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Author Topic: Hawking asks a question on Yahoo Answers
arborman
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posted 07 July 2006 10:40 AM      Profile for arborman     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
How can the human race survive the next hundred years?
From: I'm a solipsist - isn't everyone? | Registered: Aug 2003  |  IP: Logged
Noise
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posted 07 July 2006 01:21 PM      Profile for Noise     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
My answers on there somewhere:

"The assumption Humans are intended to survive the next hundred years is flawed"


From: Protest is Patriotism | Registered: May 2006  |  IP: Logged
marzo
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posted 13 July 2006 08:15 AM      Profile for marzo     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I think that the future doesn't look so good for homo sapiens and other living creatures.
The biosphere is being destroyed by climate change, pollution, species destruction, and by an ideology that demands unlimited industrial growth and asserts that money is the only thing that matters in this world.
People who preach this harmful nonsense are so influential that some people will actually use the word, 'natural' to describe market forces and it is common for environmentalists to be marginalized and ignored no matter how logical and realistic their message.
Human civilization in the modern world is hopelessly addicted to industrial processes that will inevitably destroy itself.
The question remaining is whether the Earth will be reduced to ashes from nuclear weapons, or whether all or most life will suffocate in our poisons, or if we will suffer from genetically engineered plagues.

From: toronto | Registered: Feb 2006  |  IP: Logged
paxamillion
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posted 13 July 2006 08:51 AM      Profile for paxamillion   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
For starters, put down all the weapons.
From: the process of recovery | Registered: Jul 2002  |  IP: Logged
arborman
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posted 13 July 2006 09:22 AM      Profile for arborman     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Noise:
My answers on there somewhere:

"The assumption Humans are intended to survive the next hundred years is flawed"


I guess I'd say the assumptiont that humans are intended at all is flawed. No higher powers are involved here - it's up to us to make our own choices and live with the consequences.

Personally, I'd like humans to survive the next hundred years. I'd like to to happen as the result of a careful ecological and social sustainability ethos, which could yet arise as a result of the nonsense that is currently happening.


From: I'm a solipsist - isn't everyone? | Registered: Aug 2003  |  IP: Logged
BleedingHeart
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posted 13 July 2006 09:47 AM      Profile for BleedingHeart   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
The only way we are going to survive is by curtailing the increase in our population and if this can be done humanely in fact reducing our population (AIDS and global disasters seem to be doing that but I wouldn't wish that on anybody).

I have no doubt however that if we continue on the human race will be there in 100 years, barring a nuclear holcaust but it will be a much reduced human race after a catrosphe of biblical proportions.


From: Kickin' and a gougin' in the mud and the blood and the beer | Registered: Nov 2002  |  IP: Logged
otter
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posted 13 July 2006 10:45 AM      Profile for otter        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
"The assumption Humans are intended to survive the next hundred years is flawed"

I concur. Geological history tells us that there have been more than a few species that have were killed off because they were unable to adapt to changes in their environemt. So why shouldn't human beings face the same consequences when they exhaust the environmental resources they require to sustain themselves?

Personally, i favour an end to the human sapiens. Time and time again they have proven to be both unable and unwilling to curtail their own avarice and arrogance. Good riddance to them all.


From: agent provocateur inc. | Registered: Feb 2006  |  IP: Logged
arborman
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posted 13 July 2006 11:12 AM      Profile for arborman     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by otter:

Personally, i favour an end to the human sapiens. Time and time again they have proven to be both unable and unwilling to curtail their own avarice and arrogance. Good riddance to them all.


I find that idea appalling. Some humans are greedy and destructive, many others aren't. It's not often you hear a so-called progressive advocating mass genocide.

I favour finding a way to fix our problems - which include avarice and arrogance. It amazes me how easily people give up trying in favour of smug dismissal, even when it means genocide by inaction. I guess it makes them feel smart or something.


From: I'm a solipsist - isn't everyone? | Registered: Aug 2003  |  IP: Logged
otter
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posted 13 July 2006 04:00 PM      Profile for otter        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Actually its more like mass suicide and homo sapiens will not be the first hominoid species to disappear from this planet due its inability to evolve or adapt.

[ 13 July 2006: Message edited by: otter ]


From: agent provocateur inc. | Registered: Feb 2006  |  IP: Logged
Frustrated Mess
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posted 13 July 2006 06:05 PM      Profile for Frustrated Mess   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Actually its more like mass suicide

Precisley.

I know many of you think I am a hopeless pessimistic, and you are right. But the simple fact remains that consumer culture is highly destructive and ultimately fatal.

And the human race will not be persuaded to surrender shopping.

You know, I seen a TV ad the other day. A mother was packing away an inhaler, air bottle and other paraphenilia for asthma victims. It was a commerical produced by an asthma agency of some sort and the message was you can't be too prepared. It occured to me the ad represented the beginning of normalization of respiratory illness. Rather than clear the air, we will just buy more products. And more products require more resources.

Just think, a generation ago kids were chased out of doors by thier mothers with a care in the world. Now the sun and the air are dangerous.


From: doom without the gloom | Registered: Feb 2005  |  IP: Logged
Erik Redburn
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posted 13 July 2006 10:41 PM      Profile for Erik Redburn     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I share much of your pessimism but to just say it's Over is worse than useless. If so then we all might as well just give in and shop till we drop, like others. We still have to Try to do whatever we can, even if it only lessens the future impact somewhat. Every bit helps. (Even the Hopi prophecies say as much... )

[ 13 July 2006: Message edited by: EriKtheHalfaRed ]


From: Broke but not bent. | Registered: Feb 2004  |  IP: Logged

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