The human race and our predestine self-destruction?

You all have seen all of the current events discussions, all of the paranoia, and worry over wars and conflicts, economic collapse, food shortages etc.

Some people seem to be accepting the fact that soon there will be major wars with catastrophic results. Iran, Russia, Georgia and on and on...

This kind of thinking is not new, and perhaps many are right, maybe we should simply accept the invertible. However what if that inevitability is actually a kind of pre programmed self-destruction?

In nature many species have ways of controlling population and resources, in our human world these natural processes have been held back and we seem to be at or near a point in time where the human population is growing far beyond the natural world's ability to support it. Maybe the basic survival instinct within all humans leads us to wars and sets us on a path for conflict and wars to ultimately reduce over-population?

Maybe in order for the human race to survive on this world either a catastrophic series of events such as diseases, earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, etc. Or a man-made war. In either case the end result could be the elimination of hundreds of millions of humans. Perhaps it will take a combination of both.

The bible speaks of a time of great tribulation and the rise of an antichrist, perhaps the authors were actually on to something?

Maybe they understood the fact that one day human population and consumption of resources, damage to the environment, and technologies would eventually lead to the time of "great tribulation"?

Good post. i think its possible something big will happen. ether man made or nature made. but sooner or later something big probably will happen one way or the other. but im sure we will survive whatever happens. so far we took everything on. and were still here.

Originally posted by Maxell
Good post. i think its possible something big will happen. ether man made or nature made. but sooner or later something big probably will happen one way or the other. but im sure we will survive whatever happens. so far we took everything on. and were still here.

How many will survive a global war that uses nuclear weapons?

There are many factors, food shortages in 3rd world nations while many in America are overweight and dine at buffets where they individually consume enough to feed an average third world family, leaving enough on their plates to be thrown out, when leaving to feed even more. Though some have a conscience, they try to cover their uneaten food with their napkins. There is no balance, though there are far more suffering from starvation than there are with more than they can possibly eat.

Disease... who knows what killer diseases are going to infect us in the future?

Energy crisis, we've already seen the impact of oil prices... One can only imagine what it will be like in 5 years!

Natural catastrophic events, a complete unknown.

Wars seem to run in cycles, though random we humans seem hell bent on war and conflict, though today a broad war involving many nations who use weapons of mass destruction could eliminate more life on this planet than all of the above will.

I agree with you, it can't go on like this forever, look at these numbers in millions....

Year: 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 1999 2050
Population: 791 978 1,262 1,650 2,521 5,978 8,909 (Millions)

en.wikipedia.org...

All consuming energy, food and reproducing.

When is enough, enough?

I suppose we will find out sooner rather than later.

Originally posted by The_Alarmist2012
However what if that inevitability is actually a kind of pre programmed self-destruction?

Well, all that "endtimes" and "tribulation" nonsense aside, it's not our evil that will be the end of us. We will destroy ourselves because of the virtues we hold highest and most dear -- love, safety, security, peace.

Why? Because it is our quest for these things that drives us to do the other things. Most people don't drive gas-guzzling SUVs because they just can't wait to destroy the environment. It's because they want a safer, heavier vehicle to take their kids to school and their activities. They love their children.

It's love, not hate, that drives us to have more children, to scrape the land clean for food, to manipulate chemicals for medicines and agriculture.to build huge armies to defend our interests, and so on. We love each other, and we want to protect ourselves and our children and have them grow up in a peaceful, clean, safe environment. And we're willing to tear the Earth apart to do it.

The hope is that eventually we will gather enough data on the ecosystem to be able to determine exactly what level of population the Earth can comfortably sustain. Not pushed to the maximum, though, where a bad blizzard or hurricane means millions will die. But that might not happen.

Because also, just over the horizon, our machines will be getting so intelligent that they'll essentially have "souls," or something so similar you won't be able to tell the difference. They will self-replicate, and become the dominant species on the planet and beyond, since they won't have the same problems with spaceflight that we do. They'll be our inorganic children.

Additionally, we will manipulate our own genetics to the point where our species will split like a tree into a huge number of varieties with different kinds of genetic advantages. A few groups of people will choose to remain "pure" human, but probably not many. We already modify ourselves with tattoos and surgery to be something different. Imagine that trend amplified a million times.

That's if all or a huge majority of us are not killed off by some massive comet strike or mutated virus. There's always a wildcard.

But for the most part, our intelligence and love will be our ultimate doom, not our evil and hate. In that regard, most religions have it completely backwards.

reply to post by Nohup


Goodness, I just love that post... I get it, we can sit back and watch the world love itself to death.

Honestly I do not believe that good or evil will have any role in this, I am thinking that the end result no matter what the cause will be a massive reduction in the human population... It will have to happen sooner or later, I hope later it is, eons if possible... But when you look at the current growth in population globally, and future projections... At some point the ability for most of that human life to sustain its existance will become impossible.

I saw a UFO when I was just a kid. My four cousins saw it too, and so did a cop who shot at it. What that has meant for me is that I have never been able to don the comfortable and self-righteous robe of the skeptic. I know I saw something that most people don't believe, and because of that I never had the luxury of refusing to believe things that other people saw.

As I read, watch, and learn about UFOs and aliens who are supposedly visiting us but never DO anything (except mutilate cattle and abduct people from their beds in the middle of the night for bizarre medical procedures), I see the skeptics continually asking "Why?" "Why would they act in such an illogical manner?"

And even I have to agree their questions make sense. If ET is here, why do they keep sneaking around, observing military bases and missile silos, snatching hunters out of the woods, and causing blackouts but never announcing themselves or contacting any governments? They could at least get a spot on Letterman...

Well, I'm hoping most of you have watched an episode or three of some generation of Star Trek. Remember the prime directive?

Suppose .. this tendency to self-destruct is not unique to humanity? Suppose other races have done it before us, and the ETs are constrained not to interfere with us until we reach that point. What if they can't intervene until we have actually taken the step that will destroy our species and/or the planet? Could they have some ethical code that says that, as long as there is a possibility we might get through it on our own, they can't interfere? Only after we either survive that critical turning point, or cross the line the other direction, are they allowed to make themselves known and openly interact with us.

Is it possible that they are patiently waiting for us to make the move that will inevitably lead to our destruction, and only at that point are they allowed to step in and "rescue" us?

Or maybe they're just waiting to take over the planet after we're gone ...