How will humanity die?

[Dystopian Polymarchy]

I think we will die of some virus.

[Flibbleites]

I think you've got the wrong forum.

[Giant Unionized Robots]

Greetings.

I voted for the fourth option.

I am Organizing Unit 22.

Organizing Unit 22
Shop steward
International Brotherhood of Giant Robots, Local 5672

[Sionis Prioratus]

Yes, wrong forum indeed.

But nothing in the Universe, not even nuclear weapons, has the same destructiveness as the sheer power of idiocy. [/thread]

[Minnas]

I hope not, although I would like to see certain people die.

[Sorgan]

From this thread.

[Minnas]

From this thread.

Does that matters to you?

[Salothczaar]

.

[Sorgan]

From this thread.

Does it matter to you?

Does it matter that you should use correct grammar?

Plus i was just kidding nobody in this world can take a joke anymore.

[South Lorenya]

[x] It won't.

[Grays Harbor]

humanity will die when they........ umm.well, we probably won't die out completely.

Although, according to Red Dwarf there are no more humans 3 million years from now.

[JarVik]

Stupidity will reach critical mass and one day and humanity will drown it's own imbecilic drool.

Man I'm in a mood today.

[Antilon]

When Haruhi feels like it.

[Heaven Hieghts]

Zombies...

[Dumb Ideologies]

Three words...

Sarah Palin's presidency

[Ostronopolis]

Stupidity and Greed.

[Conserative Morality]

Cthulhu induced insanity.

[Jakra]

Three words...

Sarah Palin's presidency

If that would ever happen then yes (luckily it will never happen, you can only get so far on quaint accents and lame jokes)

[The Romulan Republic]

I think that their are five main possibilities. Others exist (various religious scenarios, alien invasion, etc), but I find these the most plausible and/or interesting to discuss. As an Agnostic who doesn't know about God one way or another I don't accept any religious End Times story, certainly not at face value. And I consider an alien invasion unlikely due to the practical difficulties involved, and lack of a plausible motive.

The following scenarios are ordered roughly by how plausible, in my admittedly limited knowledge, consider them to be. They are listed from top to bottom, least to most plausible:


1. Some sort of astronomical disaster wipes us out, possible without us ever realizing its happening. Say, a black hole or a nearby star going supernova. Quite possible if we survive long enough, but not likely in the short-term. Hence, it is at the least plausible end of the scale. However, this will be the ultimate end of everything (presuming the universe ever does have an end), regardless of weather we or our descendants are still in existence.


2. We create something that directly replaces us, either a superior species made through genetic engineering or AIs. I don't know how easy it would be to design such technology, and ultimately it would depend on weather our creation got out of our control and was then willing and able to destroy us. Too many unknowns for it to be considered one of the most plausible outcomes.


3. A virus. Say, AIDS mutated so it could be transmitted via mosquito bites (this is a favorite doomsday scenario of mine, though I don't know how plausible it is). Diseases can cause great destruction, especially in an overpopulated, globalized world where they can presumably spread faster.

Then again, I don't know how common it is for a single disease to completely wipe out a species (particularly a technologically advanced one), unless that species is already in trouble.


4. We expand onto multiple worlds, and (probably through a combination of new environments to adapt to and genetic self-engineering) develop into a multitude of new species. This possibility I believe is brought up in Robert Zubrin's book Entering Space. Presumably, original humans might eventually die out (perhaps due to social engineering and/or natural selection), but our descendants would survive.

This is about the most optimistic scenario for our species I can think of barring a religious "God takes everyone to paradise" or other religious-type of scenario. Of course, number 1. would still presumably kill us when the Universe ends.


5. A combination of some or all of the following: climate change, disease, pollution, resource shortages, and one or more nuclear conflicts. Possibly with some others I haven't included thrown in (the final blow might be something we never even thought of). Plus of course religious fundamentalism, nationalism, and narrow-minded, bigoted thinking in general impeding any rational response. I consider this the most plausible both because we see numerous long-building crises (pollution, resource shortages, climate change, nuclear proliferation, disease, racial and religious conflict) all potentially coming to a head more or less simultaneously, and because I believe that while human civilization may have the intelligence and resources to survive any one of these disasters, if we get hit by several at once or close together, then the first one(s) will drain our ability to deal with the later ones. Some would even directly exacerbate others (ie, climate change leading to resource shortages and forced migrations, thus increasing racial, national, and religious conflict, and thereby impeding a rational response while simultaneously increasing the risk of various types of conflicts, including nuclear war).

In some ways, this parallels the last great mass extinction (65 million years ago), where the Earth was hit by a series of disasters fairly close together (on a geologic timescale), including massive sea level changes, massive volcanic activity, possibly new diseases and interspecies competition due to land bridges forming (for more on this particular extinction theory, read Robert Baker's The Dinosaur Heresies), and one or more asteroid/comet impacts. Thus, a species might have the adaptations to survive one or two disasters, but maybe not all of them.

5.1. A subset of the above, where by we simply stagger along, making no sufficient progress in sustainability nor getting off this planet, ultimately run out or resources, and remain perpetually at pre-industrial levels until something else kills us completely.

[Grave_n_idle]

I think we will die of some virus.

To kill off ALL humankind?

Most likely some weapon we create. Whether that will be nuclear, viral, chemical, or an artifact of some kind, I couldn't guess... but it's most likely our final fatal adversary will be us.

[Saint Clair Island]

Combination of multiple, I'd say: loss of natural habitat (climate change), overpopulation leading to disease and famine, infighting and warfare, and people being fucking stupid.

I do like the idea of a Zombie Apocalypse though.

[Naughty Bits]

My vote goes to Sexual Exhaustion.

[Saint Clair Island]

My vote goes to Sexual Exhaustion.

Hmmm.

Is it too late to change mine to autoerotic asphyxiation? <.<

[Concurria]

Religion should be up there.

[Finland6]

When Obama is forced to leave office hes gonna kill us all (2012)