Home
Can We Prevent The Extinction Of Humankind?
Share
Delicious
Digg
Facebook
Reddit
Stumble Upon
Technorati
Mixx
Sphinn
Twitter
SphereIt
Propeller
Gmarks
Newsvine
Yahoo! My Web
Live Journal
Blinklist
E-mailMade Popular Jul 29 2008
United States :
Lemmings jump off a cliff and swim listlessly till they grow exhausted and die. Confused? Ever wondered how you would eventually die? Let me give you five options.
1. A victim of a catastrophe (e.g. cyclone, earthquake, etc.)…..1% possibility
2. Blown apart in a high-intensity explosion……20% possibility since the recent trends have pushed the stakes higher.
3. Road accident……70% possibility as you spend most of your time driving
4. Diseased, weak and helpless….10% possibility considering the fact that you’re a fitness freak
5. Die of old age…..high possibility (or is it?)
So, who really would be responsible for your death? I say… you and me! Yes, the Homo sapiens is known for its fatalistic tendencies; a steady march towards extinction. I may sound like a retard, but do you realize that we are no different from the lemmings in our mass-suicidal behavior? We reproduce at the rate of knots, build bombs with the excuse of self-defense, develop machines that destroy the ozone layer, invent jobs that make people go insane, create addictive elements that take you closer to death…one step at a time, and most importantly, fail to realize that ‘it never really is a survival of the fittest’. We would like to believe that we have the solution for the most complex problems….diseases, inconvenience, self-indulgences! Have we really adapted to our surroundings better than other animals? Or, in our quest to do so, have we built a fortress of illusions that make us believe that there can be no annihilation for man. The truth is…..we are self-destructive in nature. And, we cannot prevent our extinction….we can only delay the inevitable. Do you really believe that there is enough space and resources on the moon or mars for the rest of our generation to survive? Intelligence and wisdom have always been relative terms….again, figments of our imagination. Ask yourself a simple question. Do you really believe that the extinction of humankind can be prevented?
Add Images and Videos
Close X
Recommended Tags or Keywords
Search by Tags or Keywords
Selected Media ( You can Upload only Six media )
Sorry no picture found for this combination of tags. Try to search minimum number of tags at once
RSS 
Well...we have screwed it up for ourselves, so nothing can prevent it :P and you’re very true. it would be rare to die of something which isnt in the list. Maybe suicide but even that is self created and you would be responsible for it. so apart from dying naturallly of old age, everything is made up by us! :P im sure God is saying it out to himself ”what was i thinking when i made these jerks!”
(Global Perspectives)
No..it has to be intelligent design. When we create robots, we don’t seek perfection
’coz that way we’ll end up killing unpredictability. Perhaps, God had the same idea when he created man.
’coz that way we’ll end up killing unpredictability. Perhaps, God had the same idea when he created man.
(Global Perspectives)
I must say that I have no fear that any robot we create will be perfect enough to kill unpredictability. Besides, if it were perfect it wouldn’t want to, because it knows we wouldn’t like it :-) .
If God’s design were so intelligent, we could have unpredictability without plague.
If God’s design were so intelligent, we could have unpredictability without plague.
(Local Perspectives)
Humans have to go sometime and give way to a more highly evolved race. They have to. Humankind sucks!
(Global Perspectives)
You sound very like Agent Smith (Matrix) ”human are viruses”. But I guess you’re right and that’s why I am no longer human and joined Magneto!
(Global Perspectives)
We may suck, but wed’re the best we know of — so let’s get busy *becoming* that highly-evolved race!
(Local Perspectives)
Yes..the best ’we know of’...our opinions have always been subjective...
(Global Perspectives)
But they’re mine — certainly I can only be expected to do my best, not somebody else’s.
(Local Perspectives)
I died as a mineral and became a plant,
I died as plant and rose to animal,
I died as animal and I was Man.
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?
Yet once more I shall die as Man, to soar
With angels blest; but even from angelhood
I must pass on: all except God doth perish.
When I have sacrificed my angel-soul,
I shall become what no mind e’er conceived.
Oh, let me not exist! for Non-existence
Proclaims in organ tones, To Him we shall return.
I died as plant and rose to animal,
I died as animal and I was Man.
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?
Yet once more I shall die as Man, to soar
With angels blest; but even from angelhood
I must pass on: all except God doth perish.
When I have sacrificed my angel-soul,
I shall become what no mind e’er conceived.
Oh, let me not exist! for Non-existence
Proclaims in organ tones, To Him we shall return.
(Global Perspectives)
Fariha...have u penned down these words yourself? Awesome! Gosh you can go to the deepest depth :)
(Global Perspectives)
No No No Deepa/ Alpheus... These are NOT mine!
lol... i am so sorry i should have put the name of the poet there!
These are the words of this Sufi Poet Rumi....lol
lol... i am so sorry i should have put the name of the poet there!
These are the words of this Sufi Poet Rumi....lol
(Global Perspectives)
But I still thank you for bringing such beautiful words to our notice :)
(Global Perspectives)
You forgot immortality.
Human’s are cool.
Kill more animals.
Human’s are cool.
Kill more animals.
(Local Perspectives)
John...I guess animals too feel the same...
(Global Perspectives)
No, Alpheus — and a good thing, too, because they have us way outnumbered. And FTR, as an immortalist human, I admit to being a speciesist — humans fought hard to get to the top of the food chain and I want us to stay there — but I also try not to waste. Let’s make that ”*most* humans are cool”. Unthinking, ignorant, and greedy sometimes, but still cool.
(Local Perspectives)
cool? yes...’coz if I didn’t agree, it would be self-deprecatory...
(Global Perspectives)
Populate or perish!!!
(Global Perspectives)
there’s a scene in the motion picture ”the Matrix”, in which one of the protagonists (Morpheus) has been captured by a policing program (Agent Smith) and is being interrogated for answers to questions regarding the access codes to the last of the human civilizations. Frustrated by the resistance of Morpheus, Agent Smith taunts him by likening the spread of human population to the way a virus spreads. Concise. Apt. Kinda creepy, too.
(Local Perspectives)
Homosapeins getting extinct? Nah.....cause they are the only intelligent living species that is capable of breaking as well as mending their ways according to the circumstances. Using technology to the best to live as well as kill!
(Global Perspectives)
That’s precisely the illusion I’m talking about Deepa... We think technology will save us. How sure are you about this? If some sadistic creep decides to blow a mall in Delhi, do you think you can stop him with all the technology you have? Nah....all he has to do is blow the nearest petrol pump with molotov cocktail and all the buildings within a .5 km radius will collapse like a pack of cards...I mite sound like the creep myself, but that’s how it is. We don’t control anything...
(Global Perspectives)
... but we can influence many things, and both pessimism and optimism tend to be self-fulfilling. We hear a lot of bad news because it sells papers and raises ratings, but many more good things than bad things happen.
(Local Perspectives)
A bomb discovered in a nearby city is of greater importance than the discovery of a 10th planet or the presence of life in another galaxy, Kennita. Explains why only sensationalism sells and I don’t see why that shouldn’t make headlines more often than ’feel good’ news items.
(Global Perspectives)
The problem is that small problems are blown out of proportion to sell papers, and incredible advances in science and technology get no press. Thus people think that only bad things happen, and we end up with a frightened, angry, depressed populace. Balance is all I ask.
(Local Perspectives)
Btw, any more options to die? I am not comfortable with any of the above listed options
(Global Perspectives)
How about living on for eternity? more comfortable now? :)
(Global Perspectives)
Dont worry guys. We die here and wake up somewhere else.
Tension nahe leynay ka ;)
Tension nahe leynay ka ;)
(Global Perspectives)
Living for eternity.....sounds cool :) but then what about the population? If we start living for eternity then how will we have more space to accommodate new births?
(Global Perspectives)
True.......Unfortunately, there isn’t a proper balance between births and deaths..that is one reason why I believe extinction is inevitable...
(Global Perspectives)
Note that as standard of living goes up, birth rate goes down. In some places we’re already below replacement. Extinction may come due to too little population rather than too much. However, I am not a lemming, and I’m definitely on board with living for eternity — I don’t want to miss anything! If the show ever ends, I want to be here through the closing credits (or the final encore; pick your metaphor). If necessary, I’ll take an intermission and use cryonics to carry me to when we solve the involuntary-death problem. I’ll live forever or die trying!
(Local Perspectives)
We are naturally tuned to race towards death aren’t we?
(Global Perspectives)
absolutely Jaiyant...we create to destroy ourselves...
(Global Perspectives)
Humans have been going against nature since we put the first hide over the first cave mouth and tamed the first fire. All animals flee death; we’re just the first to be able to do something about it. Antibiotics, transplants, pacemakers — we live to 80 now instead of 30. ”[W]e create to destroy ourselves” — there would be nothing to destroy if we didn’t create it first, and often we destroy it to make room to create something better.
(Local Perspectives)
”Longevity is dying at the slowest possible rate.” Whether there’s another life to me is immaterial (so to speak). I, for one, am enjoying this life, and am in no hurry to see it end.
(Local Perspectives)
Right said Kennita. With the clear understanding that my life, like everybody else’s life will one day come to an end, makes me want to live life to fullest.
Its amazing how the thought of death inspires to live an enriching and happy life.
Its amazing how the thought of death inspires to live an enriching and happy life.
(Global Perspectives)
I take exception to this statement of yours Kennita: ”All animals flee death; we’re just the first to be able to do something about it.” We have solutions only when everything is linear. When disaster strikes, crocs and cockroaches have better answers than we do..
(Global Perspectives)
They don’t have answers, they’re just tough. They haven’t found ways to multiply their life expectancy by three or more as humans have, for example
(Local Perspectives)
On second thoughts, I too don’t want to live forever.....as it will get unexciting after a certain period. Don’t you think so? I would certainly like to leave...but in a much comfortable manner. Like die while sleeping :)
(Global Perspectives)
:)...that’s what most people prefer...
(Global Perspectives)
I may someday decide I don’t want to live forever; give me ten or twenty thousand years to think it over :-) . ”Ho-hum, you’ve seen one galactic core (alien life form, supernova, Dyson sphere...), you’ve seen ’em all....”
(Local Perspectives)
We are souls rather than bodies otherwise why do we burn or bury the body while is still present? We do so since somthing else leaves it.. that is the soul and we are that, what do you say?
(Global Perspectives)
Fariha, that’s a spiritual perspective and I totally back that coz i’m not an agnostic...However, our identity is in our physical self and that’s the only state of existence that you and me know of. Moreover, the theory of extinction doesn’t apply in the case of souls :)
(Global Perspectives)
Ditto, Alpheus. btw this post of yours has got me humming the famous number....”jeena yahaan, marna yahaan, iske siva jaana kahana?.....”
lol
lol
(Global Perspectives)
A very refreshing break from some serious discussion Deepa...Hum on!
(Global Perspectives)
Jis dhaj se koe maqtal mei gaya wo shan salamat rehte hai,
Ye jan tou ane jane hai, iss jan ke tou koe baat nahe...
Ye jan tou ane jane hai, iss jan ke tou koe baat nahe...
(Global Perspectives)
Too immature and cynical view for me. So what would you rather have? Us not trying to improve and staying in the caves? That would stack up odds in favor of our living right? Well that is what one may draw from your freaky little notion.
Humans might have created the worst but that has been, more or less, done while striving for the best.
True enough we might have damaged nature and caused other horrendous stuff but those are the prices that we pay in way of evolution. I have little doubt that our race would continue to flourish for some time to come. Long enough to see you through at the very least :P
Humans might have created the worst but that has been, more or less, done while striving for the best.
True enough we might have damaged nature and caused other horrendous stuff but those are the prices that we pay in way of evolution. I have little doubt that our race would continue to flourish for some time to come. Long enough to see you through at the very least :P
(Global Perspectives)
@Gagandeep
The biggest mistake we have been making is our refusal to accept our mistakes. Like in your case, you feel our actions are justified coz that’s how evolution works, right? Wrong...coz evolution is a natural process...If you think you are intelligent enough to decide your own fate, why don’t you predict how 2050 is going to be like! And yes, I agree we’ll continue to flourish for ’some time to come’, but how sure are you about a million years from now? And what does ’see you through’ mean, when it is still ’indefinite’?
And I agree whatever we have created is for the best. Perhaps, you must go through the article again ’bombs for self-defense’, jobs, reproduction, etc. However, we have applied little thought to the consequences of our development. And if you still feel we are going to survive for eternity, maybe sit through history classes again and read about civilizations that perished when we had little development happening and the population of the world was less than a billion. It wouldn’t take long for history to repeat itself, right??
The biggest mistake we have been making is our refusal to accept our mistakes. Like in your case, you feel our actions are justified coz that’s how evolution works, right? Wrong...coz evolution is a natural process...If you think you are intelligent enough to decide your own fate, why don’t you predict how 2050 is going to be like! And yes, I agree we’ll continue to flourish for ’some time to come’, but how sure are you about a million years from now? And what does ’see you through’ mean, when it is still ’indefinite’?
And I agree whatever we have created is for the best. Perhaps, you must go through the article again ’bombs for self-defense’, jobs, reproduction, etc. However, we have applied little thought to the consequences of our development. And if you still feel we are going to survive for eternity, maybe sit through history classes again and read about civilizations that perished when we had little development happening and the population of the world was less than a billion. It wouldn’t take long for history to repeat itself, right??
(Global Perspectives)
First of all I did not mean evolution as in the natural selection and stuff. All I meant was in reference to technological progress and making life easier.
Second of all ’see you through’ was a playful statement and meant that human beings will be long enough to see you dead. No offense, I’d die even earlier.
Second of all ’see you through’ was a playful statement and meant that human beings will be long enough to see you dead. No offense, I’d die even earlier.
(Global Perspectives)
Life now is certainly exciting with all the gadgets and stuff..However, Gagan, do you really believe your life is simpler than how it was when you were in 7th or 8th grade (a stage where the only influence of technology is the TV)? From a holistic perspective, it might appear easier, but in reality it isn’t if you drill deeper down...
And yes, I see the lighter side of your ’see you through’ statement coz it wasn’t clear earlier :)
And yes, I see the lighter side of your ’see you through’ statement coz it wasn’t clear earlier :)
(Global Perspectives)
I truly agree that we have not applied careful thought to all the consequences that our actions would have necessarily led to. But then no one can foresee stuff in advance.
And I would subscribe to the view that eventually we might come to be replaced by a more highly evolved specie perhaps.
But that is all conjecture. True we might be headed towards extinction and we may also be pressing on the accelerator. However, is this a conscious attempt to implode. No my dear friend. All that is a quest for survival.
True, Civilizations might have perished but the race survives, the specie survives!
And I would subscribe to the view that eventually we might come to be replaced by a more highly evolved specie perhaps.
But that is all conjecture. True we might be headed towards extinction and we may also be pressing on the accelerator. However, is this a conscious attempt to implode. No my dear friend. All that is a quest for survival.
True, Civilizations might have perished but the race survives, the specie survives!
(Global Perspectives)
Too immature and cynical view for me. So what would you rather have? Us not trying to improve and staying in the caves? That would stack up odds in favor of our living right? Well that is what one may draw from your freaky little notion.
Humans might have created the worst but that has been, more or less, done while striving for the best.
True enough we might have damaged nature and caused other horrendous stuff but those are the prices that we pay in way of evolution. I have little doubt that our race would continue to flourish for some time to come. Long enough to see you through at the very least :P
Humans might have created the worst but that has been, more or less, done while striving for the best.
True enough we might have damaged nature and caused other horrendous stuff but those are the prices that we pay in way of evolution. I have little doubt that our race would continue to flourish for some time to come. Long enough to see you through at the very least :P
(Global Perspectives)
And the point i’m trying to make is extinction is part of a natural cycle. It happens over a million-yr period. What we have been doing is accelerating this process by playing the role of the creator. I’m not against science for survival, but what we are witnessing is the proliferation of ’science for supremacy’.
(Global Perspectives)
P.S. I’d suggest everyone to look up lemmings. Turns out their ’suicidal behavior’ is actually a myth. Their jumping off into water is triggered by a quest to migrate, a quest for greener pastures, a quest for survival, a quest to ’delay the inevitable.’
(Global Perspectives)
yes....if you read again, there was no mention about lemmings resorting to suicidal behavior..we are similar to them in that sense. We create, in our quest for greener pastures and eventually end up digging our own grave...Get the essence?
(Global Perspectives)
yes....if you read again, there was no mention about lemmings resorting to suicidal behavior..we are similar to them in that sense. We create, in our quest for greener pastures and eventually end up digging our own grave...Get the essence?
(Global Perspectives)
I have to wonder: does it really matter?
Live well, however you define it, make the best choices that you can, try to take nothing for granted. Worry is wasted time.
Up to now we have, as a species and in our several societies, managed quite well to move ourselves further and further along the path to self-destruction while pursuing self-preservation and propagation. I don’t see how any other choice could have been made. Perhaps Agent Smith WAS right, after all? ;-)
Live well, however you define it, make the best choices that you can, try to take nothing for granted. Worry is wasted time.
Up to now we have, as a species and in our several societies, managed quite well to move ourselves further and further along the path to self-destruction while pursuing self-preservation and propagation. I don’t see how any other choice could have been made. Perhaps Agent Smith WAS right, after all? ;-)
(Local Perspectives)
All the species are subject to extinction. Than why not human being as well? Well I don’t care if the human species get extinct one day. But it’ll take a long time, because we have a vast population. Chances are many, and no one can say how he is going to die. We need not be worried about that.
(Global Perspectives)
Add your Comment
The technology allows us to live more, on the other hand, more people means more degradation of the planet. Unless a man gives a ”super” technological leap, the trend is that in the coming decades more and more people killed in natural disasters, disease and wars.