Earth has entered its sixth great mass extinction event, it's our fault, and we might not survive, s - Polidicks

[QUOTE=SpartanXC9;48017988]Yellow Stone will never go off it's much too large[/QUOTE] "don't worry guys, this bomb is too large to explode!"

[QUOTE=Merijnwitje;48086541]I'm seriously starting to wonder if the current weather here is caused by climate change. [T]http://i.imgur.com/DMet7Hw.png[/T] In my 16 years I've never seen weather like this, which is kinda unsettling.[/QUOTE] 16 years is hardly enough time to think that just saying

[QUOTE=Arc Nova;48272769]16 years is hardly enough time to think that just saying[/QUOTE] Adding to that that we can't really remember much before 5 years old

[QUOTE=MedicWine;48269807]has anybody done a direct comparison with the rate technology doubles vs extinction rates?[/QUOTE] It's a theoretical bell curve. Neolithic man wasn't too good at extinction, and hyper-advanced civilizations should have the tech to prevent extinction out right. I'd wager that the 1900's was around the peak of the bell curve, we should be on the up and up hopefully.

[QUOTE=cxcxxxxx;48009138]The published journal itself is alot more optimistic than the BBC report. Furthermore, bear in mind that since 1900, we have increased our efforts in conservation and enviromental understanding immensely, even the fact that we are now identifying these impending catastrophes is a testament to us coming to terms with the reality we face with our enviroment. There is a long way to go, obviously, (bearing in mind that "very soon" can span 100s of years for some impacts of enviromental degradation). We cant forget that there have been victories, such as the renewal of the ozone hole over the Antarctic. The reality is very far from a "lost cause hummanities doomed within a generation" scenario, but at the same time complacency and generational procrastination cause very little progress to be made.[/QUOTE] We're boned. Completely fucked. Because this shit isn't news - scientists have been saying it for years, appealing to - Primarily - the USA, the prime political, military, and economic superpower in the world, to implement change the rest of the world will follow. How does the USA react? Half the population and most government officials deny that Climate change exists, pay off a bunch of phony 'scientists' to say the same, and carry on like there's nothing wrong. Why? Because big oil, because megacorporations, and profit margins for the all-important stock market. The USA is a good example of how humanity is unique - We could see a meteor that would destroy earth coming with hundreds of years of advance warning, and then deny that it exists because it would be too expensive or inconvenient to research technologies that could divert it. It never ceases to amaze me how when there are vested interests and just plain retardation involved, people will DENY physical, observable reality and pretend that some fantasy is true instead. In a nation spearheading innovation by the best and brightest in the world, a complete rejection of physical reality is considered a LEGITIMATE viewpoint to the point elected officials in federal government say they hold it, and held by many to be worthy of debate. I don't know, it makes me sick. Because you'll see ignorance and idiocy all over the world, but in a nation that claims to be the best at everything, in a nation where everyone has access to free schooling, why are people willfully so fucking dumb? So yeah. Humanity's fucked. Royally, completely, fucked, and in a couple of hundred years, there won't be enough of us to repopulate the planet; the gene pool will reach the point of critical sparsity where extinction is guaranteed to follow. That's the end of the story of sapient life on Earth, at least for another few million years - By which point not even the slightest trace of our civilization will remain for whomever comes after to find. And if you want somebody to blame, look in a mirror.

[QUOTE=archangel125;48273164]So yeah. Humanity's fucked. Royally, completely, fucked, and in a couple of hundred years, there won't be enough of us to repopulate the planet; the gene pool will reach the point of critical sparsity where extinction is guaranteed to follow.[/QUOTE] There are seven billion humans in the world right now. [B]Seven billion[/B], and rising. That's a seven followed by nine zeroes. Assuming that tomorrow morning 99% of humanity dropped dead, there would still be 70 million humans left in the world. [B]99% of humanity died tomorrow, and there would still be plenty of people to repopulate the world without the gene pool being affected whatsoever[/B] The way I see it, there are more than enough humans right now to survive whatever global catasthrope, natural or man-made, that hits the planet. Plenty of people are going to die, no question about it, but we [B]will[/B] survive.

[QUOTE=T553412;48273202]There are seven billion humans in the world right now. [B]Seven billion[/B], and rising. That's a seven followed by nine zeroes. Assuming that tomorrow morning 99% of humanity dropped dead, there would still be 70 million humans left in the world. [B]99% of humanity died tomorrow, and there would still be plenty of people to repopulate the world without the gene pool being affected whatsoever[/B] The way I see it, there are more than enough humans right now to survive whatever global catasthrope, natural or man-made, that hits the planet. Plenty of people are going to die, no question about it, but we [B]will[/B] survive.[/QUOTE] There's no coming back even if humanity does survive. There'll be hardly any food left, hardly any way to farm crops, very few animals, and thus not a chance in hell of rebuilding our numbers. Our species will be catapulted back to the stone ages. We can't afford to lose even half our population as a species, because of how far it'd set us back. Better all of humanity die sooner than 1 % remain to face a slow death later.

[QUOTE=T553412;48273202]There are seven billion humans in the world right now. [B]Seven billion[/B], and rising. That's a seven followed by nine zeroes. Assuming that tomorrow morning 99% of humanity dropped dead, there would still be 70 million humans left in the world. [B]99% of humanity died tomorrow, and there would still be plenty of people to repopulate the world without the gene pool being affected whatsoever[/B] The way I see it, there are more than enough humans right now to survive whatever global catasthrope, natural or man-made, that hits the planet. Plenty of people are going to die, no question about it, but we [B]will[/B] survive.[/QUOTE] It won't be comfortable though. At the moment we have more of a problem of people surviving {in a sense}. In the next thirty odd years we are projected to have a few more billions added to the population, and its sure to stress our infrastructure to hell and back.

[QUOTE=T553412;48273202] The way I see it, there are more than enough humans right now to survive whatever global catasthrope, natural or man-made, that hits the planet. Plenty of people are going to die, no question about it, but we [B]will[/B] survive.[/QUOTE] i wish ratings still existed here cause this is pants-on-head, retardedly optimistic. its sickens me that people like you think that there's any hope left for mankind and anything matters anymore. keep on playing the video games and watching movies kids. pretend to act like any progress means shit anymore. ignore your guilt in the destruction of existence itself all the social and technological progress of humanity mean nothing as [B][U]this world is already dead[/U][/B].

[QUOTE=archangel125;48273224]There's no coming back even if humanity does survive. There'll be hardly any food left, hardly any way to farm crops, very few animals, and thus not a chance in hell of rebuilding our numbers. Our species will be catapulted back to the stone ages. We can't afford to lose even half our population as a species, because of how far it'd set us back. Better all of humanity die sooner than 1 % remain to face a slow death later.[/QUOTE] We quite seriously can lose half of our population and be fine. You and many others may truly not want to think that But if it were you, I, others, and 3.5 billion others gone - it would not matter too much. The thing is - it would somewhat matter who died. If every first-worlder died - yeah, it would be hell. That is a fact, learn to cope. First worlders supply third worlders with vaccines, aid, everything. If 3.5billion third worlders died - the first world would be relatively fine. It would give them more of an incentive to mechanize resource gathering across those resource rich lands. Everybody call me a stupid idiot, go!

[QUOTE=archangel125;48273224]There's no coming back even if humanity does survive. There'll be hardly any food left, hardly any way to farm crops, very few animals, and thus not a chance in hell of rebuilding our numbers. Our species will be catapulted back to the stone ages. We can't afford to lose even half our population as a species, because of how far it'd set us back. Better all of humanity die sooner than 1 % remain to face a slow death later.[/QUOTE] I disagree. Firstly, it really depends who those 90 million are, doesn't it? Sure if they are all illiterate then I can see us having a problem, but assuming that they are even relatively knowlegable they should be able to not only carry what they know, but know that there is a lot that they don't know waiting to be found beneath the rubble of some old library. Sure it would be a setback, but in who knows how many years I see no reason why we couldn't come back. Secondly, I can't help but agree with T553412. Humans are like cockroaches. Even if we don't get a post-apocalyptic boost by a good bunch of survivors, we will survive, and in many cases we will even thrive. Many people posting on Facepunch have relatively good lives - access to internet, computer, information, etc. That isn't true of a LOT of people in the world, and yet they survive on whatever they have. Humans are very crafty creatures. The only way we become extinct is by having absolutely 0% chance. Setting aside notions of heat-death, sun implosions and space travel, we currently have still a pretty good chance. [QUOTE=9millmeeter;48273369]i wish ratings still existed here cause this is pants-on-head, retardedly optimistic. its sickens me that people like you think that there's any hope left for mankind and anything matters anymore. keep on playing the video games and watching movies kids. pretend to act like any progress means shit anymore. ignore your guilt in the destruction of existence itself all the social and technological progress of humanity mean nothing as [B][U]this world is already dead[/U][/B].[/QUOTE] Seems like an awfully pessimistic thing to say. Where is your sense of wonder, or your view of the grand picture? This world isn't dead, its just going through one of the many changes it has undergone. Forests burn down and come back twice as healthy. It is true that should that forest be set aflame intentionally then some blame lies upon the person who did it. Should it burn due to someone simply attempting to warm themselves, no matter the part of the forest, it becomes a tragedy rather than a crime. Especially if that man then throws his precious water on the flames. In simpler words: The world is dead, long live the world. Also, who hasn't had thoughts of being in a post apocalyptic setting? With all the games set in that sort of environment, it doesn't seem like something that far fetched - survivors, rebuilding projects, lost history and all.

There is no way of unfucking this we need to get decent cryogenics and start rapid firing people into space in the slim chance some might make it to a decent planet

[QUOTE=s5300;48273417]We quite seriously can lose half of our population and be fine. You and many others may truly not want to think that But if it were you, I, others, and 3.5 billion others gone - it would not matter too much. The thing is - it would somewhat matter who died. If every first-worlder died - yeah, it would be hell. That is a fact, learn to cope. First worlders supply third worlders with vaccines, aid, everything. If 3.5billion third worlders died - the first world would be relatively fine. It would give them more of an incentive to mechanize resource gathering across those resource rich lands. Everybody call me a stupid idiot, go![/QUOTE] Logistically speaking, not quite true. People tend to ignore logistics, but I can tell you with half the population gone, getting your stuff from the stuff place you get it from now without remotely thinking about it how it's made or where it comes from would suddenly be a big fucking deal, and you definitely be going without a lot that stuff you took for granted until it no longer existed in your local sphere.

[QUOTE=s5300;48273417]We quite seriously can lose half of our population and be fine. You and many others may truly not want to think that But if it were you, I, others, and 3.5 billion others gone - it would not matter too much. The thing is - it would somewhat matter who died. If every first-worlder died - yeah, it would be hell. That is a fact, learn to cope. First worlders supply third worlders with vaccines, aid, everything. If 3.5billion third worlders died - the first world would be relatively fine. It would give them more of an incentive to mechanize resource gathering across those resource rich lands. Everybody call me a stupid idiot, go![/QUOTE] The point I'm trying to make is that, in all likelihood, more than 90% of people everywhere will end up dead initially. The rest will starve, and slaughter each other, and eventually meet their own ends in the coming years, from diseases that we'd laugh at today. Why? Because the planet will no longer be able to support life on the scale that we've come to enjoy in this age.

[QUOTE=Zenreon117;48273437]I disagree. Firstly, it really depends who those 90 million are, doesn't it? Sure if they are all illiterate then I can see us having a problem, but assuming that they are even relatively knowlegable they should be able to not only carry what they know, but know that there is a lot that they don't know waiting to be found beneath the rubble of some old library. Sure it would be a setback, but in who knows how many years I see no reason why we couldn't come back. Secondly, I can't help but agree with T553412. Humans are like cockroaches. Even if we don't get a post-apocalyptic boost by a good bunch of survivors, we will survive, and in many cases we will even thrive. Many people posting on Facepunch have relatively good lives - access to internet, computer, information, etc. That isn't true of a LOT of people in the world, and yet they survive on whatever they have. Humans are very crafty creatures. The only way we become extinct is by having absolutely 0% chance. Setting aside notions of heat-death, sun implosions and space travel, we currently have still a pretty good chance. Seems like an awfully pessimistic thing to say. Where is your sense of wonder, or your view of the grand picture? This world isn't dead, its just going through one of the many changes it has undergone. Forests burn down and come back twice as healthy. It is true that should that forest be set aflame intentionally then some blame lies upon the person who did it. Should it burn due to someone simply attempting to warm themselves, no matter the part of the forest, it becomes a tragedy rather than a crime. Especially if that man then throws his precious water on the flames. In simpler words: The world is dead, long live the world. Also, who hasn't had thoughts of being in a post apocalyptic setting? With all the games set in that sort of environment, it doesn't seem like something that far fetched - survivors, rebuilding projects, lost history and all.[/QUOTE] Reality doesn't give a shit about your sense of wonder, and this is the kind of thinking that perpetuates elysian myths about magically finding cures for ills out of literally nothing. Humanity as a species is in serious shit, and though it'll take about a century for that to become painfully obvious, if you bother looking now, there's plenty of red flags.

[QUOTE=27X;48273449]Reality doesn't give a shit about your sense of wonder, and this is the kind of thinking that perpetuates elysian myths about magically finding cures for ills out of literally nothing. Humanity as a species is in serious shit, and though it'll take about a century for that to become painfully obvious, if you bother looking now, there's plenty of red flags.[/QUOTE] Reality will create a new environment under which a small selection of people will survive. And assuming that all records ever are not incinerated or otherwise lost there is some catchup to be done. Sure we probably won't have mcdonalds anymore, it will probably be a totally different social structure as well. We might even start eating cave mold as our primary source of nutrition, it doesn't matter. The point is we aren't out of the game, we are just changing periods.

[QUOTE=Zenreon117;48273462]Reality will create a new environment under which a small selection of people will survive. And assuming that all records ever are not incinerated or otherwise lost there is some catchup to be done. Sure we probably won't have mcdonalds anymore, it will probably be a totally different social structure as well. We might even start eating cave mold as our primary source of nutrition, it doesn't matter. The point is we aren't out of the game, we are just changing periods.[/QUOTE] We're not just talking about tougher living conditions and magically losing most people on earth, we're talking about global ecological collapse and extinction of the vast majority of species on the planet - Especially humans. Know who'll last the longest? Aborigines living in the Amazon who've seldom if ever had any contact with civilization, peoples who have lived as humans lived tens of thousands of years ago. The rest of us have bred out our ability to survive. Maybe the fittest, smartest and sharpest humans will be able to live for a time and eke out a stone-age existence, but they too are doomed to die out, because long after conditions have become untenable for the human species, the extinctions will continue, and ecosystems will continue to collapse. This is a process that takes *millions* of years, and will not give humanity room to recover.

[QUOTE=archangel125;48273485]We're not just talking about tougher living conditions and magically losing most people on earth, we're talking about global ecological collapse and extinction of the vast majority of species on the planet - Especially humans. Know who'll last the longest? Aborigines living in the Amazon who've seldom if ever had any contact with civilization, peoples who have lived as humans lived tens of thousands of years ago. The rest of us have bred out our ability to survive. Maybe the fittest, smartest and sharpest humans will be able to live for a time and eke out a stone-age existence, but they too are doomed to die out, because long after conditions have become untenable for the human species, the extinctions will continue, and ecosystems will continue to collapse. This is a process that takes *millions* of years, and will not give humanity room to recover.[/QUOTE] I don't really understand what your standard is for recovery. Either we go extinct or we adapt. If you mean simply in terms of population then yeah, maybe. But assuming that we can still build generators and dust off a science book or two there are still tricks up our sleeve. The difficult task is supporting 7 billion. Supporting 90 million is much more feasible. There is nowhere where it says that more human biomass is better. [editline]22nd July 2015[/editline] I mean really, why do most animals die off? Because their bodies are not suited to the environment, there is famine, or disease, or they are eaten. They go to search for their usual food, and when they don't find it they look far and wide for either that food or something that passes for it. Humans are resourceful. When they cannot find a hog they will look for a wild onion. When they can't find an onion they will boil old bones and bark and make soup. When they are cold they make fires, when they are warm they go to water or build funny things out of metal that spin and move the air. Humans are resourceful.

The amount of edge, defeatism and pessimism in this thread is beginning to rival a group of trench coat wearing kids listening to linkin park in the high school stairwell. You people are part of the problem.

I bet we will survive. Humans are more resilient than fucking cockroaches. That doesn't mean it will be an optimal existence. Combined with current trends for our heaps and heaps of other problems, the future of man is destined to be a bleak existence where only the excessively wealthy live in comfort at the expense of the fellow man. I think Hesiod hit the nail on the head several thousand years ago: [QUOTE=Hesiod's Works and Days]For now truly is a race of iron, and men never rest from labour and sorrow by day, and from perishing by night; and the gods shall lay sore trouble upon them. But, notwithstanding, even these shall have some good mingled with their evils. And Zeus will destroy this race of mortal men also when they come to have grey hair on the temples at their birth. The father will not agree with his children, nor the children with their father, nor guest with his host, nor comrade with comrade; nor will brother be dear to brother as aforetime. Men will dishonour their parents as they grow quickly old, and will carp at them, chiding them with bitter words, hard-hearted they, not knowing the fear of the gods. They will not repay their aged parents the cost their nurture, for might shall be their right: and one man will sack another's city. There will be no favour for the man who keeps his oath or for the just or for the good; but rather men will praise the evil-doer and his violent dealing. Strength will be right and reverence will cease to be; and the wicked will hurt the worthy man, speaking false words against him, and will swear an oath upon them. Envy, foul-mouthed, delighting in evil, with scowling face, will go along with wretched men one and all. And then Aidos and Nemesis, with their sweet forms wrapped in white robes, will go from the wide-pathed earth and forsake mankind to join the company of the deathless gods: and bitter sorrows will be left for mortal men, and there will be no help against evil. Hesiod Works and Days[/QUOTE] To think that he basically said "life is shit and it is our fault" and perfectly nailed it, because even in his time man was more harm than good to the world that he lived on. That's why I think we will survive though. We have climbed far and we will fall further. As it was in the past, so shall the future be. Toil, poverty, plague, and war, the things we have striven for all our meager lives to avoid, will come back in force. And it will be our fault.

And we shall serve the god-emperor loyally. Xenos and heretics beware.

[QUOTE=draugur;48273632]And we shall serve the god-emperor loyally. Xenos and heretics beware.[/QUOTE] I was thinking more cyberpunk, since technology is bound to advance. Even in humanities worst moments technology was always moving forward, even if society was not.

I doubt that this will happen any soon [editline]23rd July 2015[/editline] does anyone remember December 21 2012? yeah.

[QUOTE=Havolis;48278389] [editline]23rd July 2015[/editline] does anyone remember December 21 2012? yeah.[/QUOTE] the mayans not finishing a calendar =/= scientific data

[QUOTE=9millmeeter;48273369]i wish ratings still existed here cause this is pants-on-head, retardedly optimistic. its sickens me that people like you think that there's any hope left for mankind and anything matters anymore. keep on playing the video games and watching movies kids. pretend to act like any progress means shit anymore. ignore your guilt in the destruction of existence itself all the social and technological progress of humanity mean nothing as [B][U]this world is already dead[/U][/B].[/QUOTE] this post actually made me spit my drink out, thanks [editline]23rd July 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=draugur;48273562]The amount of edge, defeatism and pessimism in this thread is beginning to rival a group of trench coat wearing kids listening to linkin park in the high school stairwell. You people are part of the problem.[/QUOTE] this, pretty much

[QUOTE=Xenomoose;48009012]Yeah, given humanity's attitude towards things like climate change and the like, we'd be lucky if the guys in charge even consider the possibility of doing something about this instead of just going "eh, let the next generation figure it out" with a shrug and a shit-eating grin.[/QUOTE] If government can make people vote shitty presidents, then they can make people do anything.