Its the End of the World as we...

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With all the bad news of crisis', Ebola Pandemics, ISIS, Russia pulling strings and an Election in the US coming up which means a new President in 2016, Add the most severe storms in history slamming the Pacific (Japan area), and volcanoes erupting. It would seem that the end of the world may finally be upon us, maybe not in the immediate as in the next couple years future, but perhaps a 10-25 years down the road. But what are some other people's opinion on this? Will the Millennial Generation see the end of days alas for those that have been predicting it time and time again?

Nothing that's happening today, that's for sure.

Probably when we evolve into something that's not "human" as we know it (or some extinction level event from space).

Perhaps we'll develop wheels or something.

Oh yes... Can't forget the so called Singularity when we're all supposed to turn into cyborgs and or the machines take over (something in those lines) Supposedly set for 2045. Kind of finding that hard to believe though unless cybernetics, AI, and Nanorobotics make some huge leaps between then and now.

That's an enormous jump from 1,000 years to 1,000,000 years.

Our next really serious threat will likely be when the next period of glaciation of this ice age begins. Keep in mind that we are only about two and a half million years into the Quarternary. If previous ice ages are any indication, this one could easily last a hundred million years or more.

I think that unless we enter a snowball earth situation (entire world covered with ice), the ice age itself won't wipe us out. If it does, expect several million years of global ice cover and the extinction of pretty much all surface life.

In any event, I really doubt that we'll become extinct as long as it is warm. The best thing that could happen is for the planet to keep warming and put an end to this ice age, but unfortunately that appears to be very unlikely. Once the next period of glaciation begins, watch out -- at the very least, starvation and death by starvation are going to become very major problems. And so will the wars over the declining available resources. We should survive that, but with a far smaller population than now.

The Squid has always viewed this topic as being easily explained through enhanced media coverage. We specifically remember not having so many "Disasters" when we were a child in the 90's. But then again, during that time, most folks didn't have or use a personal home computer, or social media to spread news. While technically Ebola is easier to spread, did you know that Rabies has a 99.999% mortality rate among those who contract it and don't find out early? And Ebola still does not compare to the numbers wiped out from the Bubonic plague. As far as Russia is concerned, we've been "Rivals" with them since the end of WWII, and nothing has changed there. We believe life will continue to go on as it always has. When you think about it, once humanity colonizes another planet, the end of the human race is pretty much secured. We feel this will happen sooner than most people think.

there's nothing really special that wasn't there 50 years ago, except for increased media coverage.

also, humanity is constantly evolving, since the dark ages, there are quite a few points where you can say that "humanity as we know it" ended, from their point of view.

the biggest 'threat' to humanity (culture) is not one of the epidemics or wars, but augmented reality in wearable technology; google glass-like devices will be what changes humanity into something new before anything else

Assuming the current most accepted theory is correct, that total nuclear war would not wipe out humanity, then I would guess the usual suspects would be most likely to do it: 1) Large extraterrestrial object hitting the earth. 2) Massive volcanic event. Those are the two things believed to have caused all the mass extinction events in the past. But I do not know of any time period established as to when either of those is likely to occur. The Super Volcano at Yellowstone has been the subject of recent discussion, as we are roughly in the window time-period (but it is a big window, like 20-50k years) of the next eruption based on the previous three. But the Yellowstone events did not cause mass extinctions and humanity itself is thought able to survive that event. The Volcanic events suspected of causing mass extinctions were truly huge and dwarf even the Yellowstone volcano.

Plagues, diseases, etc, have been with us since the beginning, but never have come truly close to causing a total extinction. The largest known, the Bubonic Plague/Black Death may have eliminated 60% of the people in affected areas, but there were many large unaffected areas. Even with hypothetical worldwide transmission and the most deadly disease known it still does not eliminate people totally and 100's of millions survive.

There are humans all over the globe, and we eat a wide variety of foods. Only a small percentage of us would need to survive any event in order for our species to survive. An Ice Age couldn't wipe us all out, but a meteor strike or volcanic eruption that caused the sun to be blotted out for a time might do it. Also I think nukes could do it, if there were enough of them dropped in enough different locations.

I think the next major global conflict is likely to be fueled by lack of resources and be primarily between the US (declining power) and China (rising power). With nukes involved, it could easily cause the end of civilization.

It could actually be a lot like the intro to Fallout.

Yes, it could be the end of civilization, but probably for a time only and not the end of humanity. Some would survive and something new would develop.

The exact configuration of opponents in the next global war, if there is one, is tough to say with certainty. I would guess it would also be more a matter of alliances or blocks of countries, rather then individual ones. Russia, the EU, India, The Arab Nations and the rest of Asia would have some alignment.

As far as resources goes it also seems to be a matter of the Northern Hemisphere fighting over who gets the Southern Hemisphere's resources.

Exactly, it's possible that half of will die of disease or nuclear war, but humanity won't end any time soon, barring a huge asteroid strike. But species last about a million years, so I'd give us about that long. If we settle space, that will create huge barriers to reproduction that encourage speciation.

I went with a million, because there are so many billions of humans now - and our numbers are ever increasing - that there will almost always be our species on this planet, regardless of a potential pandemic like Ebola, or severe climate change, or genocidal war. We'll be here till either Christ comes back, or we evolve into something perhaps wiser than we are now.

The way I see it's maybe it's a good thing the human race disappears from the face or earth. It's about time our planet returns to animals, we has humans had our chance and we blew it bit time!
We are to many people in the world, when September hits we have already consumed everything the earth is capable of producing in one year, and there is no solution to it, and if all of mankind started to live like norther Americans or Europeans we would need 4 planets, and we can't blame other countries or people to want to reach the standards we have in the west. So basically were are f****d, lets just live with it, enjoy every minute and accept our faith, because it our own volatile nature that is causing all of of this. And those having kids today are just crazy, they are bringing them into an awful world where they are less jobs, where most will live less good than their parents and these same parents should stop thinking their kid will be the exception because it's not the case.
Sorry for being a fatalist.

Sometimes I think it's amazing we haven't all died a long time ago, but it looks like time is running out. I just read about people in Ottowa being hospitalized for Ebola-like symptoms. Of course the government's completely evil and is still sending people to Africa in spite of this, they must really want us to die. I told my mother I'd like a new winter coat for Christmas, but if we actually live to see Christmas a haz-matt suit would probably be a better choice. I wonder how survivalists get all the stuff they need to build their shelters and stuff. They must be rich! I'm not nearly so lucky.

Nonsense. Compared to the eruption of the Siberian Traps what is happening now is a minor disturbance.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_Traps

ruveyn

My degrees in Social Sciences Interdisciplinary, Health Science, and Anthropology, certainly provided me no ticket to work back in the early 80's, but what they did do is provide a foundation of humanities in wisdom, to live a happy life, regardless of what I did for work, until computers came along, and my specialized skills with that mechanical cognition narrowed skill, took me away from my social cognition skills, that once allowed me to play free with the herd of human beings wherever I went.

But this wasn't part of the science of human being, back in my day, of 1970's-80's study in college, either, it is fairly new finding in science now.

But what anthropology did teach me is that human beings, general speaking are only evolved to take on the social cognition ability for about 150 to 200 sets of human eyes.

Taking on the problems of 7 billion people, is not advisable, seriously, for good mental health or even longevity.

That's easy to see, in recent President's accelerated aging process as leaders of the so-called free world.

One of the biggest mistakes in my life is becoming a news junkie switching between CNN, MSNBC, and FOX news, to hear all the dissension and bad news in the world. Garbage in garbage in is what my mind then, became.

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, is truly a mythology that is necessary for basic human happiness, overall.

I turned the TV and News Paper completely off, at the beginning of a pain disorder that took effective use of my eyes and ears for perusing it, no longer viable.

In a way, that pain disorder was worth its 'wait' in gold, as it broke a horrible habit of living in the darkness of the world, instead of hearing the birds sing, and squirrels chatter as the wind breezes through the pines of my country home backyard true.

Yes, I am very fortunate to live in a safe place, that hasn't been robbed in decades, where people reasonably CAN, leave their doors open, in daytime hours. Not everyone is that lucky, I know.

But to tune into all of the worlds problems of over 7 billion humans is not advisable in any true human nature science of human being I know, now.

The human mirror neuron system, which uses visual images, to relate and to worry about others, and their plight imaged as such, in our own lives, is incredibly good for mirroring the problems other folks have, when either seen, heard, or discussed, as such.


We only live a flesh and blood life, in a blip of the time scale of everything that COULD GO WRONG, on this planet we stay on, simply as it has been brought to our attention, in our mirror neuron ways, of experiencing what truly does not exist in our life, now, with the advent of TV and the Internet and virtual reality there.

Truly I think, and what I do now, is tune out and live free.

I am no longer a spectator of another person's life or drama in Internet or TV life, whether game or real.

I am the director, producer, photographer, and actor of my own 'dam' play now, for free and not prisoner of someone else's 'mirror neuron' hell.

It's just human nature and the way the human mind works. One can understand it more fully and set their self free.

Or one can certainly stay in prison if they so choose to keep those doors locked.

My choice is to create and be free, kind of like the metaphor of Mother Nature TRUE, as what some folks describe as GOD. A way of life with no self-imposed prisons of worry, that yes, with the help of modern technology, we certainly can inflict on ourselves, and live every now like it's the end of the world, instead of something new and incredibly amazing that yes, we CAN CREATE.

WILL, YES, FREE WILL, IS REAL; IF ONE DEVELOPS RELATIVE FREE WILL, AND CHANGES.

Without that there truly is not much will at all, as spectators in the audience of the play of someone else's life.

That is so far away from basic human nature, it would be laughable to a so-called primitive man, watching a human sitting still, hypnotized in a mirror neuron life, in a screen, yes, the primitive man might SCREAM, OR yell, get the hell out of prison.

It's truly nice, at least for me, to live undomesticated, and Truly free, once again, like my truly OVERALL smarter, PER THE most important physical and emotional intelligences, of my animal ancestors, just living free.

Yes they do live without the chains, of the illusion of culture now, in what truly can be, human hell, otherwise known as conscious awareness of all the hells that can be culture, worldwide, across a globe, where hell is the daily routing in routine of some, which can be shared by us, woefully so, too.

We truly are not adapted for that in a healthy way, so I simply say no, to the hells I cannot change, and for my own good, do no longer view.

I simply turn it off, and listen to the birds, squirrels and breeze through tall pined backyard woods, to know and feel fortunate to be unchained and free from the rest of the world, I simply have no control over, or truly need to know.

The end of the world is when you die, as far as we know now, so I choose to live every now to the best of my ability, so yes, I only live now, and there is no credible end of the world, in my mind now, and truly now is all that exists, so it's all I worry about, in a reality, that is far from random for me, and yes FREE, WITH relative FREE WILL.