The future of our atmosphere and how we will adapt?

i heard that in the years of dinosaurs there was much more oxygen than now where we have increasing amounts of O2

So i was wondering what will happen to us as a race will we all be breathing in CO2 rather than air that we breath now (i know its just not oxygen but a combination of gases)

will we even be around?

I supose the next bits of convo here will be about the green house effect so is that happening to fast for us to adapt to?

will we have a new type of skin to deal with all the radiation?

i know ive asked a lot of questions but i have an enquiring mind and would hope some1 would be knowledgeable enough to answer

[edit on 24-3-2005 by klain]

Originally posted by klain
i heard that in the years of dinosaurs there was much more oxygen than now where we have increasing amounts of O2

So i was wondering what will happen to us as a race will we all be breathing in CO2 rather than air that we breath now (i know its just not oxygen but a combination of gases)

For us to be able to breathe CO2 we'd have to undertake some radical form of evolution possibly even genetic mutation. With the way our bodies work at the moment this is absolutely impossible. The body uses Oxygen very much like a car engine, it's essentially combusted in the body, hence why we produce heat. If you try and use CO2 as a replace ment you get...... nothing...... To use CO2 as a fuel source we'd have to adapt dramatically. In fact, we'd all be walking around with green skin. We'd have to develop the same pigment that makes plant leaves green, chlorophyl, this uses sunlight and CO2 to produce the energy the plant needs to survive. The by product of this being Oygen. So if the atmosphere did turn purely to CO2 and we did manage to evolve somehow, then after a few hundred years the atmosphere would be back to oxygen again and we'd have to adapt again.

So no easy answer to the oxygen question. Although, by the time that happens I'd hope we'd have some kind of technology available to us to rebuild our atmosphere. and if we did we'd prolly have safe havens like mars and other planets that we'd terraformed to retreat to if necessary.

ok, now I'm rambling on.

why even re-build our environment when we our selves could change if we found out more about how plants work and how we work we could have a second respiratory system eg photosynthesis we could wipe out world hunger single handedly as well!

[edit on 24-3-2005 by klain]

Well I think it would be harder(and Much more controversial) to re-engineer the species to survive on C02 alone. If that is even possible which it may not be. Anyway we cannot replace the atmosphere with C02 anyway we do not have the capacity.

sorry i meant that we could use photosynthesis as a back up system and i really think that these people that make everything so controversial is no better than screaming your head off saying the world is flat how are we going to advace as a species if we keep going on about moral's i think its far better in the long run for a few people to die for future cures i mean lab rats nobody complains about them as much as human life and we really ar'nt too different we both live yet rats and other animals are ok why not use this tech to improve ourselves

sorry this is a bit of a rant but those people

i get them i really do it should be tryed and tested first b4 atempting it on humans or animals

but some of these guys are so biased its amazing

but some of these guys are so biased its amazing

I agree, the Neo-Luddite movement is gaining steam, mostly in Europe for now but the ETC group which is a very "prominent" Neo-Luddite group is based in Canada. Thankfully most people just ignore them now but that may change....

I hear what you are saying.

Originally posted by sardion2000

but some of these guys are so biased its amazing

I agree, the Neo-Luddite movement is gaining steam, mostly in Europe for now but the ETC group which is a very "prominent" Neo-Luddite group is based in Canada. Thankfully most people just ignore them now but that may change....

I hear what you are saying.

kool im glad to see another member of this site implementing the sites moto

To undertake such a transformation would be immense. I've transformed simple E. Coli cells to glow green under visibile light, and also under a blacklight. These are simple, simple creatures incorporating a simple, simple DNA strand.

We are hugely complex creatures. We understand so very little of our own DNA to begin with, and then to fully understand a plant's would be huge in itself. To then try and make humans phtosynthesize would take centuries of nothing but dedication to one idea.

Not to mention that plants phtosynthesize because they don't move and require very little energy. The entire surface area of a leaf is used. We use up far too much energy, and don't have anywhere near enough surface area to successfully use photosynthesis. And that isn't even mentioning the fact that our bodies aren't even close to built for it (par exemple, we have depth. Leaves, on the whole, do not)

im sure we will find a way for such things maybe we wont even use plants but some of the greatest scientific breakthroughs have been done by accident like antibiotics im sure technology will find a way we need to utliize our imagination again like the industrial revolution this is the start of a new century you would think it should be a time of great ideas and progress

that was kinda kool with the glowing plants though im heard the've done it with mice as well using a gene from a jellyfish

Why change ourselfs??
Seems a lazy way out of trying to clean up our own acts. If all the o#rys produce less damn green house effects it would be alot simpler.

Hell if we stoped the use of oil the planet would be clean within what 50 or so years....enough air for you to suck up and for a change it would actually be clean.

The only thing that will help us is to stop greenhouse gas and or produce some tech that will transform this gren house gas to a safe gas ie oxygen

Personally I can't just say "Science will happen, things will take care of themselves." If you wanna get something done you have to try to do it, you have work hard for it. A few things just happen along the way, but even those are no exception. Penicillin was found ONLY because a failed experiment was recognized to be worthy. If we don't keep that ethic, that search for knowledge and advancement, we won't achieve any of what we might have been able to.

And, yeah, the glowing green has been done before, but, uh, I did it sophmore year in highschool. Not with a PhD.

not bad yeh i said anti biotics that was the case study i was thinking of penicillin

i plant trees

i think all of you scientist types out there better start working on this soon so we can have it done ASAP... thx

as i said above somewhere lol its nice to see others agree with me we should progress its like the church making sex a sin you have to do it if you ban it there would be no life so in a sense you murder lol but im reffering to that same ignorance that holds us back as a species we have came far but we can go further

Originally posted by klain
as i said above somewhere lol its nice to see others agree with me we should progress its like the church making sex a sin you have to do it if you ban it there would be no life so in a sense you murder lol but im reffering to that same ignorance that holds us back as a species we have came far but we can go further

Why is morality and knows onces play in the Ecological balance of this planet called ignorance?

It is the Ignorance of the ppl that do not understand this balance which will in the end hold us up. There isnt much we can do when there no oxygen to breath, No food for us to eat since it all been burnt by the lack of atmosphere.

Yes some advances have come from brutality and from accident but how many more have come from being carefull. I bet you wouldnt be at the front of the que if some drug company came along and goes hey we got this drug that stop you being ill tired or never need to wee again BUT we havnt tested it yet as we thought you be the best bet....Damn sure i wouldnt be there. Rather watch the first few for a good few months to see if they drop off.

Ignorance is with the goverment and the industry its not your average joe that is holding bk the next great thing. Its the oil companys that pay to keep tech that would stop the great mount of money they manage to make out of the black gold. And many other industrys are the same. Why take out the best thing when you can make more money out of party releasing it as incremental steps eg. 1ghz pc then a 2.4ghz pc they be out of business if they sold you a 1terraherz pc

Originally posted by minority2000uk

Originally posted by klain
as i said above somewhere lol its nice to see others agree with me we should progress its like the church making sex a sin you have to do it if you ban it there would be no life so in a sense you murder lol but im reffering to that same ignorance that holds us back as a species we have came far but we can go further

Why is morality and knows onces play in the Ecological balance of this planet called ignorance?
i can agree with this but at this perticular time there was no overpopulation so their was no reason for it

It is the Ignorance of the ppl that do not understand this balance which will in the end hold us up. There isnt much we can do when there no oxygen to breath, No food for us to eat since it all been burnt by the lack of atmosphere.

There are many organizations that do understand this balence. Sorry i was meant to be staying on point about our atmosphere and i ended spiraling off into genetics but im thinking that if it is allowed to get that bad than modifing
our genetics might be the last resort if we wish to stay on the planet

Yes some advances have come from brutality and from accident but how many more have come from being carefull. I bet you wouldnt be at the front of the que if some drug company came along and goes hey we got this drug that stop you being ill tired or never need to wee again BUT we havnt tested it yet as we thought you be the best bet....Damn sure i wouldnt be there. Rather watch the first few for a good few months to see if they drop off.
that is your inclination i would go

Ignorance is with the goverment and the industry its not your average joe that is holding bk the next great thing. Its the oil companys that pay to keep tech that would stop the great mount of money they manage to make out of the black gold. And many other industrys are the same. Why take out the best thing when you can make more money out of party releasing it as incremental steps eg. 1ghz pc then a 2.4ghz pc they be out of business if they sold you a 1terraherz pc

the average joes control the government the not people who work for the government

as for the pc's its just progress built on and built on its a good thing

i surrender to you terrapin genetics may not be the answer for this particualr debate with the atmosphere but it will be used eventually good post