What do you think will end the human race?

[Dracion1]

No idea, although these are some of the most likely/popular ones in my opinion:

 

 

 

Global warming

 

Asteroid impact

 

Nuclear war

 

Religion (No offense intended, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of the religious conflict going on escalated into Nuclear War or similar)

 

Disease epidemic

 

Alien invasion

 

Genetic experiments gone wrong (Zombies basically)

[Wizz]

Instrumentality of Complementation :twss:

 

Just kidding :lol:

 

I think well blow each other up eventually...

[Mischlings]

As I do not have enough time to make a well-thought out, exhaustive post, I will instead point everyone here to a scientific paper on this very subject.

 

 

 

Existential Risks by Nick Bostrom. I can't think of anything at the moment that he hasn't yet covered in this paper, and it gives a pretty good indication of what could or could not happen.

[RSBDavid]

We will be our own downfall.

[Wisp]

I didn't read the thread word by word, but in my opinion an Ice Age will eventually kill all the humans on earth. I just can't see us standing much of a chance agaisnt another Ice Age.

 

I think people have huge misconceptions about ice-ages.

 

1: The difference in average degrees over the course of the year is very small during ice ages , compared to what most people think, only enough for there to be more snowfall each winter, and enough so atleast a tiny bit of snow stays the next year, so it builds up over hundreds of years.

 

2: Again, it takes hundreds of years for an ice age to have huge glaciers, and scientists would, in that time, know it was the start of an ice age, and humans would have centuries to prepare.

 

An ice age would merely temporarily limit what areas we could live in. Hell, at that point we could probably build giant (i mean GIANT) walls in order to stop the glaciers from passing certain points.

 

Humans, as in homo sapien sapiens, have been around for I think 1-2 million years, and in that time period we have gone through many ice ages.

 

An ice age would do little.

 

 

 

A pandemic, there was a major one around 1918, numbers are disputed, but, in the course of a year or two up to 100 million people may have been killed (spanish influenza.) However, people were able to stay healthy by isolating themselves. Nowadays it is much easier, as we have internet, tv, refrigerators and all, we could live in a house for months at a time if you stored food. Many would be killed, especially in more crowded areas, like cities, but in the end, there will still be many of us left.

 

 

 

Global warming? Even in the worst case scenarios, we would survive. Many would die, animals would die in some areas, but in general, cattle and all would survive, and conditions for growing food would be made better in some areas.

 

 

 

Comet/asteroid? it depends on the size, but we would be able to tell that it was coming a fair amount of time before it hit, and preparations and underground shelters could be made. The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs killed the massive dinosaurs, sure, but there were still many animals that survived, and they didn't have underground bunkers to hide in.

 

 

 

Nuclear war? Billions would die, if nukes were launched around the world, but there are bunkers, and people might be able to survive in radiation free areas. We have billions of people in the world today, yet we do not need that many to survive as a race. A hundred thousand people would be more than enough to insure the survival of humankind.

 

 

 

Sun exploding/whatever? Earth would be pretty much screwed, but that is so far in the future that I can almost guarantee that if we have survived that long, we will be on other planets. Think about it. in the past 300 years we have gone from riding around on horses and such, to electricity, oil, plastics, cars, computers and space travel.

 

 

 

Supervolcano/yellowstone? Again, much of north america and that area would be wiped out, it would cause an ice age, but again, it would be a slightly worse ice age that in the past, but it would not last forever, only a few years. There was a small ice age in the 1800s caused by Krakatoa.

 

 

 

Invasion of more militarily advanced alien race? Sounds unlikely, but in a few billion years, who knows what could happen. Tons of humans would be wiped out, but unless there earth and all of any possible colonies were physically destroyed, then some humans will survive.

 

 

 

That about covers it, but who knows. A black hole would basically kill everything within a huge radius, so watchout.

 

 

 

EDIT:

 

 

 

Super intelligence? If we design a super intelligent robot, computer, or whatever and for some reason it turns against us or is designed to wipe out mankind, who knows. With this, it is possible, but extremely unlikely.

 

 

 

Also, those saying cockroaches will be the only ones left after a nuclear war, they actually have a fairly low tolerance for radiation. If i remember right, on a scale, humans had something like 20, cockroaches had sixty. Fruit flies had a lot, and some bacteria had like 60000.

[i_trollz_u]

When the world's oil supply runs out and we haven't found any alternative to it.

[Intriguing]

When the world's oil supply runs out and we haven't found any alternative to it.

 

We already have numerous alternatives to it.. they're just not as cost-efficient and/or have negative byproducts.

[Wisp]

oil won't run out at our current rate of use for a long time, and during that time alternatives that are suitable will be found in all likelihood. Nuclear for example, if we can find a safe way to dispose of waste than we have a very clean energy source

[Laura]

When the world's oil supply runs out and we haven't found any alternative to it.

 

We already have numerous alternatives to it.. they're just not as cost-efficient and/or have negative byproducts.

 

A lot of the environmentally safe energy is more cost efficient than oil and have no negative byproducts. This is a common misconception as to why we still use oil. Oil has been around and we already have is marketed, and the tools for it. We would convert to some other fuel, but then gas companies would go out of businesses, people would lose tons of jobs, common cars would be unusable, not to mention the cost of complete conversion would cost at least trillions of dollars.

 

 

 

oil won't run out at our current rate of use for a long time, and during that time alternatives that are suitable will be found in all likelihood. Nuclear for example, if we can find a safe way to dispose of waste than we have a very clean energy source

 

It's not a matter of oil running out. It's about how much our planet can take. We already have plenty of alternatives, nuclear, wind, solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, and some day cold fusion(the only, literally, unlimited energy source). Heck even Prince Harry's car is supposed to run on wine. On that note, we do have safe means of disposing of nuclear waste. They ship the used nonradioactive uranium to the military for use in tanks. The only non safe thing about nuclear energy is when they store radioactive materials in containers who's half life is 500,000 years. The radioactive materials half life lasting up to millions of years old.

[i_trollz_u]

When the world's oil supply runs out and we haven't found any alternative to it.

 

We already have numerous alternatives to it.. they're just not as cost-efficient and/or have negative byproducts.

 

 

 

Which means they wont replace oil when it get low and the US starts more wars over oil.

[i_trollz_u]

And most alternative energy sources still can't effectively replace oil and stil require more development.

[Wisp]

Still, the military only needs so much nonradioactive uranium.

 

Let's be serious here, global warming gets bad from overuse of oil. Many die, but we are not talking about full out extinction here, people will die, some animals will be wiped out, but in the end, humans will remain. I'm not saying we should just let it happen, but it will not wipe out humanity.

 

The world would not end if we ran out of oil. It would cost money, granted, but all we need now is a cheap way to convert cars and all to an alternative, and make sure there is enough of the alternative to run everything.

 

 

 

Interesting fact:

 

How does the mantle of the earth stay molten. Although the crust serves as an insulator, heat from the sun is not enough. The mantle remains molten because of heat generated from radioactive decay.

[i_trollz_u]

Still, the military only needs so much nonradioactive uranium.

 

Let's be serious here, global warming gets bad from overuse of oil. Many die, but we are not talking about full out extinction here, people will die, some animals will be wiped out, but in the end, humans will remain. I'm not saying we should just let it happen, but it will not wipe out humanity.

 

The world would not end if we ran out of oil. It would cost money, granted, but all we need now is a cheap way to convert cars and all to an alternative, and make sure there is enough of the alternative to run everything.

 

 

 

Interesting fact:

 

How does the mantle of the earth stay molten. Although the crust serves as an insulator, heat from the sun is not enough. The mantle remains molten because of heat generated from radioactive decay.

 

 

 

I'm not talking about climate change. I'm talking about the state of chaos the world is gonna be in when the world starts to/runs out of oil. I mean imagine if there was no more oil in the world or just a tiny bit left. The fact is that, as Bush even said, America is addicted to oil. Hell the whole world is pretty much addicted to oil and without it you can expect America to start nuking countries for what little oil there might be left.

 

 

 

Alternative energy sources might work but they still a lot more work and until they come I think the most probable way for the earth to end is when oil starts runnning low.

[Lenticular_J]

Nuking countries for oil? Do you pay any attention to the world whatsoever?

[i_trollz_u]

Uhhh....yeah. I do actually.

 

 

 

The US kind of said it'd do anything to keep oil flowing and if the there's no oil America's gonna collapse anyway so its not like it would care if the world hates it when its on the brink of destruction.

[i_trollz_u]

And yeah, the US would be deperate enought to start a war for oil. What do you think the US would do if it was on the brink of no transportaion, no electricity, no clothes, no more plastic, no more millitary, no more pretty much...everthing?

[jackattack]

Ever heard of the Strategic petroleum reserve?

[Kill_Thomas9]

In order of likelyhood (most to least)

 

 

 

1. Nuclear War: Kaboom. Human race gone/only a few survivors

 

 

 

2. Some unforseen complication of Global Warming

 

 

 

3. Bees all die > no fruit > no meat > starvation

 

 

 

4. Huge asteriod (assuming we don't have the technology to destroy it) hits earth, first burning the surface with temperatures around 800°F and then global winter. Most if not all the human race dead.

 

 

 

5. Giant Epidemic. We die. The end.

[Nero]

I think it would have to be a combination of at least two terminal events, something along the lines of a Super-Volcano erupting while WW3 is being fought. I can't see any single event destroying the entire human race.

[i_trollz_u]

Ever heard of the Strategic petroleum reserve?

 

 

 

It doesn't matter...oil's gonna run out eventually and the US is gonna do something to get its hands on oil when it starts to run out.

[JimmyX34]

I think it would have to be a combination of at least two terminal events, something along the lines of a Super-Volcano erupting while WW3 is being fought. I can't see any single event destroying the entire human race.

 

 

 

If there was a World War 3 the human race would end

[Furah]

Revelations sums it up pretty nice (Bible)

 

 

 

You're actually trying to tell me the world will end with angels swooping down, destroying everything, followed by a dragon? :| I go to a Catholic school, even they suggest that Revelations shouldn't be taken seriously, let alone many parts of the bible that don't involve Jesus...

 

 

 

Uh, I think the Human Race will fall under medical terrorism. Trauma Center, anyone?

 

 

 

what kind of school is that? a school with it's roots in the bible is saying for it not to be taken seriously?

[warri0r45]

In order of likelyhood (most to least)

 

 

 

1. Nuclear War: Kaboom. Human race gone/only a few survivors

 

 

 

2. Some unforseen complication of Global Warming

 

 

 

3. Bees all die > no fruit > no meat > starvation

 

 

 

4. Huge asteriod (assuming we don't have the technology to destroy it) hits earth, first burning the surface with temperatures around 800°F and then global winter. Most if not all the human race dead.

 

 

 

5. Giant Epidemic. We die. The end.

 

 

 

The bee one is interesting. I remember seeing a piece on 60 minutes which explained that a parasite is killing the bees and therefore they can't stimulate pollination of many plants. The obvious result is that plants don't grow and we loose food production.

 

 

 

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... ybees.html

[monkeyboo2]

aliens. war of the worlds anyone?

 

 

 

Didn't we win that?I didn't like the movie so much though,pictured the aliens as a squid with giant ear-lobe things...

 

 

 

It was a pretty lame film (the remake). The super intelligent aliens forgot to get their cold and flu jabs.

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway I think a meteroite is the most likely.

[Sumpta]

Most likely we will kill ourselves(well that was the outlook until recently but there's a small chance we won't now) and when we do the world will be a better place.

 

It's. A. Rock.

 

 

 

Teehee. Succinctness (awful word though) equals language power.