How will the human race become extinct? (sound, price, error)

[atreidi]

Everything that has a beginning has an end. True? What will happen to the human race? How long will it live and what will cause its extinction? Explain your answer.


If you guess right, you'll get a price.

[Huckleberry3911948]

spelling errors.

[atreidi]

Extraterrestrial Spelling Errors?

[thecoalman]

Well I think you have 3 choices:

• Huge meteor strike.
• Cataclysmic volcanic eruption.
• Super bug

The last one is really iffy about wiping out the entire population so we really have the first two. Whichever comes first.

[Lamplight]

It seems it would almost have to be some sort of natural disaster or worldwide disease to completely destroy all of humanity. And the natural disaster would have to completely destroy the entire earth, or at least make all of it uninhabitable. That's assuming humans have not yet figured out a way to evacuate the planet. I suppose we could cause ourselves to go extinct, but it would require many incredibly foolish decisions. Actually, that does sound like something we'd wind up doing.

[K-Luv]

Egos are what is going to kill us off. Face it; most people believe that their religion is the right one; that their political ideology is the right one; that their economic situation is the right one; that their race/ethnicity is the right one; that their country is the right one. The fact that we all live here and are stuck on this planet and everyone has to deal with the consequences of other's decisions rarely seem to play a factor into anything (unless it is intentional).

[NightBazaar]

Originally Posted by Lamplight

It seems it would almost have to be some sort of natural disaster or worldwide disease to completely destroy all of humanity. And the natural disaster would have to completely destroy the entire earth, or at least make all of it uninhabitable. That's assuming humans have not yet figured out a way to evacuate the planet. I suppose we could cause ourselves to go extinct, but it would require many incredibly foolish decisions. Actually, that does sound like something we'd wind up doing.

Imagine if there was some impending disaster that was certain to render the entire planet into oblivion. It'd be great if there were a way to evacuate the planet with everyone who wanted to leave. I'd guess it would be thousands of years from now, if not longer, before such a technology would be able to accomodate such a massive exodus of who knows how many billions of people.

Right now, the population of the planet is estimated to be almost 6.8 billion people. The projected population by 2100 could be 13 billion. By 2300, some projections suggest it could go as high as 36.4 billion. How would you evacuate 36.4 billion people? Simple answer is that you can't. Most likely such an evacuation would be done on a selective basis. A few would be chosen to evacuate and the rest would be left behind.

Of course there's the other problem: where to relocate all these evacuees?

On the optimistic side, I think the human race will manage to exist, although the population may decline in significant numbers. In the far distant future, assuming any unforeseen catastrophes are avoided, humans will continue to evolve into who knows what form. Homo sapiens will eventually become extinct. We may have already left the planet by then and migrated to gigantic artificial space habitats that are able to move out of the solar system and slowly around other parts of the galaxy.

[harry chickpea]

"Egos are what is going to kill us off."

Must learn to slow down speed reading. I thought this was "Eggs are what is going to kill us off."

Not predicting, but just making a comment here-

Consider that in prehistory, the power of a single individual was tiny. When weaponry and industry advanced, that power became much larger. When the nuclear enigma was explored, a very limited number of men in missile silos held immense power. As math and physics and related sciences and industries evolve, the potential power of individuals (not all, but some) will increase until eventually one individual could hold enough power to end humanity, end mammalian life, or even destroy the world.

Literally, humanity could end with a "Oops! That's not good."

[yankeegirl313]

The honeybees will all disappear!

[gy2020]

The way to evacuate the planet would be to build a number of space elevators. Each elevator could have hundreds of cars that held 15-50 people each. You would have an equal number ascending and descending. Taking thousands of people to space where waiting crafts would be at the ready.

We are going to begin with one space elevator, but if man knew that a hugh astroid was going to strike the planet in 20 or 30 years, that might create the motivation to build many.

If you couldn't get billions off you might get millions off.

Space Elevator