Our server costs ~$56 per month to run. Please consider donating or becoming a Patron to help keep the site running. Help us gain new members by following us on Twitter and liking our page on Facebook!
Current time: March 28, 2024, 1:31 pm

Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
What are our chances of survival for a long time?
#31
RE: What are our chances of survival for a long time?
(September 3, 2020 at 6:59 am)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote: My expiration date was two years ago. Hmph

Mine's likely in 2-3 years.

Tongue
Dying to live, living to die.
Reply
#32
RE: What are our chances of survival for a long time?
(March 29, 2020 at 3:04 pm)no one Wrote: Everything dies. Humans are not special.

But we humans at least could see the faint outlines of realizable approach to effective immortality, whether we will be given the opportunity to trod on it, or grasp the opportunity if given, is another matter.
Reply
#33
RE: What are our chances of survival for a long time?
Humans are just a more evolved cockroach. You don't see them going anywhere soon, do you?
[Image: extraordinarywoo-sig.jpg]
Reply
#34
RE: What are our chances of survival for a long time?
(September 3, 2020 at 10:17 am)Anomalocaris Wrote:
(March 29, 2020 at 3:04 pm)no one Wrote: Everything dies. Humans are not special.

But we humans at least could see the faint outlines of realizable approach to effective immortality, whether we will be given the opportunity to trod on it, or grasp the opportunity if given, is another matter.

I already have a good plan for effective immorality.
Reply
#35
RE: What are our chances of survival for a long time?
I have a plan for immortality. It's called, "Not Dying."
[Image: extraordinarywoo-sig.jpg]
Reply
#36
RE: What are our chances of survival for a long time?
(September 3, 2020 at 10:24 am)Angrboda Wrote: Humans are just a more evolved cockroach.  You don't see them going anywhere soon, do you?

Soon as in how many centuries?


Effective immortality within a few centuries does not seem too fanciful.    Some methods could along the general lines of cellular repair Via nanotechnology, or substitution of the neurological System with digital or analogue emulators. 

(September 3, 2020 at 10:39 am)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote:
(September 3, 2020 at 10:17 am)Anomalocaris Wrote: But we humans at least could see the faint outlines of realizable approach to effective immortality, whether we will be given the opportunity to trod on it, or grasp the opportunity if given, is another matter.

I already have a good plan for effective immorality.

I doubt yours is better than the ones some Christians have.   I am talking about ones that are.
Reply
#37
RE: What are our chances of survival for a long time?
(October 10, 2019 at 8:10 pm)Anomalocaris Wrote:
(October 10, 2019 at 9:47 am)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote: Every species of Homo before HSS is gone, so we are likely to follow.

Except discovery over the last 20 years suggest a case can be made that there never were any other species of homo.


The homo genus continuously existed a single specie with multiple interbreeding populations.   The selection amongst the different populations, the interbreeding, and genetic drift  caused the range of phenotypes to change over time


So populations of homo may have come and gone, but no specie went extinct.

(October 10, 2019 at 9:26 am)Mister Agenda Wrote: I think the odds are against us, but there's some hope. I would certainly love to have a way to see how it all turns out.


That's far too optimistic.


We will never successfully rid ourselves of ourselves.

H. erectus was pretty clearly another Homo species. Others are not so clear and, like you said, there was extensive interbreeding.

Mammal species tend to last a couple of million years and then either go extinct or evolve into another species. For humans, the next thousand years or so will be critical: we have the technology to destroy ourselves in multiple ways. The question is whether we will manage to not press the relevant buttons while instituting other protective policies. We have too much of a tendency towards massively destructive wars to be very complacent about our chances, though.

If we manage to get through the next thousand years (which is not all that long in historical terms), it is likely that we will have a good population off planet. This carries other dangers, though. The population fragmentation is just the type that would initiate a speciation event with new species on each planet. This won't happen quickly, but over the next 10-50,000 years would likely produce several different species.

At that point, the question of whether we will get out of the solar system becomes ore relevant. Given the distances, times, and resources involved, I am very skeptical of this step and, if we manage, that would lead to an even bigger speciation event.

In sum, if some of our descendants manage to survive to a million years from now, I am not at all convinced we would consider them to be human. When we bump up to, say, 100 million years, I am convinced that none would be. That is still LONG before the sun goes red giant on us.

Remember that the dinosaurs were only 65 million years ago.
Reply
#38
RE: What are our chances of survival for a long time?
(September 3, 2020 at 2:02 pm)polymath257 Wrote:
(October 10, 2019 at 8:10 pm)Anomalocaris Wrote: Except discovery over the last 20 years suggest a case can be made that there never were any other species of homo.


The homo genus continuously existed a single specie with multiple interbreeding populations.   The selection amongst the different populations, the interbreeding, and genetic drift  caused the range of phenotypes to change over time


So populations of homo may have come and gone, but no specie went extinct.



That's far too optimistic.


We will never successfully rid ourselves of ourselves.

H. erectus was pretty clearly another Homo species. Others are not so clear and, like you said, there was extensive interbreeding.

Mammal species tend to last a couple of million years and then either go extinct or evolve into another species. For humans, the next thousand years or so will be critical: we have the technology to destroy ourselves in multiple ways. The question is whether we will manage to not press the relevant buttons while instituting other protective policies. We have too much of a tendency towards massively destructive wars to be very complacent about our chances, though.

If we manage to get through the next thousand years (which is not all that long in historical terms), it is likely that we will have a good population off planet. This carries other dangers, though. The population fragmentation is just the type that would initiate a speciation event with new species on each planet. This won't happen quickly, but over the next 10-50,000 years would likely produce several different species.

At that point, the question of whether we will get out of the solar system becomes ore relevant. Given the distances, times, and resources involved, I am very skeptical of this step and, if we manage, that would lead to an even bigger speciation event.

In sum, if some of our descendants manage to survive to a million years from now, I am not at all convinced we would consider them to be human. When we bump up to, say, 100 million years, I am convinced that none would be. That is still LONG before the sun goes red giant on us.

Remember that the dinosaurs were only 65 million years ago.

I think Homo erectus May have existed more as a chronological than a population specie in the sense that members of genus Homo that long post dated it may be theoretically incapable of breeding with it.  But I suspect during no individual single slice of time When the genus Homo existed were there two large contemporary Populations of the genus Homo that were incapable of interbreeding.  

I also think if we last 1000 More years as a technological population, at the end of that period It would Be highly questionable whether the traditional concept of specie even make sense in describing the human population?

1.  Would we even reproduce biologically?  If not, does it make sense to define specie by biological interbredability?

2.  Would our individual genetic traits still be primarily inherited or Primarily artificially Selected, developed and tuned?   Would we be constrained by dictates of maintaining biological interbredability in our Artificial genetic Antics?

3.  Would we become obligatory cyborgs so the Variations in the programming and design of our cybernetic parts become crucial in determining how we can interact including how we can interbreed?

I think there is a good chance that if human technologiCal society last a long time, humans would artificially change ourselves to fulfill Better different roles in different conditions.  In the end the human population would comsist of many very different, highly customized, non-interchangeable parts making up one or more large complex social machines,  unlike the circumstances today, where the human population consist of many similar, minimally customized, essentially interchangeable parts cobbled together into whatEver social machine such parts Collection can make. 

Asking whether humanS remain a single specie Under this situation would make as much sense as Much sense as asking if different parts of the same car all belong to the Same specie.
Reply
#39
RE: What are our chances of survival for a long time?
If people start talking cladistics I'm gonna barf.
[Image: extraordinarywoo-sig.jpg]
Reply
#40
RE: What are our chances of survival for a long time?
(October 10, 2019 at 12:56 am)Macoleco Wrote: I have always thought that humanity is destined to go extinct because no matter how much our technology advances, an unforeseen catastrophe will wipe us all. But I have started to think if there is any chance we may survive for not thousand, but millions of years?

What if we create colonies throughout the universe to secure our existence? What if we encounter other intelligent life that help us create an environment of cooperation? Perhaps even an intergalactic hub with multiple intelligence species!!!!!

What do you think? Are we doomed? Or is there hope?

The truth is on a planet that has had 5 mass extinction events and considering that other life like water bears and cockroaches are far more suited for survival and outnumber humans, it is highly likely they will out survive humans until the sun expands and fries all life on our planet.

We will eventually go extinct. There is no escaping that. But it is frustrating that our species DOES have the brains to try to figure out how to extend our finite ride. 

We will not survive billions of years from now. But in the short term, can we as a species extend our ride? Yes, so the only argument right now is "will we"? 

The short term truth is that humans really do need to face the fact that the earth is a globe and not infinitely flat, and the bigger we grow and the  more resources we use, and the faster we consume things, the shorter our ride will be.

Humans if we wan't to extend our finite ride, really have to face the fact that we cannot infinitely expand and we ARE an invasive species.
Reply



Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  [Serious] Nuclear war survival guide. Jehanne 64 4736 March 3, 2022 at 2:33 am
Last Post: Anomalocaris
  How long does evoluution take. onlinebiker 22 1370 November 29, 2018 at 1:10 pm
Last Post: sdelsolray
  When we close our eyes are we "seeing" dark or do our eyes shutdown? ErGingerbreadMandude 19 2428 December 9, 2017 at 6:10 am
Last Post: LastPoet
  Dr. Long proves life after death or no? Manga 27 7355 April 27, 2017 at 4:59 pm
Last Post: Amarok
  Human Survival Severan 49 11460 August 12, 2013 at 9:11 am
Last Post: ManMachine
  Rank the top best scientists of all time. Of all time. [so far] Autumnlicious 28 9776 October 5, 2012 at 9:04 pm
Last Post: Jackalope
  Sir Isaac Newton Time life said he was the greatest scientific thinker of our time franca 2 2286 October 5, 2012 at 1:48 pm
Last Post: Jackalope



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)