Most likely road to human extinction

[AYHJA]

Over population...Definitely something to consider...

[deepsepia]

Over population...Definitely something to consider...

Overpopulation is self-correcting; leads to die offs, but not to extinction . . .

[AYHJA]

I'm going to weigh in on this one and go with Plague...

Sure, if a NEO decides to hit the earth things will be fucked up big time...But I think somehow, someway, humans would survive it...The truth of the matter is that humans could probably survive each of these things...

But for me a plague is probably going to do the trick...The history of plague and disease is such that it strikes hard and fast, and is VERY random...The influenza of 1918 for example, hit simultaneously in places to which human transferring it would be impossible...That lead me to believe that there are tons of micro-organisms that we don't know about, that could come from a variety of places and have catastrophic effects...Virus' and shit that lay dormant, people pass them on unknowingly, and before you know it, people are dying...

I think that a situation like that would lead to general entropy, which I believe would preclude any kind of ELE...

[namehunter]

A Near Earth Object has caused specie extinction in the past, and clearly [ to me at least] poses the most risk to extinction in the future as all other options will leave survivors.

I would have loved to have voted for entropy, as that and apathy are my favorite causes, but...it just makes me want for ME to be extinct.
:think:

[AYHJA]

I suppose that if one were big enough to obliterate the planet, we would be able to see it long, long before it hits...And while that may not guarantee that we will be able t o do anything about it, assuming we would know years in advance, that would at least allow groups of people to survive it...Maybe things are deep underground, with enough food and supplies to stave off the effects of such an event...But I doubt something that big could come so fast we couldn't prepare....

[x3n]

I agree with you, A. I'll go with plague. Most likely not a single one, but a cluster attack. An opportunistic attack similar to HIV where one simply shuts down the alarm and the doors are open for other bacteria, most likely super-bacteria with a pretty decent antibiotic-safe code.

[raum]

No plague will kill us all. It is not in the interest of plagues to do so.

Furthermore NOTHING will lead to human extinction, because humanity on earth is just a single function of consciousness.... the entirety of humanity can be nothing more than the experience of a child nodding off in class and end with the sharp wrap of a ruler on a desk that startles him from his daydream.

If you will yourself into greater states of consciousness, you will see that consciousness can not be restricted by time and space. but all points of perspective are but are but appendages from something far more vast than the singularity of the human condition.

[AYHJA]

...was wondering when the topic would take that turn...

Damn you x3n, where's my VU coffee mug design..? I will never view this forum without thinking about that now, congrats...

OK M8, I'll bite...Oh wait, that wasn't bait..? I'm biting anyway...Woof!

No plague will kill us all. It is not in the interest of plagues to do so.

So, you're laying your chips on the table to say that in the event some cosmic entities find their way to the atmosphere and start laying waste to humanity, that we would survive..? What percentage of humans would you think would be able to survive and continue forward should a pandemic like the one that hit in the 14th century makes it world wide..?

See, my thinking is that even if there are some to survive, and using the worse accounts as a guide, a 60% decrease in the world population would almost certainly send us up shits creek...1/3 of the poplulation in 6 years..? My feelings is that such a thing would yield into chaos, and the earth would slowly but surely reboot...

And obviously, it goes without saying that should we survive any of these cataclysmic events, we will not survive the death of our sun...

[x3n]

I'm doctor Pessimismo...I believe you called me?

In light or our recent discussions on consciousness and existence, there is plenty of room for debate as to what our intangible selves might become. However... our physical manifestations? I don't think we will make it as our current physical selves, no. Furthermore, we will be long gone before the sun closes shop.

I'm sorry, I do think nature will win. This present stage of evolution has not shown us many signs of favorable changes for a while, not at the rate that most other species are adjusting. Bacteria, on the other hand, are alarmingly efficient and self-replication and specifically, survivalist adaptation. When the concept of death and the drive to survive is pretty much automatic and disengaged from any concept of fear, pride, sin, morals or any of these other trappings...they win. They've been winning for fucking ages now. We don't stop them, we never have, we've eliminated a minuscule part of a myriad mutations and a new one complete with "fuck you" guard is raised. It will come from melted ice cores, protein-rich sea water and rain the fuck down on us.

Cockroaches will deal with a dying sun, not us.

[shining2001uk]

Super volcano, find it hard to see how it could wipe out everyone, even on the other side of the planet, but i guess not impossible

Plague, there is no evolutionary benefit in wiping out your host/food which is why so few infectious diseases are lethal & resistance rapidly develops, survival of the fittest and all that

extermination by extraterrestrials?