On 10/30/2013 2:54 PM, LizR wrote:
Or to be exact, is humanity fucked? Or at least the vast majority of it - I can imagine
some of us surviving even a catastrophic ecological collapse. But leaving aside the
horrible thought that we might go 99% extinct, is there any chance for the survivors, at
least, having a long term future?
I suspect not, because the chances are they would be unable to sustain anything like our
present level of technology.
We survived about 200Myr with no more technology than flint chipping.
A tribal or medieval human race is unlikely to last out. All the readily available
fossil fuels have been burned, which makes another industrial revolution unlikely - even
assuming they could learn the lessons of the past and headed towards sustainability
a.s.a.p., they'd need that initial kick-start. And without attaining at least our
present level of technology they would have no defence against normal planetary disaster
- comet impacts, supervolcanoes, etc.
I don't think we have any defense against those now. Hell, we don't even have a defense
against global warming and it's US.
Brent
So in the long run it's goodnight Vienna, and the silence of the stars, as noted by
SETI, continues.
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