5th Mass extintion

[patt0]

According to a recent study (http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6195/401) scientists warn we are approaching the next mass extinction.
What are your thoughts on this topic, and how do you think that will affect us.
The most interesting part for me, is that the other 4 mass extinctions were probably caused by natural events such as super-volcano eruptions or asteroids strikes, but this next is will be our fault... We are as destructive as a super-volcano eruption lol that can't be good :/

[Vod]

According to a recent study (http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6195/401) scientists warn we are approaching the next mass extinction.
What are your thoughts on this topic, and how do you think that will affect us.
The most interesting part for me, is that the other 4 mass extinctions were probably caused by natural events such as super-volcano eruptions or asteroids strikes, but this next is will be our fault... We are as destructive as a super-volcano eruption lol that can't be good :/

I have a feeling that what we are doing here is done by every intelligent species on every planet.  Every race that develops industry goes mostly extinct, so there are no aliens for us to contact!

[patt0]

According to a recent study (http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6195/401) scientists warn we are approaching the next mass extinction.
What are your thoughts on this topic, and how do you think that will affect us.
The most interesting part for me, is that the other 4 mass extinctions were probably caused by natural events such as super-volcano eruptions or asteroids strikes, but this next is will be our fault... We are as destructive as a super-volcano eruption lol that can't be good :/

I have a feeling that what we are doing here is done by every intelligent species on every planet.  Every race that develops industry goes mostly extinct, so there are no aliens for us to contact!

hmm aren't you a little far ahead on your thoughts? How can you say that "every race that develops industry goes mostly extinct", you don't know any race that developed industry that went extint... as far as we know the human race developed industry and is not extinct (yes it could happen, we sure are trying to achieve that).
I have no idea if there are more races that developed industry or not (maybe there are), so I can't say that they went extinct. As far as I know, maybe there are other races, and maybe they are just fine lol

[u9y42]

According to a recent study (http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6195/401) scientists warn we are approaching the next mass extinction.
What are your thoughts on this topic, and how do you think that will affect us.
The most interesting part for me, is that the other 4 mass extinctions were probably caused by natural events such as super-volcano eruptions or asteroids strikes, but this next is will be our fault... We are as destructive as a super-volcano eruption lol that can't be good :/

I have a feeling that what we are doing here is done by every intelligent species on every planet.  Every race that develops industry goes mostly extinct, so there are no aliens for us to contact!

That seems unlikely. I think that there has been so much time since the beginning of the universe that allows for life similar to what exists here to appear, that encountering species at close to our technological level is very, very unlikely. I mean, there could be species literally billions of years old around, and chances are they would have little to no interest in contacting us, which might explain why there seems to be no evidence for alien life - no need to assume everyone has taken the route humanity is taking.

[Mike Christ]

That seems unlikely. I think that there has been so much time since the beginning of the universe that allows for life similar to what exists here to appear, that encountering species at close to our technological level is very, very unlikely. I mean, there could be species literally billions of years old around, and chances are they would have little to no interest in contacting us, which might explain why there seems to be no evidence for alien life - no need to assume everyone has taken the route humanity is taking.

I doubt that; since the universe had a beginning, and since all matter has had the same rules placed on it since that beginning, the speed at which planet Earth formed into an ideal place for life to begin is going to be about the same speed as any other planet, meaning those planets, perfect for life as is ours, had creatures evolving at about the same rate and in similar ways considering they've experienced a similar environment as ours, meaning they're roughly in the same spot that we are now: intelligent beings, sentient or otherwise, duking it out for resources, with little time to focus on developing the technology and gathering the resources necessary to travel at lightspeed for decades, if not centuries (not to mention being able to live that long, or to reproduce in-between), just to see more of the same.

The universe is only about 13 billion years old, with our planet having circled the sun about 4 and a half billion years ago (that means about 8-9 billion years are spent just trying to bring order to the chaos.)  Within those 4 1/2 billion years, only the last billion has been spent with multi-cellular life forms, and only the last 200k years spent with your modern day man.  Unless this sentient lifeform managed to find a way to evolve several magnitudes faster than the species of our planet, or those planets formed way faster than all the others, it's safe to say that, while we're not alone, there's little room to precede us in technological advancement, and even if there was, the universe is a huge place and if you have the technology to travel around like that, there's probably something much more interesting locally to that lifeform.  Needless to say, there's no society that can be billions of years old, and no aliens are aware we exist aside from a mutual understanding that the odds of them being the only sentient species in the universe are zilch.

[DrG]

That seems unlikely. I think that there has been so much time since the beginning of the universe that allows for life similar to what exists here to appear, that encountering species at close to our technological level is very, very unlikely. I mean, there could be species literally billions of years old around, and chances are they would have little to no interest in contacting us, which might explain why there seems to be no evidence for alien life - no need to assume everyone has taken the route humanity is taking.

I doubt that; since the universe had a beginning, and since all matter has had the same rules placed on it since that beginning, the speed at which planet Earth formed into an ideal place for life to begin is going to be about the same speed as any other planet, meaning those planets, perfect for life as is ours, had creatures evolving at about the same rate and in similar ways considering they've experienced a similar environment as ours, meaning they're roughly in the same spot that we are now: intelligent beings, sentient or otherwise, duking it out for resources, with little time to focus on developing the technology and gathering the resources necessary to travel at lightspeed for decades, if not centuries (not to mention being able to live that long, or to reproduce in-between), just to see more of the same.

The universe is only about 13 billion years old, with our planet having circled the sun about 4 and a half billion years ago (that means about 8-9 billion years are spent just trying to bring order to the chaos.)  Within those 4 1/2 billion years, only the last billion has been spent with multi-cellular life forms, and only the last 200k years spent with your modern day man.  Unless this sentient lifeform managed to find a way to evolve several magnitudes faster than the species of our planet, or those planets formed way faster than all the others, it's safe to say that, while we're not alone, there's little room to precede us in technological advancement, and even if there was, the universe is a huge place and if you have the technology to travel around like that, there's probably something much more interesting locally to that lifeform.  Needless to say, there's no society that can be billions of years old, and no aliens are aware we exist aside from a mutual understanding that the odds of them being the only sentient species in the universe are zilch.

You're missing the potential that an M class planet may have formed around another star perhaps a billion years earlier than our Earth and if that planet developed life it would be a billion years ahead of our planet.

Our planet after all is made from heavy elements that came from the death of other stars and perhaps previous planets that may have held life.  We could all be recycled from ancient civilization that failed to escape their sun's death.

[u9y42]

That seems unlikely. I think that there has been so much time since the beginning of the universe that allows for life similar to what exists here to appear, that encountering species at close to our technological level is very, very unlikely. I mean, there could be species literally billions of years old around, and chances are they would have little to no interest in contacting us, which might explain why there seems to be no evidence for alien life - no need to assume everyone has taken the route humanity is taking.

I doubt that; since the universe had a beginning, and since all matter has had the same rules placed on it since that beginning, the speed at which planet Earth formed into an ideal place for life to begin is going to be about the same speed as any other planet, meaning those planets, perfect for life as is ours, had creatures evolving at about the same rate and in similar ways considering they've experienced a similar environment as ours, meaning they're roughly in the same spot that we are now: intelligent beings, sentient or otherwise, duking it out for resources, with little time to focus on developing the technology and gathering the resources necessary to travel at lightspeed for decades, if not centuries (not to mention being able to live that long, or to reproduce in-between), just to see more of the same.

The universe is only about 13 billion years old, with our planet having circled the sun about 4 and a half billion years ago (that means about 8-9 billion years are spent just trying to bring order to the chaos.)  Within those 4 1/2 billion years, only the last billion has been spent with multi-cellular life forms, and only the last 200k years spent with your modern day man.  Unless this sentient lifeform managed to find a way to evolve several magnitudes faster than the species of our planet, or those planets formed way faster than all the others, it's safe to say that, while we're not alone, there's little room to precede us in technological advancement, and even if there was, the universe is a huge place and if you have the technology to travel around like that, there's probably something much more interesting locally to that lifeform.  Needless to say, there's no society that can be billions of years old, and no aliens are aware we exist aside from a mutual understanding that the odds of them being the only sentient species in the universe are zilch.

That's quite an anthropocentric view. Anyway, first and foremost, a disclaimer: this isn't really my field, so if we have any expert among us, feel free to correct any mistake I make.

I guess the most important point where we disagree is at the very beginning: you're assuming conditions for Earth like planets, and eventually life, would require about the same time as it did here, while I see no reason to assume so. Population III stars - believed to have been the first stars, massive, short lived, and composed only of Hydrogen, Helium and Lithium - should have formed about 100 millions years after the Big Bang. Galaxies formed a few hundreds of millions of years after that, and population II stars formed at about that time as well, out of the remains of the population III stars. Subsequent population II stars gave rise to the first population I stars (Sun like) a few billion years after, maybe about 9 billion years ago.

From this point forward, I believe the chemical elements required for Earth like planets and life to have formed, might have existed in a proportion not too dissimilar to what you'd find today - so, I suppose the basis for Earth like life to have formed has existed for at least 9 billion years. From then on, and assuming very similar conditions, evolution of species and technological development, you could have had species similar to humans, at the same stage of development, 4.5 billion years ago. Of course, there is no reason, in my view, to limit this to Earth like life or development track, and perhaps at least some Population II stars could have already provided conditions suitable for life of some kind - or who knows, maybe even sooner.

Anyway, I think we've now successfully derailed this topic, and I blame Vod for that.

[adoni]

I just donated to a shaman to have a micro asteroid nail VOD

haha

so at least vod will become extinct

LOL

[patt0]

yep we went a litle off topic lol
So back to topic, how do you think this might affect us?

For instance since the time for big mammals to reproduce is long, these will be the ones that will most likely face extinction, and that will probably leave room for small animals like rodents to spread and that will most likely make a big change in the ecosystem. (more likely to spread diseases etc)

[bitsmichel]

According to a recent study (http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6195/401) scientists warn we are approaching the next mass extinction.
What are your thoughts on this topic, and how do you think that will affect us.
The most interesting part for me, is that the other 4 mass extinctions were probably caused by natural events such as super-volcano eruptions or asteroids strikes, but this next is will be our fault... We are as destructive as a super-volcano eruption lol that can't be good :/

Scientists need to publish articles, otherwise they lose their job. Often the quality is rubbish, but it's easy to understand - so that it gets published.  It is certain we will go extinct if we will not live on other planets. but on the more short term (5000 - 100.000 years), we may be well on this planet. Humans have spread all across the planet, so even in case of natural disaster some of them may survive.

[Lethn]

According to a recent study (http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6195/401) scientists warn we are approaching the next mass extinction.
What are your thoughts on this topic, and how do you think that will affect us.
The most interesting part for me, is that the other 4 mass extinctions were probably caused by natural events such as super-volcano eruptions or asteroids strikes, but this next is will be our fault... We are as destructive as a super-volcano eruption lol that can't be good :/

Scientists need to publish articles, otherwise they lose their job. Often the quality is rubbish, but it's easy to understand - so that it gets published.  It is certain we will go extinct if we will not live on other planets. but on the more short term (5000 - 100.000 years), we may be well on this planet. Humans have spread all across the planet, so even in case of natural disaster some of them may survive.

http://metro.co.uk/2013/04/13/stephen-hawking-humans-have-less-than-1000-years-left-on-earth-3614602/

This isn't fake or rubbish in the slightest, it's backed by Stephen Hawkings, as I've stated tons of times on this forum the problem with our planet is our population is growing too fast and it can't accommodate us anymore, in order to survive we need to spread out and colonise other planets or live in space itself.

[bitsmichel]

According to a recent study (http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6195/401) scientists warn we are approaching the next mass extinction.
What are your thoughts on this topic, and how do you think that will affect us.
The most interesting part for me, is that the other 4 mass extinctions were probably caused by natural events such as super-volcano eruptions or asteroids strikes, but this next is will be our fault... We are as destructive as a super-volcano eruption lol that can't be good :/

Scientists need to publish articles, otherwise they lose their job. Often the quality is rubbish, but it's easy to understand - so that it gets published.  It is certain we will go extinct if we will not live on other planets. but on the more short term (5000 - 100.000 years), we may be well on this planet. Humans have spread all across the planet, so even in case of natural disaster some of them may survive.

http://metro.co.uk/2013/04/13/stephen-hawking-humans-have-less-than-1000-years-left-on-earth-3614602/

This isn't fake or rubbish in the slightest, it's backed by Stephen Hawkings, as I've stated tons of times on this forum the problem with our planet is our population is growing too fast and it can't accommodate us anymore, in order to survive we need to spread out and colonise other planets or live in space itself.

The population is quite spread. Most of the population lives in China and India  https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4e/World_population.svg/1280px-World_population.svg.png  

I think the problem is that capitalism is not sustainable on such a large scale, with another system the world would be fine.

[Lethn]

Of course, blame capitalism, despite the fact that we don't actually live in a capitalist society right now you also can't ignore the fact that we're rapidly running out of resources to build things and sustain ourselves, this is about survival, not ideology.

[CustomChickenDelivery]

we're rapidly running out of resources to build things and sustain ourselves, this is about survival, not ideology.

I for one can't wait for the Soylent Green economy to rise.

You could flavor them according to their national origin, or pop culture orientation.

There'd even be a hip-hop version, Doo Doo Brown.....

the possibilities are near endless.  

[redsn0w]

Of course, blame capitalism, despite the fact that we don't actually live in a capitalist society right now you also can't ignore the fact that we're rapidly running out of resources to build things and sustain ourselves, this is about survival, not ideology.

I for one can't wait for the Soylent Green economy to rise.

You could flavor them according to their national origin, or pop culture orientation.

There'd even be a hip-hop version, Doo Doo Brown.....

the possibilities are near endless. 

+1 For both, what you say seems really right !


We hope that the world will change

[CustomChickenDelivery]

Of course, blame capitalism, despite the fact that we don't actually live in a capitalist society right now you also can't ignore the fact that we're rapidly running out of resources to build things and sustain ourselves, this is about survival, not ideology.

I for one can't wait for the Soylent Green economy to rise.

You could flavor them according to their national origin, or pop culture orientation.

There'd even be a hip-hop version, Doo Doo Brown.....

the possibilities are near endless.  

+1 For both, what you say seems really right !


We hope that the world will change

Yup. Its all about the taste of................. PEOPLE!!!

[bitsmichel]

Of course, blame capitalism, despite the fact that we don't actually live in a capitalist society right now you also can't ignore the fact that we're rapidly running out of resources to build things and sustain ourselves, this is about survival, not ideology.

Capitalism gave a lot of wealth to the people, which allowed them to buy all kinds of products, and demands for a higher production. This in turn, takes more resources.   For example, in 1960s maybe 1 in a 1.000.000 Chinese had an opportunity to get a car, now much more would be able.

[Leina]

Not necessary a bad thing. Survival of the fitness.

[Lethn]

Not necessary a bad thing. Survival of the fitness.

Not necessarily the fittest, just the ones who have a brain and can recognise a disaster when it's about to hit them in the face, I hate people who stay in denial in when it comes to mathematics and science.

[Malin Keshar]

In fact it would the the 6th extinction, I remember they speaking about that in the X-files when they revealed the alien plans to destroy the human race.


And if the nature did nothing to protect 99% of all living species that ever existed, why should we bother too much about them? Species die and are born everyday, its the nature.