Will mankind destroy itself?

[Konkulf]

The last hundred years, makind has experienced all kinds of cruelty and war, and i can't help but ask myself; Will mankind destroy itself one day?

Seeing the path we're going, with bigger and bigger wars, with bigger and bigger weapons, i just can't see how this is going to end well. Are we going to kill eachother off some day, or will we find a way to go around the problem of hate and war?

Another big problem we're facing, is pollution, which WILL leave our planet uninhabitable if we don't do something about it, and that'll have to be VERY soon.

I've just been pondering about it a lot lately, and i wan't to find out what you guys/girls might think about the problems humanity is facing at the moment, and is there a way to resolve them?

[Eris]

I doubt we will destroy ourselves through war. We've already built weapons so big they can't actually be used. That's why the cold war didn't actually turn into WWIII: The attacking side would be absolutely destroyed by the other side's counter attack.

Even though we can (and have) built stuff like



doesn't mean we will actually ever use them, or even build them again. They are simply not a very effective weapon of war, because of how ridiculously undirected their damage is.

Man-made ecological disaster is far more likely than war, if you ask me.

[Hakoshi]

I've been thinking about that too sometimes, I mean the more and more the years go by, the more "angrier" and "violent" everyone seems to get, well some do
but I guess that's very normal for people, since in every place there's always our little bunch of angry people who wont fail to come by and ruin everyones moment xD
we might destroy each other, but will we be around to see the chaos and whatnot?
Maybe not.

all in all mankinds destruction will creep on us slowly, all happens slow lol
(plus, we are pretty much killing each other, hence the murderes, suicides, and whatnot other things... )

[Eris]

People aren't getting angrier, you are just getting more aware of how angry people are. You're pretty sheltered from that stuff when you're a kid.

[Konkulf]

I agree with Eris with the fact that the likeliest thing to happen is that we will create an Ecological Disaster (which is quite good in the making already if you ask me), which will in the long run result in the Earth remaining uninhabitable.

Extinction through direct warfare is highly unlikely, though the effects of them might be what that kills us. I read about a concept called Nuclear Winter the other day, though not very likely to happen in a while (or ever for that matter) it is possible for it to happen, but that will require massive amounts of Nuclear Missiles/bombs to be dropped at around the same time to create that sort of effect, which just seems way too unlikely to ever happen.

[Mαrble]

Man-made ecological disaster is far more likely than war, if you ask me.

This. I think humanity is more concerned with preserving their own species rather than destroying themselves.

[Toboe (Tori Smith)]

it will probably will it depends on which country or contienient starts first!!!! D: I would say it will be a WW3 pretty soon here cause of everyone's economy!!! D:

[Cantelope]

I'd discuss this, but I think Michio Kaku says it much more eloquently than I could.

[Wio]

I think both war and ecological disaster are highly unlikely to kill off mankind. People in power generally aren't willing to engage in mutually assured destruction, and our species is really good at adapting to ecological situations when environmentalists aren't preventing them from doing so.

[CrimsonMoon]

No, I don't think it's likely that mankind will destroy itself through wars. There's always a side that will win, so we're not completely wiped out.

I agree with Eris, we're more likely to be destroyed due to ecological disasters sooner or later. True, we can adapt, but there's always a limit to adaptation. In the end, nature always wins. All of the natural disasters are happening more frequently now and people are dying. It's more likely that people will die unexpectedly in natural disasters than from wars, where you still have the chance to flee to other countries and such. In case of sudden natural disasters, you have little to no chance of fleeing.

 

Should we be worried about zombie outbreak? Lol. Some serious website about zombies. http://zombieresearchsociety.com/ It's funny that we prepare more for zombie outbreak than caring about the earth. ._.

[Explorer Oak]

Such a sad topic, unavoidable though. To me, mankind has been on a path to self destruction from the begining. I prefer to live in ignorance just because theres not much i can do about these problems.. But how i wish i could! ;^; only death can set us free!

[Datenshi]

Personally, I'm somewhat skeptical of thinking of "man (art)" and "nature" as distinctly separate things in the first place. It's a particular and distinctively modern form of thought that traces back to Descartes and Hobbes (Aristotle made no such distinction).

Man and everything that man does takes place within, and is part of, nature. If mankind destroys itself, it will only be nature readjusting itself.

[Volta]

Either way, destruction is inevitable.

[T-Stew]

I think we are far more likely to ruin the planet. Most people do not live sustainably (is that a word?), our rivers and lakes are being polluted to where you can't eat the fish, emissions from coal and other industry is creating acid rain, landfills are popping up everywhere, forests are being cut down... I think ever since industry and technology came about the planet has been doomed. Were just using up all the natural resources, and creating waste. And the population is exploding.

Wars... I dont know. There have always been wars, and they were just as violent. Think of how much more violent having to hack at someone with a sword is, with them staring back at you while your blade cuts their flesh and organs, their blood splattering on your face. Now-a-days thats done far away by pressing a button without even seeing the face of the enemy. But our weapons are becoming much more powerful. With the threat of mutual annihilation I dont think wars will ever escalate to that level but who knows.

I think we are much more likely to simply ruin the planet. But even if we clean up our act and become peaceful, the Earth will still be destroyed eventually one way or another. Whether by natural disaster within the planet, or cosmic event, it will eventually perish. If nothing else, the sun is expanding and long before it becomes a red giant it will have increased in size where the earth will be within the sun eventually, and everything on it will have long since been cooked. That wont be for many thousands of years though, if we actually make it that long I hope we have the means to find another planet by then.

[Samuru]

Humanity has been nothing but ignorant in the thousands of years that our species exists. We neglect wildlife, nature, even our fellow man. We do not deserve any better than extinction, as every living creature in the universe will be better off without us, except ourselves, of course. We're destroying everything we came in contact with. We're even so sick as to enslave our own species. All that man has ever been about, is supremacy. Over everything. It disgusts me. So much slaughter, killing and homicide could be avoided if we stopped being selfish, and cared for others. We're split apart, by countries and languages, by distance and belief. It's still completely unknown to me why we can't just be normal...

People yell the Earth's pollution is destroying our very home, but there is no one who is willing to take action. I prefer living in the Dark Ages any day over the disgusting way we live now.

There is no problem facing us, we are the problem.

[Rylingo]

Nope. I don't think so.

As we continue with scientific discoveries we will inevitably shape the world so that it is sustainable for us. My main worry is about huge earth ending game changers like supervolcanoes and meteors etc. I don't think a smaller disaster could finish us. We are too awesome for that.

[In0kz]

A war to end all of man is not that likely but to say that we build weapons to strong to use is wrong. there might not be time or place now but then again if a big country like america or Russia would face an invasion that where to be successful I don't think they would hesitate for more then a moment to start this war. This said I don't think we would go extinct though.

About destroying nature and making the planet uninhabitable is also rather unlikely in my eyes. Mankind might not survive if something of enough scale were to happen but to say it will make our planet uninhabitable is an overstatement. The planet has adapted to things many times worse then we humans can possible create before and survive.

[Chigumi]

50% chance.
Its either US or FORCE OF NATURE that will kill us

[Aleyna]

The Martians and Goblins are going to end up killing us all. Oh noes!*gasp* =-O