Connections 322 - Sunday 28 April
Quizzes & Puzzles2 mins ago
Extinction of the Human Race
76 Answers
This poll is closed.
- No - 192 votes
- 62%
- Yes - 117 votes
- 38%
Stats until: 07:43 Sun 28th Apr 2024 (Refreshed every 5 minutes)
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Answers
As with so many big questions, the answer is "it depends". But as things are, the great majority of the human race is due for disaster of one kind or another, sooner or later. The first and probably worst disaster will be repeated famine, the second will be wars over water and possibly oil. Famine will occur because increasingly hot dry climates will support...
20:37 Mon 02nd Apr 2012
There's a good sub-question here of "what do you define as the human race?"
For example, if there was a divergence from homo sapiens which wiped out homo sapiens, is that the end of the human race?
Or, what about in the event of a nuclear war where there would be, undoubtedly, "some" survivors scattered across the planet. Does this count as the continuation of the human race? Or do we need that "interconnectedness" of a society or call ourselves human?
For example, if there was a divergence from homo sapiens which wiped out homo sapiens, is that the end of the human race?
Or, what about in the event of a nuclear war where there would be, undoubtedly, "some" survivors scattered across the planet. Does this count as the continuation of the human race? Or do we need that "interconnectedness" of a society or call ourselves human?
Given that humanity managed to survive ice ages and numerous other natural calamities I think it would be quite difficult for an entire anihilation.
Diseases are not a good theory with a population the size of humanity many people are immune or not reached by it - I think the Bubonic plague only managed to kill about a third for example.
A large asteroid impact or a nuclear war would similarly have difficulty in killing everyone however I could see such an event resulting in a change of habitat causing us to evolve quite rapidly into something else.
But a combination of events like a disease and major impact might manage it.
Diseases are not a good theory with a population the size of humanity many people are immune or not reached by it - I think the Bubonic plague only managed to kill about a third for example.
A large asteroid impact or a nuclear war would similarly have difficulty in killing everyone however I could see such an event resulting in a change of habitat causing us to evolve quite rapidly into something else.
But a combination of events like a disease and major impact might manage it.
//what about in the event of a nuclear war where there would be, undoubtedly, "some" survivors scattered across the planet.//
With technology, upon which we have come to depend, gone, I often wonder how, with only a few survivors, the human race would pick itself up and start again – and how long it would take it to regain its current knowledge? I imagine the survivors relating their history to new generations, telling stories of the incredible technology that man had once possessed, of the amazing machines that existed, of flights into space, of wonderful medicine – and once those eye witnesses died, their tales being carried further down the generations and eventually passing into the realms of mythology until such time that man was capable of re-inventing and rediscovering it all.
With technology, upon which we have come to depend, gone, I often wonder how, with only a few survivors, the human race would pick itself up and start again – and how long it would take it to regain its current knowledge? I imagine the survivors relating their history to new generations, telling stories of the incredible technology that man had once possessed, of the amazing machines that existed, of flights into space, of wonderful medicine – and once those eye witnesses died, their tales being carried further down the generations and eventually passing into the realms of mythology until such time that man was capable of re-inventing and rediscovering it all.
-- answer removed --
"Since we have no idea when humans were first living on earth and even less idea when they will no longer inhabit it, how can we possibly gauge when halfway is. Does it matter? The point of this survey is?..."
It's about perception and having a discussion about what forms the boundaries of the question itself. What do you call the "human race"? How do you define that? And if you had an opinion, which way would you go?
It's about perception and having a discussion about what forms the boundaries of the question itself. What do you call the "human race"? How do you define that? And if you had an opinion, which way would you go?
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