Author Topic: Human Extinction  (Read 6887 times)

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Offline Fester

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Human Extinction
« on: September 05, 2013, 11:42:11 pm »
An interesting report, outlining the possible way in which the Human species may become extinct in this century.

99% of all the species that have ever lived on Earth have become extinct, so why are we different?

We have survived many natural and man-made catastrophes, and the odds are that we will always have a few humans left after such events in the future.. but this report investigates possible new ways which we have invented which could bring our own species to an end.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22002530
Fester...
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Offline Ian

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Re: Human Extinction
« Reply #1 on: September 06, 2013, 08:14:25 am »
The Sci-Fi writer, Ben Bova, has penned a whole raft of novels dealing with exactly this scenario. Before him, Asimov imagined futures where biotechnology and robots came to represent immense rewards and dangers to the human species.

JJ Abrams, meanwhile, has made a lot of money (and fans) from creating series which deal with this, such as Fringe, Lost, Heroes, Star Wars VII, Star Trek and more, and there's quite a lot coming up.  But I doubt it'll be technology as such that finishes the human race off. As Blish said "Life will find a way" and life is remarkably adaptive, although it helps the smaller you are.

We are overdue for a world-wide epidemic - that's true - and there's increasing evidence that we originated on Mars, which now appears devoid of life, so things move around and change. We will become extinct - at least, in our current form - beyond doubt, but the more interesting question is whether there's anything after physical death.
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.


Offline Fester

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Re: Human Extinction
« Reply #2 on: September 06, 2013, 05:16:18 pm »

We are overdue for a world-wide epidemic - that's true - and there's increasing evidence that we originated on Mars, which now appears devoid of life, so things move around and change. We will become extinct - at least, in our current form - beyond doubt, but the more interesting question is whether there's anything after physical death.

I find this fascinating, because despite being at the top of the food chain, it is incredible how ignorant we are of our own mortality.
Apparently we only use 10% of our brain, if that is the case what happens to those who use 12%?  Can they converse with spirits etc?  Moreover, are they autistic?, perhaps those people use a different 10% to the rest of us?
We will become extinct as a species, or we will evolve into a new species as we are doing every day... one of those things will certainly happen.
Fester...
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Offline Ian

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Re: Human Extinction
« Reply #3 on: September 07, 2013, 07:47:15 am »
Quote
Apparently we only use 10% of our brain

That's actually a myth;  we use most of the brain, but how it functions is still something of a mystery.

Quote
Though an alluring idea, the "10 percent myth" is so wrong it is almost laughable, says neurologist Barry Gordon at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. Although there's no definitive culprit to pin the blame on for starting this legend, the notion has been linked to the American psychologist and author William James, who argued in The Energies of Men that "We are making use of only a small part of our possible mental and physical resources." It's also been associated with to Albert Einstein, who supposedly used it to explain his cosmic towering intellect. The myth's durability, Gordon says, stems from people's conceptions about their own brains: they see their own shortcomings as evidence of the existence of untapped gray matter. This is a false assumption. What is correct, however, is that at certain moments in anyone's life, such as when we are simply at rest and thinking, we may be using only 10 percent of our brains.

"It turns out though, that we use virtually every part of the brain, and that [most of] the brain is active almost all the time," Gordon adds. "Let's put it this way: the brain represents three percent of the body's weight and uses 20 percent of the body's energy."

Evolution into another species is a fascinating idea. It appears that leaps in evolutionary terms occur whenever there's a major planetary-wide disaster, one significant enough to open an ecological niche through a mass extinction event. But our brains are what make us unique, so perhaps the next evolutionary step could be a massive cerebral development - perhaps the acquisition of telepathy, or telekinesis.
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline Yorkie

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Re: Human Extinction
« Reply #4 on: September 07, 2013, 10:33:46 am »

Apparently we only use 10% of our brain.......

And as you get older you find that the percentage you do use, gradually loses some of its effectiveness!    :-[
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Offline Ian

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Re: Human Extinction
« Reply #5 on: September 07, 2013, 11:19:48 am »
There's an interesting suggestion dong the rounds  that our drinking water might be too clean, in that regard.  Although it's being widely dismissed as an urban myth by some, there has been a rise in autoimmune problems in developed countries, and some of the mechanisms involved in Alzheimer's do seem possible, although a lot more research would have to be done.
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline Ian

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Re: Human Extinction
« Reply #6 on: September 08, 2013, 09:04:11 am »
I'm putting this in here because this excellent topic seems the right place:

This morning, BBC news carried an interview with a freelance journalist whose son, a former radio presenter, had died from vCJD - a degenerative brain condition whose cause seems allied with the BSE cattle scare which appeared in the 1980s. She's published an E-book, called 'Who Killed My Son?', the result of some five years of investigation into CJD.

The sales of Beef dropped dramatically when the BSE scare first appeared (and probably plummeted once the Government told us it was safe to eat), but the facts are extremely worrying.

Briefly, The consumption of food of bovine origin contaminated with the agent of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), a disease of cattle, has been strongly linked to the occurrence of vCJD in humans.  175 cases of vCJD were reported in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (United Kingdom), and 49 cases in other countries from October 1996 to March 2011. (from the WHO).

The US has active bans in force that stop anyone who has spent three months or more in the UK from giving blood, so they view the possible threat very seriously. I've included links (above)  to several articles about the condition, but there are two very worrying facts: the incubation period seems to be between 40 and 50 years, although it can be much less, meaning that almost anyone over the age of 15 in the UK might be carrying the condition.  The second worry is that a study by the Health Protection Agency in 2012 shows that  around 1 in 2000 people in the UK shows signs of vCJD infection.

As if this cheery news wasn't enough, it's worth remembering that there is currently no effective treatment for this fatal disease, and - even more worrying - certain vaccines used in the UK have been derived from suspected BSE-infected cattle.
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline Trojan

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Re: Human Extinction
« Reply #7 on: September 11, 2013, 06:05:52 am »
We will become extinct as a species, or we will evolve into a new species as we are doing every day... one of those things will certainly happen.

Global warming may prove to be a major factor in our continuing evolution and we may see mass migrations of people to different areas of the planet in years ahead.

http://www.earth.columbia.edu/articles/view/2495

Climate is the envelope in which all of us lead our daily lives. This report sounds warning bells,” said coauthor Alexander de Sherbinin, a geographer at CIESIN. “We usually categorize the poor as the ones who will suffer most—but richer societies will potentially lose as well.”

We are who we are today, to a great extent, because of the weather conditions on Earth and to which corner of the globe our direct ancestors happened to live.

For example, a great deal of people of African descent are tall and lean - an evolutionary trait to dissipate heat from their bodies as most of the African continent is/was a hot arid climate. Another evolutionary trait from living/descending from that area is the colour of their skin. The knock-on effect is that they don't absorb vitamin D from sunlight as well as the lighter skinned Europeans, who's skin evolved to a lighter shade after they migrated to the Northern Hemisphere so that it could indeed absorb vitamin D better from the less amount of sunshine.

Take peoples who originated in cold climates - Eskimo's for instance. They are small in stature with more body fat - which keeps them warmer in the conditions they lived/originated in.

If you look at Native Americans from Central and South America. They are small in stature but live in a warm climate, however, they did most of their evolving in the Steppes of Eastern Europe/Siberia before they crossed the Bering Straight into North America.

Another fact to look at also is world travel is a lot easier and quicker than it was thousands, even hundred's of years ago and differing races and ethnicity's tend to copulate and produce offspring which, in years to come may evolve gradually with different characteristics to ourselves.

Time will tell.

 $sunny$
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Offline Ian

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Re: Human Extinction
« Reply #8 on: September 11, 2013, 07:44:56 am »
Quote
If you look at Native Americans from Central and South America. They are small in stature but live in a warm climate, however, they did most of their evolving in the Steppes of Eastern Europe/Siberia before they crossed the Bering Straight into North America.


I believe the jury's still out on exactly how and when any of the Native Americans reached their current habitats. That they originated in Central Asia is probably correct but I think it's now conceded they sailed to the US East coast initially then went south.

It's a fascinating subject, in that where we - as a species - originated seems far removed from what we now are.  Hypovitaminosis D is only known in Caucasians, I believe, which tends to support the black skin argument but the tall stature observation isn't supported by the various sub-groups, such as pygmies, where shorter stature seems the norm. Stature generally seems more closely allied to diet, so groups with great hunting areas that also live near the coast should be taller.
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline Trojan

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Re: Human Extinction
« Reply #9 on: September 11, 2013, 07:53:03 pm »
Stature generally seems more closely allied to diet, so groups with great hunting areas that also live near the coast should be taller

I agree diet is a contributing factor, however, long, thin bodies, presenting a greater surface area relative to volume, are better able to dissipate body heat, in respect to rounder bodies that instead, are better suited to preserve body heat. The round bodies of the Inuit of the Arctic and the tall, slim bodies of some African population are examples of natural selection at work.

Offline Fester

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Re: Human Extinction
« Reply #10 on: September 11, 2013, 09:21:38 pm »
I cannot fathom how ancient people, originating in Central Asia, could possibly travel to the East coast of America.
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Offline Yorkie

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Re: Human Extinction
« Reply #11 on: September 11, 2013, 09:38:59 pm »
Ryanair!     _))*
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Offline Trojan

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Re: Human Extinction
« Reply #12 on: September 12, 2013, 01:32:36 am »

Offline Trojan

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Re: Human Extinction
« Reply #13 on: September 12, 2013, 01:39:06 am »
I cannot fathom how ancient people, originating in Central Asia, could possibly travel to the East coast of America.

Have you not watched The Flintstones?

Offline Ian

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Re: Human Extinction
« Reply #14 on: September 12, 2013, 07:35:08 am »
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The round bodies of the Inuit of the Arctic and the tall, slim bodies of some African population are examples of natural selection at work.

But the Inuit have traditionally existed on diets high in whale and seal blubber, so putting on weight would be a natural dietary-led process. They also lead a relatively sedentary existence compared with, say - the Akie tribe in East Africa who will go many days without food and hunt over areas the size of England. I'm not saying there's not some form of selection at work, and black skin is clearly one trait which can't be influenced by diet, but I question whether build and stature is anything other than simply diet and lifestyle.
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.