Perhaps I'm just feeling cranky this morning or since work is slowing down I'm not used to suddenly having more free time but I just have a bad feeling about things. Sky high energy prices, sagging stock market, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, damage to the environment and so on... It just seems like there are so many serious problems and there is so little, relatively, being done about them. As a country, civilization, species or planet are we doomed?
You forgot overpopulation. But I guess that's the same as "damage to the environment". The answer to your query, by the way, is yes. And probably sooner than you (or I) think.
If I have faith in anything on earth, it is man's ability to adapt to his environment. Things is changin', that's for sure. We may not recognize this country or planet in 20 years, but I expect that we'll still be around, and might be stronger because of it.
its like the agent said in the Matrix, we're parasites. we don't form a cohesiveness with our enviroment, we just suck it dry.
Agree that overpopulation is the single biggest threat. A small population would handle climate change just fine up to a point. The exponential growth of the human population and our various activities threatens virtually every ecosystem on Earth. Though, on a geological time scale the only thing threatened is human existence. Life will go on long after people are gone. George Carlin nailed it when he said the Earth will shake us off like a bad case of fleas. I'm also reminded of the Fight Club refrain, "On a long enough time line, the life expectancy for everyone goes to zero". This extends to matter in the universe itself if you want to go that far.
Google the "great pacific garbage patch". We may not recognize this planet because it will have been poisoned for the next 10,000 years thanks to our "supposed" intelligence.
1. Don't have any children 2. Make yourself as comfortable and insulated as you can. 3. Sit back and watch the show, I hear there's gonna be fireworks!
We're doomed. Since I figure we won't be truly doomed for at least a couple of hundred years, absent the killer comet or asteroid, then I can "live" with that. Bummer for my great-grandchildren, though. Be nice if we left them some sort of livable planet, I guess. Impeach Bush/Cheney.
history is littered with the graves of civilizations that failed to adapt and collapsed. Others took their place in certain instances - i do know that our high-consumption, resource intensive model is not looking like a good on in a world of scarce resources.
I know. That's why I can afford to be glib about the topic! (but I'm not, really. Damn you, Ridley Scott!!!) Impeach Bush/Cheney.
Its possible we're doomed. With Yao and McGrady missing significant time due to injuries, its possible.
That answers the civilization question. I mean without the Rockets we are no better than lower animals like Lakers fans.
We live on a continent with a population density 1/3 the world average, in a hemisphere with a population density 1/2 that of the other. We use a relatively small percentage of our available farmland, and still out-produce the world. I think we're particularly well-positioned to survive a world economic collapse. Our high-consumption, resource-intensive model is not essential to our survival as a civilization.
as soon as those scientists fire up their new multi-billion dollar particle accelerator...then it will be the end. they keep re-assuring us how nothing will happen. i feel so much better that scientists feel so good about it that they have to continually preach to the press how safe it is going to be. i'm waiting for them to open up another dimension...and for a combination of "The Myst"-like event to happen merged with a "Event Horizon"-like event. We're doomed I tell you. DOOMED! Seriously, I completely believe that this will all end in the blink of an eye one day...and all that will be left is relics of a lost civilization. A civilization which couldn't live together and couldn't live in a sustainable world without ruining it. Greed has a helluva lot to do with why this world will end.
Are you saying he would die without AC? Because surviving and living in comfort are two different things. DD
Not going to do it, but I'm pretty sure that I'd live. My grandmother lives in South Texas and doesn't use A/C except when she has company. The first time her electric bill went over $100, she decided it was too much and decided that she really doesn't need A/C. She had her 20th birthday this past February 29, and she's still going strong.
