So how do you see it all ending?

[Neil]

Fear not....the singularity is approaching.... Well even the black death wasnt 100% fatal...people did live after contracting it....A disease seems pretty impossible senario to wipe out all of humanity....likely senario in a disease epidemic is:.....Outbreak....Chaos...Collapse of Society....Remission of Disease(for tons of different factors)...survivors rebuild....1% of the human population remaining is enough to repopulate.... Ummm... Imagine if 99% of the worlds population died... Infact let's be generous, let's make it just 90%... How do you think food would get into that fridge that no has electricity? How long do you think it will take the fuel to run out in the that car that no longer has any parts being made for it? How long until your mobile phone, that has no network to work on, fails. It wouldn't take much for "everything" to collapse... Once it has, then we'd fall back to medieval times again... eg: Every computer these days is made with the aid of a computer

[Terran]

I think some entire species of birds have been wiped out by viruses! Thats different....usually the population was already low from some other means... Like Island isolated...(species only exists on an island) or hunted heavily...becomes endangered.... nurseries try to breed a population...but the population is so inbred that one disease is able to wipe them out because of the lack of genetic variation... Some times a disease just wipes out a population to such a low level...that the animals have trouble running across a mate....so they die out due to lack of proximatity to others of their species...... We are a very social and extraordinarily intelligent animal...even if only 0.5% and less survived a virus outbreak we would figure out ways to find other humans (smoke signals and **** or just tech lying about)... Ummm... Imagine if 99% of the worlds population died... Infact let's be generous, let's make it just 90%... How do you think food would get into that fridge that no has electricity? How long do you think it will take the fuel to run out in the that car that no longer has any parts being made for it? How long until your mobile phone, that has no network to work on, fails. It wouldn't take much for "everything" to collapse... Once it has, then we'd fall back to medieval times again... eg: Every computer these days is made with the aid of a computer Yeah everything would collaspe...society as we know it wouldnt exist....it would be rebuilt though...just cause food aint in the fridge....and fuel aint in the car....doesnt mean humans cant survive....with all the humans dieing from diseases...and our society collasping....animals would be everywhere to eat...and all the products from our previous society would still be around...because a disease epidemic means theres still plenty of canned foods and emergancy rations around to be found since people dieing off so quickly...

[idsaluteyoubub]

Fear not....the singularity is approaching.... Well even the black death wasnt 100% fatal...people did live after contracting it....A disease seems pretty impossible senario to wipe out all of humanity....likely senario in a disease epidemic is:.....Outbreak....Chaos...Collapse of Society....Remission of Disease(for tons of different factors)...survivors rebuild....1% of the human population remaining is enough to repopulate.... Oh yea I agree for the most part...I dont think a disease could completely wipe out our race...there has to be a select few that biulds up some anti-bodies for it or something...but it would put our race into such a deep recess that I dont think we would ever come back to what we are now...IF we would survive such a severe decline of 99% of our race dropping...

[MinionZombie]

Although the black death was quite a long time ago and medicine has advanced a hell of a lot since those days, heck, even the deadly flu about 100 years ago in Britain (which was apparently bird flu) was at a time when medicine was still in it's infancy. These days I'd like to think we could manage an epidemic well, especially after seeing all that SARS sh*t going on.

[Terran]

Oh yea I agree for the most part...I dont think a disease could completely wipe out our race...there has to be a select few that biulds up some anti-bodies for it or something...but it would put our race into such a deep recess that I dont think we would ever come back to what we are now...IF we would survive such a severe decline of 99% of our race dropping... Not necessarily true... During the ice age genetic evidence suggests that the human population dropped to about 10,000 adults around 50 and 100 thousand years ago. Now remember this was without technology as we know it...Today we have books everywhere...and the reminders of our past all over the place..... 10,000 adults around 50 and 100 thousand years ago...spat out all of us that our alive today...we could do it even faster with all the knowledge that would remain after a disaster... I think if our population dropped to about 10,000 adults today...it would be much easier to come back from than it was 50-100 thousand years ago.....think...no giant predators or giant dangerous prey to deal with....domesticated animals everywhere....and education locked in books all over the world....

[idsaluteyoubub]

Not necessarily true... During the ice age genetic evidence suggests that the human population dropped to about 10,000 adults around 50 and 100 thousand years ago. Now remember this was without technology as we know it...Today we have books everywhere...and the reminders of our past all over the place..... 10,000 adults around 50 and 100 thousand years ago...spat out all of us that our alive today...we could do it even faster with all the knowledge that would remain after a disaster... I think if our population dropped to about 10,000 adults today...it would be much easier to come back from than it was 50-100 thousand years ago.....think...no giant predators or giant dangerous prey to deal with....domesticated animals everywhere....and education locked in books all over the world.... However, you have to factor in surface area compared to back then, when these 10,000 adults were all in a somewhat condensed area. We are now spanned to every inch of the globe. Chances are, there wouldnt be any pilots or anyone that knows how to comadeer a boat across an ocean with only 10,000 adults around...

[Terran]

However, you have to factor in surface area compared to back then, when these 10,000 adults were all in a somewhat condensed area. We are now spanned to every inch of the globe. Chances are, there wouldnt be any pilots or anyone that knows how to comadeer a boat across an ocean with only 10,000 adults around... Yeah but I already essentially covered this....humans are smart enough to contact other humans... signal fires...messages painted on walls....whatever....the point is groups will form and there will be more than enough resources availble for these groups.... These groups would form small settlements and these settlements woudl be like a magnet to any drifting stragglers...Word would be spread still the settlement is as big as it can maintain....(it would grow over time within its ability to support the new comers) If nearly everyone died out massively and abruptly(totally unlikely)....There are going to be relics of our past all over....boats....cars.....stockpiles of unused resources ...propane...gas...candles...matches...food...dome sticated animals.... So all the humans in the US, Cananda, Mexico, and South America all have access to each other for genetic transfer....And then there is always all the people in continents of Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia...all with land access or crude boat access to each other... So in comparision to what humans faced in the Ice Age....Population of only10,000 Adults (Spread out all over Europe Asia and Africa)....massive super predators...massive dangerous prey items...poor tools and shelter and unbearable weather conditions... Humans coming back from a disease epidemic today would be a cakewalk in comparision.... Sizeable populations on all continents...relics of our past mass production...lack of predators....favorable weather conditions...guns, ammunition, knifes, water bottles...buildings to hold him in....It would be like an Ice Age mans idea of heaven...

[SgtSteve]

Perhaps my question was too broad. I am not speaking of extinction through natural events. As one put it I see the world changing, but not for the better. I can't help but see the majority of my fellow human beings as self centered little heidonist. If it feels good do it seems to be the battle cry for the majority of the population. Don't have any social controls or shame a person for what they do because that would be judging them. What kink od social standards are we suppose to have with that. People whale about crime but will be the first to accuse a police officer of excessive fource when he has to do more than 'pleasantly' put handcuffs on them. Hey they should be hasseling REAL criminals rights. Not me. What I did is really not that illeagle. I used to see a granual decline of society. Now I see it rocketing down. I'll give my "Fall of the United States" senario later.

[Terran]

Perhaps my question was too broad. I am not speaking of extinction through natural events. As one put it I see the world changing, but not for the better. I can't help but see the majority of my fellow human beings as self centered little heidonist. If it feels good do it seems to be the battle cry for the majority of the population. Don't have any social controls or shame a person for what they do because that would be judging them. What kink od social standards are we suppose to have with that. People whale about crime but will be the first to accuse a police officer of excessive fource when he has to do more than 'pleasantly' put handcuffs on them. Hey they should be hasseling REAL criminals rights. Not me. What I did is really not that illeagle. I used to see a granual decline of society. Now I see it rocketing down. I'll give my "Fall of the United States" senario later. Well given that senario...humanity will never die....because the singularity is near...

[TexasZombie]

My concern would be an artificial disease that operates outside natural parameters: a virus or phage that unwraps DNA or causes the decomposition of cartiledge or blocks the Krebs Cycle or causes uncontrolled release of cellular lysates or something fun like that. TZ P.S. Unless the Singularity gets us first - which would be cool. I wanna be the first one through the cultural/species Event Horizon!!! P.P.S. How about a disease that causes a cumulative 3% decline in viable births per year? Let it run 50 years or so...

[Terran]

P.S. Unless the Singularity gets us first - which would be cool. I wanna be the first one through the cultural/species Event Horizon!!! P.P.S. How about a disease that causes a cumulative 3% decline in viable births per year? Let it run 50 years or so... Ive just been spouting that "the singularity is near" because its the name of this book Ive been reading.... Its not fiction...but its like one of those prediction type books...using mathematical models to predict the progression and effect of technology....and the book is called "The Singularity is Near"....and its about how technology is growing expotentially....and that we are reaching the knee of this curve(where growth rapidly becomes nearly parrallel with the y axis)... And so the book is about machine intelligence becoming indistinguishable from human intelligience...essentially the two become one....and when this happens the way existence is defined will totally be unearthed and changed....... Its a really interesting book....and its hard to make it uncomplicated....but its really exciting stuff...

[idsaluteyoubub]

Perhaps my question was too broad. I am not speaking of extinction through natural events. As one put it I see the world changing, but not for the better. I can't help but see the majority of my fellow human beings as self centered little heidonist. If it feels good do it seems to be the battle cry for the majority of the population. Don't have any social controls or shame a person for what they do because that would be judging them. What kink od social standards are we suppose to have with that. People whale about crime but will be the first to accuse a police officer of excessive fource when he has to do more than 'pleasantly' put handcuffs on them. Hey they should be hasseling REAL criminals rights. Not me. What I did is really not that illeagle. I used to see a granual decline of society. Now I see it rocketing down. I'll give my "Fall of the United States" senario later. Arent you Mr. Happy? And what is wrong with being a hedonist? Its just another philosophical thought, albeit extreme. But there isnt much harm done to others when being a hedonist, only personal harm...and its one's right to do what they want with their bodies. Now go to the extreme opposite, have a hardcore Puritan mindset and it can be debated that this mindset is far worse. Militant force upon people a set of beliefs and horrendous accusations against those who enjoy the drink or whatever is far more threatening and harmful if you ask me.

[SgtSteve]

Extremism in the name of anything is inherently bad. You gotta think for yourself and not blindly follow anything (see middle east). The problem I have with hedenist is that it is all about them. It strikes me as a complete lack of disapline in search of what makes you feel good. In the larger picture (society as a whole) I do see it doing damage.

[TexasZombie]

Ive just been spouting that "the singularity is near" because its the name of this book Ive been reading.... Its not fiction...but its like one of those prediction type books...<snip> Its a really interesting book....and its hard to make it uncomplicated....but its really exciting stuff... I know it's not fiction. I've been waiting on Vinge's predicted Singularity to get here for over a decade (for I am a patient zombie). We're getting closer... I know 'cause I'm helping to push the cart over the edge... TZ

[Danny]

too high of a population for a virus to "end it all".....simple enough explination. yeah exactly i dont know much science but i know that things like the black death adn spanish flu simply fizzled out because they infected too many people at once and uninfected people became few and far between so without new hosts it died out ,granted with a lot of deaths but its gotta be statistically impossible for a single virus to wipe out an entire planet. Although the black death was quite a long time ago and medicine has advanced a hell of a lot since those days, heck, even the deadly flu about 100 years ago in Britain (which was apparently bird flu) was at a time when medicine was still in it's infancy. These days I'd like to think we could manage an epidemic well, especially after seeing all that SARS sh*t going on. well thats because were biritsh by jove and no jhonny foreigner virus will get the best of us, we have alotments! However, you have to factor in surface area compared to back then, when these 10,000 adults were all in a somewhat condensed area. We are now spanned to every inch of the globe. Chances are, there wouldnt be any pilots or anyone that knows how to comadeer a boat across an ocean with only 10,000 adults around... but surely you could learn to pilot a boat, i mean it may be difficult but it cant be impossible.