Poll of the Day > Do you think the Human Race will exist 500 years from now?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I put unsure there because why not

I have a flat out no, we're moving too fast
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Yes, no matter all the crap we do short of the sun blowing up and taking our solar system with it humans will survive in some form, even if it is only a couple hundred or so.
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Yes, but overpopulation, war, disease and starvation will reduce the race back to a more primitive lifestyle.
I feel that some jackass is going to start a nuclear war during this time frame.
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Yea I guess a better question would've been "endangered" as that is much more likely
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I hope not.
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Barring any sort of unstoppable huge natural disaster, yes.
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Of course it'll exist, just probably not over 10 billion strong.
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Definitely yes.
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Humanity and Earth itself has survived a lot of bullshit over the ages. I find the notion of some "point of no return" to be laughable. Whether it be some huge natural disaster, dramatic climate shift, a super bug causing widespread illness, or a devastating global war, humanity will continue to exist.
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Humanity will exist in some capacity but there will be some sort of major event in those 500 years that has a huge impact on population and culture.

I do worry that we may get wiped out by bio-terrorism.
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Veedrock- posted...

Humanity and Earth itself has survived a lot of bullshit over the ages. I find the notion of some "point of no return" to be laughable. Whether it be some huge natural disaster, dramatic climate shift, a super bug causing widespread illness, or a devastating global war, humanity will continue to exist.

I understand where you're coming from, but this is a very conceited mindset. I don't think it will continue to exist, we will most likely evolve into something else

Just because we are "smarter" doesn't mean we can outlive what has always transpired: evolution. Maybe not in 500 years, but to say we will continue to exist indefinitely is a very bold statement (I do like it though, there are good points for and against that)
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I don't care as I'll be dead.
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mastermix3000 posted...

Veedrock- posted...

Humanity and Earth itself has survived a lot of bullshit over the ages. I find the notion of some "point of no return" to be laughable. Whether it be some huge natural disaster, dramatic climate shift, a super bug causing widespread illness, or a devastating global war, humanity will continue to exist.

I understand where you're coming from, but this is a very conceited mindset. I don't think it will continue to exist, we will most likely evolve into something else

Just because we are "smarter" doesn't mean we can outlive what has always transpired: evolution. Maybe not in 500 years, but to say we will continue to exist indefinitely is a very bold statement (I do like it though, there are good points for and against that)

It's not conceited at all, it is simple law of averages.

Humans as we know them have survived for the last 200,000 years, and humanity as a whole has been around for millions of years. Given that evolution to the point that we would no longer be considered "human" would take billions of years, it is not out of the realm of possibility in the least to say that humanity is still going to exist until something completely out of our control wipes us out.
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Dikitain posted...

Humans as we know them have survived for the last 200,000 years, and humanity as a whole has been around for millions of years. Given that evolution to the point that we would no longer be considered "human" would take billions of years, it is not out of the realm of possibility in the least to say that humanity is still going to exist until something completely out of our control wipes us out.

You have a very fair point and technically speaking it is (or would be) the right answer. It's sad we can never know the answer tho :(
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We have already taken chances that could have destroyed all life, not just humans on this planet.

We have taken a chance at creating an actual black hole, yes it would start small, but nothing would stop it.

We have created viruses that are dangerous enough to wipe out all life, they just have not been released. In theory a virus can even be made that will feed on itself (and everything else) destroying any living matter on the planet eventually.

Global warming has the potential to make the planet unable to support life. A perpetual cloud cover could trap heat in, increasing the temp to the point where life could not exist (look at Venus). While not on our radar right now, it's not impossible.

The Locust effect is real. Human beings exist on this planet in such large numbers because of technology. Get rid of that technology and we become like locusts apon the earth, billions of humans struggling to survive and destroying everything in their path. Toss in some remaining technology to allow for mining/destroying trees etc, and humans could at least destroy everything on land. The underwater plants would probably keep a breathable atmosphere, but life on land might go poof for a few thousand years until new creatures emerge from the sea again.

Nature itself may eventually fight back against humanity as well, in a variety of ways, and if Humans no longer have technology at that point, they might not have the ability to survive.

Will humans live another 500 years?

I think if they make it past the next 40 years they will, but I wouldn't bet on us making it past the next 40.
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Pretty much guaranteed at this point. During the height of the Cold War, it *might* have seemed like a maybe but things are more than well enough set now with contingencies for everything. Anybody who thinks humanity won't be around is either delusional or absurdly pessimistic (or optimistic, if a misanthrope)

mastermix3000 posted...

Veedrock- posted...

Humanity and Earth itself has survived a lot of bullshit over the ages. I find the notion of some "point of no return" to be laughable. Whether it be some huge natural disaster, dramatic climate shift, a super bug causing widespread illness, or a devastating global war, humanity will continue to exist.

I understand where you're coming from, but this is a very conceited mindset. I don't think it will continue to exist, we will most likely evolve into something else

Just because we are "smarter" doesn't mean we can outlive what has always transpired: evolution. Maybe not in 500 years, but to say we will continue to exist indefinitely is a very bold statement (I do like it though, there are good points for and against that)

Even if humans were to somehow evolve, they'd still be human. 10,000 years ago, humans were will considered human. 500 certainly isn't enough time to redefine humanity, especially because the definition would likely follow the changes to humanity. Keep in mind that a human today would be vastly unrecognizable
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almost guaranteed that there will still be humans. what's scary to me though is that there pretty much has to be a post-civilization era that happens before true extinction. we've seen it enough times in movies that it seems like a fairy-tale, but there *really will be* a post-civilization/post-apocalyptic era. it's just a question of when.
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Zeus posted...

Even if humans were to somehow evolve, they'd still be human.

yes, the right way to think of it is that the meaning of "human" would broaden over time. you never get to a point of having something that's not human. something as concrete as chihuahua eventually becomes as broad as "dog", and eventually as broad as "mammal" and eventually as broad as "vertebrate".

thinking of it, we would stay relatively homogenous on earth, but if we colonized other planets, and enough time passed with enough isolation between worlds, you would actually eventually get something kind of like star trek, where there'd be different "kinds" of human(oid) that vary in mostly superficial ways.
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DrPrimemaster posted...

Humanity will exist in some capacity but there will be some sort of major event in those 500 years that has a huge impact on population and culture.

I do worry that we may get wiped out by bio-terrorism.

This.
Our history is filled with events that killed off a big part of our population in one way or another, and it will happen again even if we believe that we are prepared.
Wars, the Black Death, the small ice age of ~530 AD, etc.
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