Will We, Can We Survive?

I am in my mid fifties, and consider myself quite selective in my choice of subjects. By way of explanation, the reason I am here at ATS is because I deeply believe this site to contain the most educated and most talented thinkers anywhere. I can sometimes learn a week's worth of knowledge in mere minutes here, and most of you know that.

Given the deep respect I have for your time and input, I would simply like to ask for opinions regarding the likelihood of the human race's survival. If you were something similar to a Vegas odds-maker, do you give us a 50-50 chance? Maybe 1 in 3, 1 in 10, 1 in a million? Do you believe that Christ will return rendering the point moot? We all know the many, many ways debated on this site that the world can destroy all or most of itself, and I have found myself wondering what those of you whom I have already stated a great respect for believe our chances are. Being somewhat knowledgeable of those multiple possible scenarios concerns me for my children’s future, as I could be gone tomorrow and have had a full life. They have not. At least not yet.

Would you mind sharing opinions on the odds you feel that earthly civilization will survive (or not) and why or why not?

Thanks.

In the absolute long run I would say our chance of survival as a species is zero. Homo sapiens sapiens will eventually become extinct just as all species will eventually become extinct - just as the majority of species are already extinct. This doesn't bother me, it's the way of things.

I do not, however, believe that anyone reading this post will experience the "last days" of our species. I believe we will see more war, more disease, economic collapse and a myriad of other things that will be unpleasant to say the least but I believe that we, as a species, will survive these.

We will always remain here,this planet still has a lot to give.Maybe...

Human's are pretty clever,we can pull out a rabbit when and if we have to

I am not sure but Your referring to your children. So I take it your not asking if the human race will survive. Your wondering about world your Child will live in. Personally I see a world that needs to expand. We either find a way to live in or on the water Or even in space. I think if we can't do something soon then we will Implode. There are simply to many of us and we are just growing to fast.
War will follow along with disease. Probably controlled viral outbreaks. Controlled births. Population control its either that or genocide. Wipe out a culture to make room. I think a massive war is on the way. The Damn is simply to full and about to crack. I am guessing it will happen within the nest 20 years..

Therian

reply to post by Miri08


reply to post by Miri08


I didn't go past your post. I didn't need to. Everyone that thinks we will somehow survive ourselves, is clueless.

It's frightening, but it's true.

Here's a depressing piece of math. Consider two boxes filled with many numbered ping-pong balls, each with a different number. One box has a million balls numbered 1 to1,000,000. The other has 100 balls, numbered 1 to 100. The size of the boxes is concealed so you don't know which is which: All you see are two holes. You reach into one of the holes and pull out a ball and its numbered, say, "70." You have to guess which box it came from: The box with 100 balls or the box with a million balls.?

Now, technically it could have come from either, but the odds are it came from the box with 100 balls, because your chances of picking a ball numbered between 1 and 100 (as "70" is) is 100% from the smaller box, but only 0.01% from the bigger box.

Now, let's extrapolate that as an analogy to trying to figure out the length of the human species. We find ourselves alive about 100,000 years since humanity came into existence (depending on how you define "humanity.") This is our "numbered ball." Now, assuming that you or I could have been born anywhere in the extent of the human species' existence (near the beginning, the middle, or the end of its history), the odds are that the human species won't last, say, ten million or 100 million years...because its much less likely that we'd be born only 100,000 years into the species' history in that kind of scenario...just like it's less likely you'd pick out a ball numbered "70" from a box with a million numbered balls than a box with only 100 numbered balls.

Think about it...

I think we absolutely do survive unless something from outside our planet comes along and gives us the cosmic version of a reboot and game over for a new try at life. That's the only place I think forces exist sufficient to actually end human life. Even the absolute worst virus one can think of has a mortality rate. That means SOME survive, even if it's not a large % on some of the record setting ones.

Look at the worst natural disasters though. From Hurricane Andrew to the Indonesian Tsunami, there are always more survivors than one thinks there will be or than logic says there ought to be. Man will survive just about anything in some form and bounce back eventually.

The coming collapse I expect is an economic one, leading into some degree of social and order collapse. At least for a period of time while things get re-built with a new system to replace this mess we're in now. That collapse has an end though and a period which should, long term, be better than what led to this, in my view. We're just going through hell to get there.

Originally posted by samstone11
By way of explanation, the reason I am here at ATS is because I deeply believe this site to contain the most educated and most talented thinkers anywhere. I can sometimes learn a week's worth of knowledge in mere minutes here, and most of you know that.

Wow, I see now how ignorance spreads.
It is mind-boggling that ATS can be seen in such light.

I would simply like to ask for opinions regarding the likelihood of the human race's survival. If you were something similar to a Vegas odds-maker, do you give us a 50-50 chance? Maybe 1 in 3, 1 in 10, 1 in a million?

You didn't give any time-span so I guess you are asking will humanity survive forever?
No, it will not.
If we manage to survive for a LONG time, we'll also evolve and should probable be considered another species, so we as species will "die out" that way the latest.
But I'm not too sure we'll come that far before we've made this planet inhabitable. Maybe there will be an attempt to colonize the solar system, but it might be too big of a challenge if we are to do it in haste.

Let's see, Chernobyl happens, and the nuke industry still thrives. 3-11 happens, and everybody panics, but a year and a half later, things are going back to business as usual. If you've been following the fallout (pun intended) of this disaster, you know it's GAME OVER. I have not even factored in war, pollution, genocide, climate disasters, and all the rest. The Bible tells us that if these days were not cut short, no life would be saved.

I used to be a survivalist. Now, I think when death comes, I will walk out to meet it.

Originally posted by litterbaux
reply to post by Miri08

 

reply to post by Miri08

 

I didn't go past your post. I didn't need to. Everyone that thinks we will somehow survive ourselves, is clueless.

It's frightening, but it's true.

Really?

I'm kinda more like this about it.

The state of current contemporary societies around the globe don't seem to offer much in the way of good odds on our species survival. All the noble concepts and ideas on freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of one's own happiness unfettered and unassailed by outside interest/s have died a cowards ignorant death. Populations no longer care enough to fight for noble concepts, for the ideas that civilise us. America spends more on the ability to harm other nations and the planet than it does on healthcare for its own people. That right there speaks volumes about the state of our globalising society.

The globalising of society brings with it a unique problem, a clash of cultures and that will ultimately bring conflict and war. It's inevitable, because some cultures, and groups within cultures, will never allow themselves to integrate globally. Some cultures are just too alien to each other.

By the same token, the forces driving globalisation will not allow their agenda to be derailed, because the elitist groups supplying the globalising force believe that our species' only way to survive is to globalise, and so they are steam-rolling the agenda out, absolutely hammering it into place. They are engineering catastrophe and disaster one after another to weaken societies militarily and economically, creating an umberella network of dependent states and countries conjoined not by tolerance and peace, but through hardship and struggle to remain as a embryonic state of a globalised government. Democracy is dead! In its place is a corporatocracy feigning itself, and being promoted as something democratic...it isn't, it is more akin to fascism.

Populations cannot save themselves from this corporatitic (read orwellian) future. Only in primitive cultures can revolutions bring change. Modern societies like in America and in Europe, won't ever see sweeping revolutions taking place again. Even the revolutions of the Arab Spring uprisings were successful, only because the West gave aid to them. Without that aid, they would not have made completion. The Syrian rebels will not succeed without external aid from the West. Syria and Iran are fault lines on which WW3 could occur, it all depends on Russia and China, and the manner in which the Syrian and Iranian regimes are changed...it is part of the globalising agenda.

Personally, I think both Russia and China are in on the globalising network anyway, and will not imperil their own nations for that of muslim countries. In the globalising agenda, the muslim is being made the scapegoat for the world's ills, which is why they are goaded into presenting themselves as barbaric through their fundamentalistic religious doctrines when they perceive their God and Prophet desecrated by the West. It keeps sympathy for them down, and but for the resources in their countries which the West is currently trying to steal, they wouldn't have a part to play in the great scheme of things, they would be like poor African nations which the West no longer pays heed to. Instead of taking the whole Muslim race head on in one big war, the West is doing it piecemeal, country by country. Iraq is no longer a global threat, and the other oil-rich Arab nations with their dictators are maintaining a respectful relationship with the West, just as long as they can hold onto their elitist trappings...but for how long, who can tell?

So, will our species survive into the future? Yes it will. It may become radically reduced, which is also part of the agenda, but again, I state this with reservations, because it depends on the maintenance of control on how the agenda unfolds.

Originally posted by Lazarus Short
Let's see, Chernobyl happens, and the nuke industry still thrives. 3-11 happens, and everybody panics, but a year and a half later, things are going back to business as usual. If you've been following the fallout (pun intended) of this disaster, you know it's GAME OVER. I have not even factored in war, pollution, genocide, climate disasters, and all the rest. The Bible tells us that if these days were not cut short, no life would be saved.

I used to be a survivalist. Now, I think when death comes, I will walk out to meet it.

edit on 24-9-2012 by Lazarus Short because: lah-de-dah

I am willing to bet you get Cancer from the Fallout and I do not.

Did you know that the very diagnosis of Cancer decreases the Immune system by 70% or more within minutes?

That Bible it's a very depressing book you know?

I rather watch stuff like this so when the Tsunami comes I know how to ride it.



Probably think i'm trolling with these vids right?

Nope, this one is particularly right, learning to surf... it teaches you to go with the flow because it's when you don't that death will actually come for you

And the music is kind of appropriate too... More Human than You Man... what a negative mind set to be carrying around, why would you do that to yourself? Man creates Cancer man can defeat Cancer, Fukushima isn't the end of the world.

All I'm saying is I dunno about you guys, but I know I'm going to live, my kids are going to live, and i'm going to have a good time through whatever happens next.

It's funny I like doom threads for s different reason, I look forward to all advancements that come after periods of stupidity, I see it as "survive and i'll get to live to be 180 wooo hooo" I get to live through some serious history, maybe get to witness first hand some of the greatest disasters of all time and survive and ...wow, how awesome will things be after that?

It sounds strange I know

But there is a strange fact

Most people who get stranded at sea go 2 routes....

Group 1: Dies within a few days at most, does a Leonardo DiCaprio and slips into the water

Group 2: much less common, will hang on against all odds, week after week.... until they get rescued or wash ashore somewhere...

I'm a group 2, I've always known that, it is a way of thinking.... I can't explain it really, my rational mind knows better than to despair... eventually i'll wash up somewhere just have to hang on.

Cancer is to that small fraction of us.... a reason to cure cancer

Maybe that is why things suck from time to time... it evolves us.

The guy above mentions Fukushima, I never actually think "i'll die from that" I think ... "when enough people die they will fix it better take my Iodine pill, keep an eye on the wind"

It's a funny subject... Die from Fukushima? I'm actually going to Japan again soon, I just use my head, know the weather, what's being burnt here or there, when, which fish are tainted and... heck I'll do fine a few months in Osaka"

Last week there was a news story about future tsunamis, I just look up elevation maps when picking Hotels...

I think honestly if I die b4 seeing the next step... it will be by unfortunate accident not disaster. Fallout, greenhouse gases, war... none of these things scare me, I have a Brain, I use it...

slipping on the ice...that scares me, now that, that can screw up all my plans

the better question is ... does humanity deserve to survive ? with it petty bickering .. slaughtering each other over primitive superstition.. resources.. nationalism..profit.. or the many other idiotic reasons people use to butcher each other.. no respect for the world around them...

Originally posted by penninja

I am willing to bet you get Cancer from the Fallout and I do not.

Did you know that the very diagnosis of Cancer decreases the Immune system by 70% or more within minutes?

That Bible it's a very depressing book you know?

I rather watch stuff like this so when the Tsunami comes I know how to ride it.


Probably think i'm trolling with these vids right?

Nope, this one is particularly right, learning to surf... it teaches you to go with the flow because it's when you don't that death will actually come for you

And the music is kind of appropriate too... More Human than You Man... what a negative mind set to be carrying around, why would you do that to yourself? Man creates Cancer man can defeat Cancer, Fukushima isn't the end of the world.

Why do you think my mind set is negative? I simply take note of the certainty of death, the vastly increased risks in our generation, and I say to self, well bump that. It's not despair, it's a rational conclusion. As a believer in Jesus, Heaven, and eternal life in a better place, I do not fear death. For me, it's going with the flow. You're circling the drain from the moment you're born. Oh, I don't fear cancer either...

reply to post by Lazarus Short


Let me ask you a question,Why is it that Christians who preach about love are so willing to accept that anyone who disagrees with them is going to be tortured forever?
cause I can see why you'd believe humans are all doomed with that rational

Originally posted by Lazarus Short

Originally posted by penninja

I am willing to bet you get Cancer from the Fallout and I do not.

Did you know that the very diagnosis of Cancer decreases the Immune system by 70% or more within minutes?

That Bible it's a very depressing book you know?

I rather watch stuff like this so when the Tsunami comes I know how to ride it.


Probably think i'm trolling with these vids right?

Nope, this one is particularly right, learning to surf... it teaches you to go with the flow because it's when you don't that death will actually come for you

And the music is kind of appropriate too... More Human than You Man... what a negative mind set to be carrying around, why would you do that to yourself? Man creates Cancer man can defeat Cancer, Fukushima isn't the end of the world.

Why do you think my mind set is negative? I simply take note of the certainty of death, the vastly increased risks in our generation, and I say to self, well bump that. It's not despair, it's a rational conclusion. As a believer in Jesus, Heaven, and eternal life in a better place, I do not fear death. For me, it's going with the flow. You're circling the drain from the moment you're born. Oh, I don't fear cancer either...

You just said

It's not depair, it's rational conclusion

Then went on to say

As a believer in Jesus, Heaven, and eternal life in a better place, I do not fear death.

I wont get into rational or irrational beyond making that note above.

I will say, Those beliefs don't do much for the desire to survive. Imho it's a center of the brain to help the conscious mind cope with the reality of death. I lack that coping mechanism I am pretty sure the next mechanism evolving in the mind is the awareness that you don' t have to "cope" with death but rather one has the capacity to thwart it.

reply to post by samstone11


This is exactly how I feel about our survivability

"It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value."
-Arthur C. Clarke-



As far as the Return of Jesus.. I think his essence has returned many times and we killed him.

Originally posted by all2human
reply to post by Lazarus Short

 

Let me ask you a question,Why is it that Christians who preach about love are so willing to accept that anyone who disagrees with them is going to be tortured forever?
cause I can see why you'd believe humans are all doomed with that rational

edit on 24-9-2012 by all2human because: (no reason given)

That's an interesting question, and probably one best perceived by someone outside the Christian community. I think most Christians do not realise the inconsistency of love + eternal torment. Hell and eternal torment came in from pagan sources, easily proved from church history. There are three schools of thought that I am aware of on this:

eternal torture - believed in by those who stress the justice of God

final annihilation - believed in by those who stress the mercy of God

universal reconciliation - believed in by those who stress the love of God

I stand solidly with #3, BTW. Hell is best found in Dante, Milton, and other works of art/fiction. Yeah, did you ever notice that all accounts of Hell are fictional or anecdotal? The Bible is quite silent on the subject, people have to twist things to prove it.

Heaven, yes.

Hell, no!