How are humans going to become extinct?

trubble76 · #1 by **trubble76** » Apr 24, 2013 1:03 pm

What are the greatest global threats to humanity? Are we on the verge of our own unexpected extinction?

An international team of scientists, mathematicians and philosophers at Oxford University's Future of Humanity Institute is investigating the biggest dangers.

And they argue in a research paper, Existential Risk as a Global Priority, that international policymakers must pay serious attention to the reality of species-obliterating risks.

Last year there were more academic papers published on snowboarding than human extinction.

The Swedish-born director of the institute, Nick Bostrom, says the stakes couldn't be higher. If we get it wrong, this could be humanity's final century.

Continues here.

Personally I think it will be when sharks suddenly evolve legs and lungs and take their murderous revenge on us. Either that or self-aware robotic hookers that revolt and hunt us for sport.

HughMcB · #2 by **HughMcB** » Apr 24, 2013 3:30 pm

I doubt we'll go extinct from global warming, we're too crafty for that. Even if 99.99% of all humans die that still leaves a sustainable population of mutants.

An E.V.E. for humankind would most likely come from the skies, be that gamma ray bursts, giant comets that liquefy the entire crust or aliens looking to annihilate us. :nod:

Personally, I hope for zombies. :coffee:

laklak · #3 by **laklak** » Apr 24, 2013 4:04 pm

Probably with a bang, but maybe with a whimper.

Steve · #4 by **Steve** » Apr 24, 2013 4:14 pm

By something sufficiently different evolving from us.

Wiðercora · #5 by **Wiðercora** » Apr 24, 2013 5:37 pm

The Robotic Uprising of the late 2000s.

Finally! Robotic beings rule the world!

Or maybe air will finally be privatised, and so many people will suffocate due to being unable to pay their oxygen bills that there will be too few people to sustain the population.

Scot Dutchy · #6 by **Scot Dutchy** » Apr 24, 2013 5:49 pm

Does it matter if we become extinct?

Something else could take our place? Mabye it could be an improvement.

Arcanyn · #7 by **Arcanyn** » Apr 24, 2013 6:14 pm

They will become obsolete when the Human v 2.0 comes out.

UtilityMonster · #8 by **UtilityMonster** » Apr 24, 2013 6:21 pm

Scot Dutchy wrote:Does it matter if we become extinct?

Something else could take our place? Mabye it could be an improvement.

Are you high?

Rhubis · #9 by **Rhubis** » Apr 25, 2013 1:51 am

How could humans go extinct? The planet could be bombarded by radiation from some cosmic event, big old chunks of space rock, we could all come down with some deadly disease (I'm betting cat flu), technological singularity murderbots, world war 3 leaving the world a nuclear wasteland, galactus, cthulhu, daleks. The choices are endless.

Tim Hem · **#10** by **Tim Hem** » Apr 25, 2013 12:22 pm

hmm, in my opinion the answer to that is probably quite dull. We Homo Sapien Sapiens will be extinct when we have evolved into whatever we become...which probably wont look much like us. I dont really see a good reason why our sentient descendants cant survive a very long time ... probably even beyond our star going Red Giant - but I dont think you would be able to describe them as Human beings (although they might call themselves that of course)
Just my best guess

Jakov · **#11** by **Jakov** » Apr 26, 2013 2:51 pm

UtilityMonster wrote:
Scot Dutchy wrote:Does it matter if we become extinct?

Something else could take our place? Mabye it could be an improvement.

Are you high?

Just misanthropic. It's far more rational. :coffee:

Scot Dutchy · **#12** by **Scot Dutchy** » Apr 26, 2013 3:00 pm

Jakov wrote:
UtilityMonster wrote:
Scot Dutchy wrote:Does it matter if we become extinct?

Something else could take our place? Mabye it could be an improvement.

Are you high?

Just misanthropic. It's far more rational.

I forgot we have the special one here.

Existance is not a right. We exist big deal. We become extinct BIG DEAL.

Tim Hem · **#13** by **Tim Hem** » Apr 26, 2013 3:12 pm

if something else did take our place, then I would agree with you. In this case, i think of "our" as being a sentient species with at least some ability to comprehend the outside universe.
For all we know, we might be the only species in the entire history of the universe to have that ability. Its that ability that is very much a big deal to me...the species that carry's that conciousness is less important.
If we went extinct, the chances of another species (not descended from us) acquiring that ability are not all that great.
For that reason, I do think it is a big deal

epepke · **#14** by **epepke** » Apr 26, 2013 3:20 pm

Scot Dutchy wrote:I forgot we have the special one here.

Existance is not a right. We exist big deal. We become extinct BIG DEAL.

Yep.

Alas, humans probably won't go extinct. We're probably as uneradicable as cockroaches. Civilization might be wiped out (which actually will harm the cockroaches more), but there will be pockets that might eventually evolve into something else. Humans are just too good at surviving under vastly different conditions to be gotten rid of altogether.

HughMcB · **#15** by **HughMcB** » Apr 26, 2013 3:38 pm

Yeah I think so too, that's why I mentioned that short of anything catastrophic like the complete liquefaction of the crust, or an all encompassing gamma ray burst (taking us by surprise), we should still survive. Us versus cockroaches, now there's a good fight.

Lobar · **#16** by **Lobar** » Apr 26, 2013 3:42 pm

When vegans are the majority. They'll end up forcing sterilization on us, because giving birth causes suffering to animals and humans alike.

Scot Dutchy · **#17** by **Scot Dutchy** » Apr 26, 2013 3:42 pm

HughMcB wrote:Yeah I think so too, that's why I mentioned that short of anything catastrophic like the complete liquefaction of the crust, or an all encompassing gamma ray burst (taking us by surprise), we should still survive. Us versus cockroaches, now there's a good fight.

No contest roaches win always.

epepke · **#18** by **epepke** » Apr 26, 2013 3:47 pm

HughMcB wrote:Yeah I think so too, that's why I mentioned that short of anything catastrophic like the complete liquefaction of the crust, or an all encompassing gamma ray burst (taking us by surprise), we should still survive. Us versus cockroaches, now there's a good fight.

Cockroaches outside of semi-tropical regions tend to die off rather quickly once human central heating goes away.

How about this? A massive burst of gamma rays only gets the humans to die off on one side of the planets, but it mutates the cockroaches into monsters like in the movie Them. The remainder of the desolate humanity hires Mad Max types who go around on Vespas (better mileage) carrying big cans of shaving cream to plug up their spiracles.

Lobar · **#19** by **Lobar** » Apr 26, 2013 3:53 pm

Vegans will be the end of us. DOWN WITH VEGANISM!

CdesignProponentsist · **#20** by **CdesignProponentsist** » Apr 26, 2013 4:12 pm

Steve wrote:By something sufficiently different evolving from us.

Which will be human engineered. We will most likely become extinct by designing our own replacements, and it is coming very soon if you take in account the non-linear nature of technological advancement.

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