How long does Earth have left?

[Nivek 16933]

On 5/11/2018 at 12:44 PM, CHEF DIESEL said:

No matter what humans as a species do, either cut down all the trees, burn everything...or...become hyper sensitive eco-warriors, humans will become extinct. Just like everything else except for amoeba and some primitive ooze somewhere. Extinction is just the order of things. It has nothing to do with climate change or lack thereof. It has everything to do with just the natural track record of life on this planet. It all goes extinct. Just like humans will.

Or rather we evolve and a newer form(s) of Homo Saipan Sapian emerges or we carry on ala the horseshoe crab due to our ability to manipulate our environment.    

[XYZ 2154]

16 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

If we can do anything to avoid extinction, we should. We should strive to exist long enough to evolve into a higher being, just like our ancestors did for billions of years before us, from all the way back when our ancestors were single cell creatures.

Now explain why.

[WhatTheBuck 28783]

17 minutes ago, XYZ said:

Now explain why.

Why what?

[XYZ 2154]

Why we should avoid extinction.

[Sidney Sherman 66]

The Earth has likely 4-6 billion years left. Around then the sun will go all red giant and roast the fuck out of Earth. 

[GreenspointTexas 9602]

For the last time, thread is about how much longer humans have left on earth before we either leave this planet, destroy it, or destroy each other

[El Diablo 4232]

If we're headed off to the stars to find a new home I guess it won't matter if I left the sprinkler running in the backyard. I don't want to come back and have a ginormous water bill.

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4976]

48 minutes ago, Sidney Sherman said:

The Earth has likely 4-6 billion years left. Around then the sun will go all red giant and roast the fuck out of Earth. 

Yeah but wont Mars be in the goldilocks zone by then? Or will the sun get too big too fast to colonize it if we don't make it off?

[Tailgate 3022]

All the reasons we need to start inhabiting space.

[El Diablo 4232]

3 minutes ago, Tailgate said:

All the reasons we need to start inhabiting space.

We're getting kind of a late start, I hope we didn't miss anything.

[Tailgate 3022]

13 minutes ago, El Diablo said:

We're getting kind of a late start, I hope we didn't miss anything.

Most of us are...some maybe not...

[Sidney Sherman 66]

33 minutes ago, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

Yeah but wont Mars be in the goldilocks zone by then? Or will the sun get too big too fast to colonize it if we don't make it off?

I don't reckon the human race or anything resembling it will have to worry about it by then. Nothing will be in a traditional habitable zone near Sol. 

I said 4 billion years, human shaped beings have only been around like 30 million years. So if you think about it, within the next few hundred million years, it is unlikely that humans as we know it will exist. There's three routes, we go extinct, we naturally continue evolving, we learn how to use technology to evolve our own biology somehow. All three will happen way, way before the sun dies.

In fact, it's much more likely we have a worldwide catastrophe than the sun cycle ending. Comet impacts, solar minimum/maximum, massive volcanic eruption could all change the climate in such a way the human species would struggle to survive.

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4976]

All those are bottle neck events, which speeds up evolution. Personally, I'm concerned with the next several generations of my family more so than whether or not humanity as we know it survives. Evolution happens, and humans happen to be one of the most adaptable (and capable of adapting their aurroundings) species on this planet if not the most. I seriously doubt there is a catastrophie so bad that our species can't figure it out. So let's worry about our kids and grandkids and let them figure out what to do from there.

[Sidney Sherman 66]

Well I think the next five or so generations will have to worry much more about small things than big things like "the Earth". Obesity and cancer seem to be linked to processed foods and sugar, but I think it also has to do with eating frequency and inactivity. Pretty horrible how first world nations have obesity problems and third world nations have over population problems.

I would hope for people you care for to continue with a culture that helps reinforce positivity and community. Maybe one that has a weekly session to remind everyone we arent perfect and we should continue to improve ourselfs. Christianity seems to work pretty good. It's way more likely to keep your genes/legacy alive and doing good than generational wealth. 

Other than that I wish people would get focused on things that could more easily be changed and have real impact. We were influenced by sci fi so much to go out and explore space, cool idea, but my opinion is the Earth is perfect for us. We were made for it. All the answers we seek are within, it's at our fingertips. We spend more money on theoretical space biology, than on the biggest and possibly most untapped science here on Earth - mycology. The old growth forests are getting destroyed and replaced with an entire forest of the same aged trees...

http://discovermagazine.com/2013/julyaug/13-mushrooms-clean-up-oil-spills-nuclear-meltdowns-and-human-health

Or it would be cool to stop farting around on computers and have another electrical engineering revolution.

 

[WhatTheBuck 28783]

11 hours ago, XYZ said:

Why we should avoid extinction.

Are you still alive? Why?

[XYZ 2154]

3 minutes ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Are you still alive? Why?

So you have an opinion (that we should do everything possible to perpetuate our species) but you can’t explain or defend it. That’s OK.

[Texaskimo 135]

14 minutes ago, XYZ said:

So you have an opinion (that we should do everything possible to perpetuate our species) but you can’t explain or defend it. That’s OK.

His point is that you already know the answer, it's the same reason you do the things necessary to continue your own life even though it is a certainty that you will eventually die. You're just being a nihilistic shithead.

[WhatTheBuck 28783]

15 minutes ago, XYZ said:

So you have an opinion (that we should do everything possible to perpetuate our species) but you can’t explain or defend it. That’s OK.

If the answer to why we should not want to go extinct is not self-evident then you might be the dumbest person on the face of the earth.