a bit high? (Current pop is c. 8 billion? - or am I wrong?)

On the whole 'Global Warming' thing - 2 points:-

[1] When I talked above about us slowly poisioning the Earth - I believe that to be a much wider thing than just the narrow-focus of 'Global Warming' - though as I said before - that is part of it -or maybe I should say, one symptom of it.

[2] I disagree with some of you here. Mankind is contributing to the change in our environment that is being called 'Global Warming'. I have no doubt of that. The amount of CO2 and other harmful byproducts of our industry/transport/power generation/ etc... that we are producing is having a detrimental effect on the planet. Poor old mother Earth can only take so much of it.


On that notion of "Has all this happened before?" :- There may have been more 'localised' mass-extinctions of humanity before - Atlantis being one such possibility. But was there ever a world-wide one like the supposed Dinosaur-killer?

[Jean]

[2] I disagree with some of you here. Mankind is contributing to the change in our environment that is being called 'Global Warming'. I have no doubt of that. The amount of CO2 and other harmful byproducts of our industry/transport/power generation/ etc... that we are producing is having a detrimental effect on the planet. Poor old mother Earth can only take so much of it.
I would really appreciate it if someone could find a valid, believable source with figures, namely, for example, what percentage of total CO2 produced by our planet is caused by human activity. I have my suspicious that it is very much politics.

[jayson]

..but - that's a bit high? (Current pop is c. 8 billion? - or am I wrong?)

6.6 B and counting

[ManOfWesternesse]

..I would really appreciate it if someone could find a valid, believable source with figures, namely, for example, what percentage of total CO2 produced by our planet is caused by human activity. I have my suspicious that it is very much politics.

Wish I could research it Jean - dunno if there's even any such definitive proof to be had - what with scientists on both sides of the argument who cannot agree. I'm only stating what I believe.



..but - that's a bit high? (Current pop is c. 8 billion? - or am I wrong?)

6.6 B and counting


Thanks R_of_G - so I was over-estimating. Then any 'major' humanity-kill-off would have to reduce us way below 5bn.

[alinda]

alll of the above seems to be forthcomming.
Good thing I dont believe this realm is "real"
or worth worrying too much about. I believe
our spiritual lives are in the real danger....

[She-Oy]

http://www.radioliberty.com/gg3.gif

I didn't come up with 500 million on my own, someone (and no one knows who) said it here on these stones.

THE MESSAGE OF THE GEORGIA GUIDESTONES

1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
2. Guide reproduction wisely - improving fitness and diversity.
3. Unite humanity with a living new language.
4. Rule passion - faith - tradition - and all things with tempered reason.
5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
8. Balance personal rights with social duties.
9. Prize truth - beauty - love - seeking harmony with the infinite.
10.Be not a cancer on the earth - Leave room for nature - Leave room for nature.

[alinda]

:clap: YEA!

[ManOfWesternesse]

THE MESSAGE OF THE GEORGIA GUIDESTONES

1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
2. Guide reproduction wisely - improving fitness and diversity.
3. Unite humanity with a living new language.
4. Rule passion - faith - tradition - and all things with tempered reason.
5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
8. Balance personal rights with social duties.
9. Prize truth - beauty - love - seeking harmony with the infinite.
10.Be not a cancer on the earth - Leave room for nature - Leave room for nature.

Yeah - not bad at all. Lot to be said for those as a good set of guidelines.

(We best not open a debate on Article 2 though? :lol: )

[TerribleT]

[2] I disagree with some of you here. Mankind is contributing to the change in our environment that is being called 'Global Warming'. I have no doubt of that. The amount of CO2 and other harmful byproducts of our industry/transport/power generation/ etc... that we are producing is having a detrimental effect on the planet. Poor old mother Earth can only take so much of it.
I would really appreciate it if someone could find a valid, believable source with figures, namely, for example, what percentage of total CO2 produced by our planet is caused by human activity. I have my suspicious that it is very much politics.

Ask and ye shall receive. If you want more, let me know and I'll find it. I would also recommend a book called State of Fear, by Michael Chrichton. It's a fictional book, but he's taken great pains to research the data. If you want more let me know, I have a bunch of other resources.

http://www.junkscience.com/Greenhouse/

[Jean]

thank you TerribleT! It will take me some time to read it thoroughly, but at first glances it seems like what I've already heard from some (independent, that is, not politically engaged in any way) Russian physicists is being confirmed by that guy, too.

[TerribleT]

Well a couple of things really cause me to doubt the theory of anthropogenic (human caused) global warming. One is that the earth has been this warm, and much warmer, without ANY industry. For example, Colorado once had a tropical climate. (They've found fossils of plants that can only grow in a tropical environments here in Colorado.) The second is, who said that our current temperature is the correct one. Working from that basis, I have a lot of doubts. Then when you begin to actually take a look at the facts and figures, it becomes evem more doubtful. CO2 is a very small part of our atmosphere. The amount of CO2 that humans contribute is infinitesimal compared to other natural sources. I will see if I can find a link to a film that was on BBC a while back where they debunked many of the global warming theories. I'm seriously concerned that the media in the US has made ZERO attempt to tell both sides of the story in a fair and rational manner. With all of that said, I think we each have an obligation to try to keep the amount we pollute to a minimum. The best way to do that is always up for debate.

[Armand St Pierre]

:clap: YEA!

...right up until the part where the other 8 and a half billion people have to permanently check out to make the goal a reality.:onfire:

[jayson]

I think we each have an obligation to try to keep the amount we pollute to a minimum. The best way to do that is always up for debate.

Very well said T. Regardless of what we each believe needs or doesn't need to be done collectively, we can all try to act responsibly individually however we see that being done.

[jayson]

:clap: YEA!

...right up until the part where the other 8 and a half billion people have to permanently check out to make the goal a reality.:onfire:

We had to kill the humans to save the humans.:grouphug:

[alinda]

*point me in the direction of check out please* I'm ready for my spirit to be free of this !! In fact every oob experience I've ever had was dedicated to just that. Actually I think it sugests maintaining.....your right about that we blew that along time ago.









:clap: YEA!

...right up until the part where the other 8 and a half billion people have to permanently check out to make the goal a reality.:onfire:

[Matt]

Well a couple of things really cause me to doubt the theory of anthropogenic (human caused) global warming. One is that the earth has been this warm, and much warmer, without ANY industry. For example, Colorado once had a tropical climate. (They've found fossils of plants that can only grow in a tropical environments here in Colorado.) The second is, who said that our current temperature is the correct one. Working from that basis, I have a lot of doubts. Then when you begin to actually take a look at the facts and figures, it becomes evem more doubtful. CO2 is a very small part of our atmosphere. The amount of CO2 that humans contribute is infinitesimal compared to other natural sources. I will see if I can find a link to a film that was on BBC a while back where they debunked many of the global warming theories. I'm seriously concerned that the media in the US has made ZERO attempt to tell both sides of the story in a fair and rational manner. With all of that said, I think we each have an obligation to try to keep the amount we pollute to a minimum. The best way to do that is always up for debate.

Wonderful! That was a great post. Thanks T

[She-Oy]

:clap: YEA!

...right up until the part where the other 8 and a half billion people have to permanently check out to make the goal a reality.:onfire:

Well, you know me...I neither said I was for or against it. I was just putting the info out there.

And yes, upon first reading the list seems great, passionate, on the the correct path...but once you start contimplating what it REALLY says, you may not agree with it.

But to me the bigger questions are who took the time to make sure that monument was created? Why put it where it is now, in little ol' Elberton, Georgia? Why make sure that the message is written in several different languages (especially when it pushes for a one world language)? How DO they plan on getting to and maintaining a population of 500 million?

[Aesculapius]

How DO they plan on getting to and maintaining a population of 500 million?

It's called REASON, LOVE and FAITH.



We do not now discuss the differences between Reason and Faith, and undertake to define the domain of each. But it is necessary to say, that even in the ordinary affairs of life we are governed far more by what we believe than what we know; by FAITH and ANALOGY, than by REASON.

The "Age of Reason" of the French Revolution taught, we know, what a folly it is to enthrone Reason by itself as supreme. Reason is at fault when it deals with the Infinite. There we must revere and believe. Notwithstanding the calamities of the virtuous, the miseries of the deserving, the prosperity of tyrants and the murder of martyrs, we must believe there is a WISE, just, merciful, and loving God, an Intelligence and a Providence, supreme over all, and caring for the minutest things and events. A Faith is a necessity to man.

Woe to him who believes Nothing!
-Albert Pike


...Stat rosa pristina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus

...la cascade des prenoms mer de noms

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n319/Obelison/ggs3010sm.jpg

[ManOfWesternesse]

....How DO they plan on getting to and maintaining a population of 500 million?

Try a book (fictional) by Whitley Streiber called "Nature's End".
It is based in a future over-populated Earth & has this new Worldwide political movement called the "Depopulationist International" - their ideas on the subject were .... quite radical!:scared:

[OchrisO]

Some say a comet will fall from the sky.
Followed by meteor showers and tidal waves.
Followed by faultlines that cannot sit still.
Followed by millions of dumbfounded dipshits.

Some say the end is near.
Some say we'll see armageddon soon.
I certainly hope we will cause
I sure could use a vacation from this

Stupid shit, stupid shit, stupid shit...

One great big festering neon distraction,
I've a suggestion to keep you all occupied.

Learn to swim.
Learn to swim.
Learn to swim.

[TerribleT]

Due to some conversation in another thread, I started thinking about this topic again and wondered if we're not much closer than we think. The political situation in Pakistan is VERY unstable right now, and Pakistan is a country which has nukes. There is a very real possibility that those nukes could fall into the hands of people who seek to wreak havoc in that region and in the west. I really wonder what would happen if the middle east fell into anarchy. How much would the flow of oil to the world be affected. What would the effect of dramatically increased oil prices be? How much would that contribute to further destabilization of the world, and of the world economy. If the world economy crashes, what would happen next? I can't imagine that another world war is far behind.

Earlier in the thread, the topic of global warming came up. I know very few people have even bothered to look at the other side of the debate, or maybe you don't even know there IS another side, but if you're interested....

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,318686,00.html

[Aesculapius]

Whatever happened to 'Global Cooing' from the 1970's?




Before today's scientists started predicting catastrophe due to global warming, there were scientists who were predicting catastrophe due to global cooling. And that was just thirty years ago.

George Will has a column today titled "Cooler Heads Needed on Warming" in which he discusses scientists' and journalists' predilection for environmental doomsaying. Take a look at the predictions of distaster due to global cooling from scientists and "their journalistic conduits" back in the seventies:

Science magazine (Dec. 10, 1976) warned of "extensive Northern Hemisphere glaciation." Science Digest (February 1973) reported that "the world's climatologists are agreed" that we must "prepare for the next ice age." The Christian Science Monitor ("Warning: Earth's Climate is Changing Faster Than Even Experts Expect," Aug. 27, 1974) reported that glaciers "have begun to advance," "growing seasons in England and Scandinavia are getting shorter" and "the North Atlantic is cooling down about as fast as an ocean can cool." Newsweek agreed ("The Cooling World," April 28, 1975) that meteorologists "are almost unanimous" that catastrophic famines might result from the global cooling that the New York Times (Sept. 14, 1975) said "may mark the return to another ice age." The Times (May 21, 1975) also said "a major cooling of the climate is widely considered inevitable" now that it is "well established" that the Northern Hemisphere's climate "has been getting cooler since about 1950."

Will ends his column with this:

About the mystery that vexes ABC -- Why have Americans been slow to get in lock step concerning global warming? -- perhaps the "problem" is not big oil or big coal, both of which have discovered there is big money to be made from tax breaks and other subsidies justified in the name of combating carbon.


Perhaps the problem is big crusading journalism.

So, a few decades from now we can expect predictions of doom about more global cooling.


They actually talked about placing soot on some of the glaciers to combat 'Global Cooling'. Good thing they didn't do that...:unsure:

[William50]

In a world where there is so much sickness and disease, it would be no suprise to me if some giant virus kills us all.:angry:

[dbarnetth]

I think it'll be something else. It'll be something we can't conceive of right now. Politics aside, I honestly think humans can avoid whatever catastrophe we see coming right now.

[Jean]

I think it'll be something else. It'll be something we can't conceive of right now. Politics aside, I honestly think humans can avoid whatever catastrophe we see coming right now.

I even dare hope we'll be able to do so in the future as well.


In a world where there is so much sickness and disease, it would be no suprise to me if some giant virus kills us all.:angry:
Anyway I'd rather it was a real virus, as opposed to one existing only as a panick campaign.

[DocPain]

I say plague. I know for a fact that FEMA and the CDC are very worried about the H5N1 (avian flu) virus. I also know that FEMA is militarizing daily for something. And again, I know the world wide disreps (disease reports) from the CDC are absolute horse crap regarding the spread of the virus.:ninja:

[Aesculapius]

I think it'll be something else. It'll be something we can't conceive of right now. Politics aside, I honestly think humans can avoid whatever catastrophe we see coming right now.

I can agree with this, however, I believe that when it's finally in full view, the subconscious will be able to conceive It, as the signs have always been here with us.

EDIT:
...it is that battles lost by a nation are often progress attained. Less glory is more liberty. When the drum is silent, Reason sometimes speaks.

[Armand St Pierre]

Genetic memory of antiquity?

[Aesculapius]

An "awakening", indeed.

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n319/Obelison/two/millenn20.jpg

[LadyHitchhiker]

Zombies will kill us all...

[Jon]

If one believes in the Bible, God promised to not devastate the world with water again (rainbow) This leaves fire. The fire could be nuclear or a supervolcano...we have about 8 on Earth. Yellowstone is just waiting.

[Ruthful]

On December 21, 2012, the great feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl will return and eat us all. If you start sacrificing babies now, you may be allowed to transcend the mortal flesh instead. You have roughly 4 years. I'd get started immediately.

It's funny, I was watching Apocalypto recently-OT, fans of snuff films must really enjoy movies directed by Mel Gibson-and they allude to the Mayan obsession with numerology. The end of the world supposedly is right around the corner. Does that mean the planet is actually going to die, which isn't slated to happen for a couple billion years, or is this one of those crappy, Aztec-like prophecies, which just means the preeminent civilization in this part of the world will be destroyed?

[/k/ommando]

Zombies will kill us all...

http://www.cracked.com/article_15643_5-scientific-reasons-zombie-apocalypse-could-actually-happen.html
Yep. We're doomed.

[Nerak]

Has anyone noticed how much the planet is trying to do population control lately?

Tsunamis, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes??

I think the planet is taking care of it itself.....

[Jon]

Using arctic ice cores (not an exact science) we can look back at the climate some 675,000 years. If you accept the earth to be 4.5 billion years, that 675,000 represents 0.00167th of a percent of the earth's age. If I told you I was 0.00167th of a percent sure that blue cars cause accidents, would you get rid of your blue car? No. You'd look at me like a fool and laugh. If I told you all of the accidents that blue cars have would be your fault would you take me seriously? If I told you to give me money and alter your lifestyle and the global economy would you? Would you give Al Gore money? Have you?

Junk science.

[Wuducynn]

There should be a "We won't" option to vote for, because I don't feel we will. Although "alien invasion" is kind of a fun concept...Invasion of the Body Snatchers, baby!

[Wuducynn]

Bumping this over MonteGss's post in the Palaver Mansion thread...

[Brice]

We are already extinct, just too stupid to lie down. :lol:

[Wuducynn]

Night of the Living Dead?? Niiiiiiiiiiice....I guess "Zombie Holocaust" should be under Something Else.

[Jon]

I will survive and have all the world's livestock for my personal pleasure.

[Wuducynn]

And I will live...and eat them all before Jon can lay his filthy sheep-fucking hands on them.

[Wuducynn]

Jon, what if the zombie holocaust was sheep and not humans? Sheep zombies and instead of "Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" they say "Braaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiins"?
What then? Hunh!? WHAT THEN!!??!?!

[alinda]

Geez, sounds like the post apocalyptic world is in good hands! :lol:

[Jon]

Jon, what if the zombie holocaust was sheep and not humans? Sheep zombies and instead of "Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" they say "Braaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiins"?
What then? Hunh!? WHAT THEN!!??!?!

I'd never thought of that...what if they use my DNA to evolve into smarter, faster beings? What if they develop a love of Iron Maiden and go around enacting scenarios depicted in Maiden's songs??

[cozener]

We won't become extinct. The Lord Leto will set us upon the Golden Path, thus insuring humanity's survival...so sayeth the Book of Frank.

[razz]

we will be the remaining 200 humans in the universe, and we will try to escape to a place called Utopia. we will arrive there only to find the Black and cold. we will cannibalize our bodies, then travel back in time in mechanical bodies, killing our past selves using a paradox machine. we will then be killed by electro-magnetic pulses.

[Jon]

Clearly the thread has degraded. I apologize for my role in that.

[razz]

in truth (which means it's probably a lie):
i think the downfall of man will be due to LACK of war. war is like a catalyst.

in case you forgot high school biology and chemie, a catalyst is a substance that speeds up a reaction without using itself up.

so war is more like a concept that a substance, but it's relatively the same. war speeds progress. however, like so many chemical reactions, it may slow immensly or even halt without the catalyst. something that may take days may take years. what may take years may take centuries, and so on. so without war, progress may be halted (more so with the ever growing conformity of the masses), and when an outside force comes, our systems will be unable to deal with such threats, and we will go into a steep decline and social and chaotic collapse.

[razz]

but i must say:

1. this will only affect humans most likely. any damage done to any other species will be by humans, or swift and minimal
2. unless it's a major blow this will probably not cause human extinction. an outside force will most likely do that.
3. if we are not wiped out, war and violence will probably ensue, and we will be back to where we are now.

[Darkness Howls]

in truth (which means it's probably a lie):
i think the downfall of man will be due to LACK of war. war is like a catalyst.

in case you forgot high school biology and chemie, a catalyst is a substance that speeds up a reaction without using itself up.

so war is more like a concept that a substance, but it's relatively the same. war speeds progress. however, like so many chemical reactions, it may slow immensly or even halt without the catalyst. something that may take days may take years. what may take years may take centuries, and so on. so without war, progress may be halted (more so with the ever growing conformity of the masses), and when an outside force comes, our systems will be unable to deal with such threats, and we will go into a steep decline and social and chaotic collapse.I don't know if I'd say that. We aren't getting in more wars than usual, and yet the development/discovery of new ideas is increasing exponentially. Where it once took 100 years for the next great invention to come along, we have revolutionary inventions popping up every 5-10 years now. Our ingeniuity doesn't seemed to be linked to how many wars we're in--we're just a naturally curious race of creatures. ;-)

Mmm, anyways, how do I think we'll go extinct? Well, assuming we don't kill ourselves off, and colonize other worlds before a huge asteroid hits our planet, I think the only thing that will end us is something truely cataclysmic--something that destroys our universe or galaxy.

*Nibbles on kitten*

[razz]

Mmm, anyways, how do I think we'll go extinct? Well, assuming we don't kill ourselves off, and colonize other worlds before a huge asteroid hits our planet, I think the only thing that will end us is something truely cataclysmic--something that destroys our universe or galaxy.
detonation of a forrunner ringworld?

[cozener]

If we actually manage to get off of the planet and find other inhabitable worlds and/or terraform worlds there's no telling how long we'll last. I do have a friend that has absolutely no faith in our ability to do this. As far as he is concerned, space exploration is a waste of money and effort. I disagree. I think we can, eventually, develop the technology to colonize other worlds. Once we can do that, certainly if we can spread to other galaxies, who know how long we might last?

Of course, another race could decide they want to wipe us out for whatever reason. But I like to believe that a race that develops the technology to travel to other worlds and galaxies would be too enlightened to do something like that. This is what I like to think...

[razz]

Once we can do that, certainly if we can spread to other galaxies, who know how long we might last? wow. if we didn't sound like a disease before that comment, we sure the hell do now!

[cozener]

I thought about that while I was writing it. :lol: Does this make us misanthropes?

[razz]

when i remember the definition of that word, i'll tell you
:lol:

[razz]

yes. yes it does make us misanthropes.
just like davy crockett and Agent Smith.