How long have we got

[lord bunberry]

How long does everyone think we’ve got as a species?
I was going to list my reasons for starting this thread, but I think it’s probably better if I don’t and leave it up for discussion as a blank piece.
Over to you.

[Pete]

How long does everyone think we’ve got as a species?
I was going to list my reasons for starting this thread, but I think it’s probably better if I don’t and leave it up for discussion as a blank piece.
Over to you.

You’re far too good for the taxis mate. That’s probably one of the deepest questions you can ever ask.

Firstly, we have to respect our environment and take it from there.

we’re now conditioned to think along the lines of fabricated concepts like money, property and physical borders before anything else.

However, it’s all man made and we’re nothing more than animals living by certain codes.

They can be changed.

[Sylar]

Barring any 'black swan' externalities (such as a meteor strike...):

By 2050 (roughly), there'll be 9 billion people on the planet. Possibly 10 billion by 2100.

That means we need more food, more water and more energy to support a growing population. And we simply don't have the resources or land available to support that. Factor in the impacts of climate change - devastating droughts, wildfires, temperature extremes, flooding and sea level rise and you'll have more and more people moving away from the least habitable locations in Africa and parts of Asia into Europe and North America. This will create geopolitical tensions, bring the conditions for pandemics (with proximity) and raise the possibilities for conflict to new levels.

However, factor in advances in technology and medicine and we have the developing capacity to combat some of these challenges. But only some of them. We're limited by the finite nature of our resources regardless, especially water. Ensuring water supply to sustain us is probably our biggest challenge, and our stewardship of water is nothing short of shambolic.

I give us anywhere between a few generations and a few more millennia, dependant upon how we meet our challenges and manage the spectre of war.

These are the sorts of questions and issues that keep me in a job :greengrin

[Bangkok Hibby]

Climate change is fact. Is it mostly because of us or is it cyclical? Will it wipe us out?

I'm pretty optimistic about our survival, but genuinely concerned about an antibiotic resistant bacteria pandemic having it's way with tens of millions of us.

[pollution]

Lazy thread pal.

[Fife-Hibee]

Based on the evidence so far, i'm astonished we've even made it as a species through this year, so i'm going to say next year. :wink:

[HibbyDave]

5years according to Ziggy Stardust (track one, I think)

[The Green Goblin]

It depends on whether we learn how to terra-form another planet or build ships capable of allowing us to exist and travel in space.

[Fife-Hibee]

It depends on whether we learn how to terra-form another planet or build ships capable of allowing us to exist and travel in space.

Just send Donald Trump and all the climate change deniers to Mars. They'll have it warmed up and ready within a few years. :wink:

Will also show them that the Earth isn't flat. :greengrin

[Jack Hackett]

Just send Donald Trump and all the climate change deniers to Mars. They'll have it warmed up and ready within a few years. :wink:

Will also show them that the Earth isn't flat. :greengrin



21448

[Fuzzywuzzy]

The Georgia guidestones seem to think that humanity is only sustainable at 500 million people. Basically, if you're not rich, intelligent or zoolander you've had it

[The_Exile]

By 2075 I think it'll be widely accepted we've ****ed the Earth beyond repair and after that maybe another 50 years before we've all killed each other fighting over what's left.

[stoneyburn hibs]

By 2075 I think it'll be widely accepted we've ****ed the Earth beyond repair and after that maybe another 50 years before we've all killed each other fighting over what's left.

I call dibs on Mel Gibsons character 😁

[jonty]

depressing thoughts for our kids and grandkids.

[Smartie]

depressing thoughts for our kids and grandkids.

If everybody does as good a job with their kids as I'm doing with my daughter then it'll all be fine.

Seriously though - we've got a seriously dodgy couple of generations (I'd probably put myself at the younger end of that but still part of it) that need to get off this planet without causing too much damage. Generations who deny the existence of climate change and think it is their entitlement to burn fossil fuels in vehicles for their own pleasure (either jetting everywhere or in cars etc). They/ we think it is acceptable to see debt levels rocket whilst having benefitted from free education, free healthcare from cradle to grave (a journey that can sometimes take more than 100 years), owning their own house which will multiply in value several times over before being handed over to their children in a tax efficient manner before someone else pays for them to be looked after in their old age.

All of this whilst doing everything in their power to ensure that as few others as possible can enjoy the privileges that their war-free lives have afforded them.

And that's just how they behave towards others in the West - don't get them started on those people from bongo bongo land.

Our kids and grandkids not turning into us is the only hope the human race has.

[NAE NOOKIE]

If the theory that the Earth itself is a living organism holds any water we are ****ed, we infest it like a bloody plague and if it had any sense at all it would find a way to get rid of us entirely …… and who could sodding well blame it?

But the real reason we are doing so badly is our desperate need to obliterate each other over our petty differences ….. I'm willing to bet that if every penny spent on war and armaments since the start of the 20th century had been spent on desalination plants to create fresh water and refrigerated irrigation systems able to transport water to where its needed without evaporating we could have turned half of the worlds arid regions into land able to sustain plant life and crops by now.

Its enough to say that I don't know how anybody can get through a David Attenborough programme without feeling ashamed to be a human being by the end …. and I include myself in that.

We have a planet well able to sustain its human population and wildlife …. we are just doing it wrong.

[weecounty hibby]

If the theory that the Earth itself is a living organism holds any water we are ****ed, we infest it like a bloody plague and if it had any sense at all it would find a way to get rid of us entirely …… and who could sodding well blame it?

But the real reason we are doing so badly is our desperate need to obliterate each other over our petty differences ….. I'm willing to bet that if every penny spent on war and armaments since the start of the 20th century had been spent on desalination plants to create fresh water and refrigerated irrigation systems able to transport water to where its needed without evaporating we could have turned half of the worlds arid regions into land able to sustain plant life and crops by now.

Its enough to say that I don't know how anybody can get through a David Attenborough programme without feeling ashamed to be a human being by the end …. and I include myself in that.

We have a planet well able to sustain its human population and wildlife …. we are just doing it wrong.

There are loads of reasons why we will survive for a good while yet but also loads of reasons why we may not. The plague on the planet is a good analogy. This is exactly why mother nature also creates infection, disease, natural disasters. She is trying to kill off some of the plague. Fortunately/unfortunately we are like the infections who can fight back against antibiotics. We are curing infections and diseases, becoming more resilient against natural disasters and people are living longer puting a huge strain on the earth.
Our ability to learn/grow/develop could also be our downfall. Artificial intelligence is something that means machines can now learn quicker than humans. I read a good article somewhere, can't remember where, that was detailing why humans will become the second cleverest species on the planet due to AI research and development of machines that can think and learn for themselves

[Hibrandenburg]

There are loads of reasons why we will survive for a good while yet but also loads of reasons why we may not. The plague on the planet is a good analogy. This is exactly why mother nature also creates infection, disease, natural disasters. She is trying to kill off some of the plague. Fortunately/unfortunately we are like the infections who can fight back against antibiotics. We are curing infections and diseases, becoming more resilient against natural disasters and people are living longer puting a huge strain on the earth.
Our ability to learn/grow/develop could also be our downfall. Artificial intelligence is something that means machines can now learn quicker than humans. I read a good article somewhere, can't remember where, that was detailing why humans will become the second cleverest species on the planet due to AI research and development of machines that can think and learn for themselves

You've been reading Dan Brown.

[SouthsideHarp_Bhoy]

Its a great, if slightly scary, question.

I vary wildly from thinking that we are ****ed, and deservedly so from having enormous faith in the ingenuity of humans to adapt ajd continue to thrive.

I do wonder though if we, particularly in the west, actually need a big external shock to kick us out of our complacency.

It is an issue that i do increasingly worry about, and to me it is begging for a major country or bloc to sieze the opportunity for radical change and gain the moral (and probably technological and economic) high ground of leading the world.

I think the US is not capable. I wonder if china woyld do it, but they havent shown themselves to be so far, and they lack the dynamism and creativity of the The west at its best.

[RyeSloan]

Its a great, if slightly scary, question.

I vary wildly from thinking that we are ****ed, and deservedly so from having enormous faith in the ingenuity of humans to adapt ajd continue to thrive.

I do wonder though if we, particularly in the west, actually need a big external shock to kick us out of our complacency.

It is an issue that i do increasingly worry about, and to me it is begging for a major country or bloc to sieze the opportunity for radical change and gain the moral (and probably technological and economic) high ground of leading the world.

I think the US is not capable. I wonder if china woyld do it, but they havent shown themselves to be so far, and they lack the dynamism and creativity of the The west at its best.

I have no doubt we have the creative ability to solve most problems.

I also have no doubt that the billions and billions of dollars being poured into sustainable research will and is leading to huge advancements. Technological, biotechnology and artificial intelligence development is advancing at a tremendous rate. Only yesterday I was reading about multi billion pound research on how to produce aluminum with zero carbon cost (currently a massive producer of CO2). Some of the largest industrial producers of CO2 are based on processes that are ripe for disruption in the same way we are seeing EV’s disrupting ICE vehicles.

I have significantly less confidence in our ability as a race to work together to realise those benefits to the betterment of all and the world we live in....

[jonty]

One country alone cant address CO2 issues - it would be like pissing in the wind when the likes of Trump claim theres no such thing as global warming.

Speaking of, if we hit our renewables target by 2020 at least its a step in the right direction, showing other countries what can be done.

If home based renewables weren't as expensive I guess the least we can do is get energy from companies who claim to be providing from low carbon/renewables

[Lendo]

The Georgia guidestones seem to think that humanity is only sustainable at 500 million people. Basically, if you're not rich, intelligent or zoolander you've had it

Just waiting on Thanos to arrive and short it all out

[Smartie]

One country alone cant address CO2 issues - it would be like pissing in the wind when the likes of Trump claim theres no such thing as global warming.

Speaking of, if we hit our renewables target by 2020 at least its a step in the right direction, showing other countries what can be done.

If home based renewables weren't as expensive I guess the least we can do is get energy from companies who claim to be providing from low carbon/renewables

The positive thing about Trump is that he is a relic of a bygone age. Yes, he is the president of the USA, but he is only there temporarily. I don't think there are millions of Americans being born every year who will grow up to be climate change deniers.

The significance of this ties into economics. As long as people want to buy gas-guzzling cars, people will make them, and we'll have to suffer the consequences.

When people want more environmentally friendly cars, people make them. There is a slow shift in this direction, but a shift it is.

China is realising that by making stuff in a more environmentally way for a more environmentally aware market, they will make more money, so they will evolve in that direction.

There are humans who are beyond help. Some refuse to accept evidence, some have vested interests in dismissing it.

What I find genuinely reassuring is that I find the youth of the world to be a fairly decent lot, and they are our great hope.

Funnily enough, if I had a pound for every time I've heard a baby boomer moaning about these bloody "useless millennials".......

It's not a lost cause. Yet.

[The Green Goblin]

Just waiting on Thanos to arrive and short it all out

He’d sort 50% of it out. :greengrin