The future for the human race

[lifesagift]

Not sure where to post such a question, but I'm wondering, what is the prognosis for the human race?

As I see it we have four "enemies".... and they are:

1. disease - ebola currently, what are we to face?
2. political nonsense - like the Ukraine idiocy.
3. religion - the biggest threat in my book... humans vs humans is an abhorrent prospect
4. and space... probably more scary than I'm giving credit

Should my fear be microwaves, Van Allen, chemical imbalance etc?

I hope we are all happy, but what is the future for our great grandkids?

[Tobie]

5) Lack of resources - possibly the worst, if we don't get renewables or fusion sorted before the crude oil runs out

[lifesagift]

5) Lack of resources - possibly the worst, if we don't get renewables or fusion sorted before the crude oil runs out

good call.. I think the fuel thing will get sorted.. but so many other resource problems... copper for example!

[ShaMan]

Should my fear be microwaves, Van Allen, chemical imbalance etc?

Fear Van Halen...

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Sorry, I don't quite understand your question - are you actively LOOKING for things to be afraid of?

Boru

[Zack]

There is the whole food and water problem for an ever increasing population.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

There is the whole food and water problem for an ever increasing population.

No worries, that one will self-correct. Dr. Malthus always has the last laugh.

Boru

[tjakey]

I suspect, should the human race disappear from the cosmos, it will be because our tool making ability (read the ability to make war) grew faster than our intelligence or our morality. Like everything else weapons that can kill millions become ever more available to more and more people. Eventually someone (and yes, I suspect it will be some brand of religious fanatic) will get their hands on a truly deadly weapon, probably biological, and ignite an conflict that pushes civilization to the brink of collapse.

Even if we survive the current bought of madness, "the human race" is a temporary resident in the cosmos. Evolution hasn't stopped, our species is not the end of some predetermined road. Should we ever manage to take to space and spread, it will not be many generations before the species, adapting to radically different environments to the ones we have known so far, branches along multiple adaptive paths.

[Anomalocaris]

There is the whole food and water problem for an ever increasing population.

Since the 1960s, due to tremendous advances in agricultural technology such as chemical fertilizers and agricultural infrastructure such as irrigation, gap between agricultural productivity growth rate and population growth rate has widened, not narrowed.

In other words, over the last 50 years, the more people there were in the world, the more each individual had to eat, not less.

Most population projection do not foresee ever increasing population. Instead the population will peak around 2040-2060 and then hold steady or decline. The progress in agricultural technology such as GM food does not seem to have slowed, nor has growth in agricultural productivity. So we might just dodge the food and water problem this time around, before it solves itself through population self-management.

[Michael]

I think the extent and impact of the rapid climate change we are seeing, and more than likely causing, is a big unknown. I'd add that to the 'possibly worry about' list. As for food, I think a move to more plant-based diets will quite easily offset the projected change in population. So I wouldn't worry about that for a while.

Here's a beautiful presentation from Hans Rosling on population changes and predictions ....

http://youtu.be/hVimVzgtD6w