You do know, we *are* all going to die, don't you ?

Emp_Fab

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45775309

Maybe not our generation, but perhaps our kids or grandkids.  In geological terms - it's imminent.

Homo Sapiens' ultimate end will come about because they were collectively too greedy and selfish to care about anything beyond their own short-term desires.

It's a shame - being gifted the most beautiful planet in the known universe then shitting all over it to the point of self-extinction.

Maybe the next species will take better care of it....  survival of the fittest and all that.

roberty

More here: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/08/global-warming-must-not-exceed-15c-warns-landmark-un-report

munckee

The climate is irrelevant the more drugs we come up with to fight the diseases which control our population we are going to wipe ourselves out by growing unsustainable as a species.  But by the time we succumb to a super flu or something else we will have eaten or burned everything anyway so getting flu and dying relatively quickly will seem like a blessing compared to cannabilism and starvation.

thecolourbox

I take the view that, whilst I'll happily do what I can to help with recycling and reducing stuff I buy in plastics etc, at the same time I have to use a car for work, I have to use electric trains for work, I use electricity and heating at home etc so I'm not carbon offsetting or whatever the proper term is.

On a more metaphysical level than the practicality of the above view, I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing if humans did die out, long term. Apart from the mess we'd leave behind I suppose. Humans have done some good things, some bad things. Without humans, you would lose the good but also the bad, therefore it cannot be bad for humans not to exist.

I do find it quite ironic how countries such as our own are penalising countries for doing things that we ourselves did when we developed, in fact what we were doing whilst exploiting those same countries as our colonies etc. Same goes for certain elements of our society moaning about jobs and money being offshored to such places as well.

As a species I always feel like it's actually the disinegnuity of it all that's the problem. A squirrel will happily pinch another squirrel's nuts, but they don't pretend to be doing it for this 2nd squirrel's benefit, and the 2nd squirrel will probably do the pinching at some point too. But they're all ok with that, it's how it is and no squirrel is pretending anything else. But with humans, we always look to hide this kind of behaviour behind a veil of fake humanity, but switching between this and what we actually do results in larger swings between good and bad like an Einstein's cradle. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, the Right get Righter, the Left get Lefter, the hot gets hotter and the cold gets colder.

I'm probably talking absolute nonsense but I'm bored on my lunch break.

Dominic

How do you know that we live on the "most beautiful planet " in the Universe
Some friends of mine went to Jupiter for their summer holidays, stayed in a lovely Hotel and said the culture and scenery were fantastic.They've just re-booked for next year.

fields5069

As per that mind-bending "time is not linear" theory thingy, aren't we already dead?

To be honest, I would say - it's inevitable. The only reason I would want to do anything about it is guilt for the generations who come after us. But really, on the whole, the universe doesn't really give a shit.

Philtre

That's why we have to get our ass to Mars. ;-)

roberty

I find it sad that 200,000 years of human progress could be washed away so easily.  To get this far and then die would be a dreadful shame.  A lot of suffering has been endured to get to the point we're at

Kilgore

Philtre said:

That's why we have to get our ass to Mars. ;-)

Start by building a Starbucks there.

roberty

It wouldn't be a quick death, either.  It would be protracted and harrowing

fields5069

roberty said:

I find it sad that 200,000 years of human progress could be washed away so easily.  To get this far and then die would be a dreadful shame.  A lot of suffering has been endured to get to the point we're at

I bet the dinosaurs felt even worse. Imagine over 150 million years of progress, simply wiped away!

roberty

fields5069 said:

roberty said:

I find it sad that 200,000 years of human progress could be washed away so easily.  To get this far and then die would be a dreadful shame.  A lot of suffering has been endured to get to the point we're at

I bet the dinosaurs felt even worse. Imagine over 150 million years of progress, simply wiped away!

That's a fair point if you're a lizard

fields5069

roberty said:

fields5069 said:

roberty said:

I find it sad that 200,000 years of human progress could be washed away so easily.  To get this far and then die would be a dreadful shame.  A lot of suffering has been endured to get to the point we're at

I bet the dinosaurs felt even worse. Imagine over 150 million years of progress, simply wiped away!

That's a fair point if you're a lizard

Like Donald Trump?

If the end is going to be like The Road, everybody will want to be the dad, but really most of us will be the poor wretches in the cellar...

Danny1969

This could be why we never see anyone from any other planet .... by the time a form of life has figured out interstella travel it's already wiped it's self out .... literally killed it's self with technology. 

Still I probably don't need to put a pension plan in place now, every cloud and all that

roberty

fields5069 said:

roberty said:

fields5069 said:

roberty said:

I find it sad that 200,000 years of human progress could be washed away so easily.  To get this far and then die would be a dreadful shame.  A lot of suffering has been endured to get to the point we're at

I bet the dinosaurs felt even worse. Imagine over 150 million years of progress, simply wiped away!

That's a fair point if you're a lizard

Like Donald Trump?

If the end is going to be like The Road, everybody will want to be the dad, but really most of us will be the poor wretches in the cellar...

If the end is going to be like The Road, I want an American accent

Kilgore

fields5069 said:

roberty said:

I find it sad that 200,000 years of human progress could be washed away so easily.  To get this far and then die would be a dreadful shame.  A lot of suffering has been endured to get to the point we're at

I bet the dinosaurs felt even worse. Imagine over 150 million years of progress, simply wiped away!

It's their own fault, all that time and they couldn't be arsed to develop opposable thumbs. If they had got their act together they could have blown that asteroid apart.

MagicPigDetective

Unless you go to live in a cave, it's almost impossible not to contribute to our downfall. Even by being on here we are doing it. The internet is responsible for roughly one billion tonnes of greenhouse gases a year, or around two per cent of world emissions!! Still, the deniers keep denying.

fields5069

I adopt whatever norm currently exists, vis-à-vis greenness / eco-friendliness. I can't understand why people won't do the simple things, like recycling properly and not chucking plastic in the regular bin etc.

thecolourbox

roberty said:

I find it sad that 200,000 years of human progress could be washed away so easily.  To get this far and then die would be a dreadful shame.  A lot of suffering has been endured to get to the point we're at

Would that progress cease to exist just because we weren't around to remember and recite it?

thermionic

Philtre said:

That's why we have to get our ass to Mars. ;-)

Your donkey wouldn't survive on Mars, not enough oxygen in the atmosphere.

MagicPigDetective

thermionic said:

Philtre said:

That's why we have to get our ass to Mars. ;-)

Your donkey wouldn't survive on Mars, not enough oxygen in the atmosphere.

We will have to settle for the Moon. Mars has dangerous radiation levels, even for donkeys.