Do you recon that within 100yr the human race will be ****ed?

[Neil]

Global warming? Rising ocean acidity? Do you recon the world in 50-100yrs will be a hospitable place with 8 billion humans all happily surviving as per normal? I fear a global warming snowball. Global temperatures rise and rise and then (as has seemingly happened before) - http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0113080810.htm I believe such events have caused global extinctions before. In the Earth's history, coincident with global warmings of about 10 degrees Fahrenheit, there have been several 'mass extinctions', when 50-90 percent of the species on Earth disappeared forever.

[AcesandEights]

Do you recon the world in 50-100yrs will be a hospitable place with 8 billion humans all happily surviving as per normal? Quite possibly not hospitable for 8 Billion, but there is a good chance we won't have 8 billion or so people on the planet in 100 years Then again, man is great at surviving and is ingenious, as a species, so who can say for sure. Cue emo C-3po "We're doomed." posts

[Mike70]

i think in a lot of ways we are screwed and have no one to blame other than ourselves. i would agree with some biologists who assert that we are already living in what is likely to be one of the bigger extinction events in earth's history - all caused by humans. how many species have humans driven to extinction? the list would take up 25 posts probably. how many others have we driven to the brink of extinction? given that, i don't know if humans are even deserve to survive as a species. the article poses a very real and very ruinous scenario that's happened before - a methane hydrate release. something like that could cause warming on such a fast scale (methane is far worse than carbon dioxide, it traps almost 20 times more heat than CO2) that i don't think there'd be much anyone could do except try to ride it out.

[fartpants]

i think we will bring about our own demise long before global warming ever gets the chance to, be it a man-made virus or a nuclear war or some other man-made catastrophe, i honestly believe that WE will wipe ourselves out long before nature can

[Philly_SWAT]

I could discuss this topic at length. But in a rare instance of being brief, I will just say that as long as the physical planet is still here, I think that the human race will survive. In the event of an ice age (due to global warming...if that doesnt make sense then read about it), no doubt countless millions/billions of humans will die, but some will survive. To my way of thinking, and my understanding of science, one day our sun will go supernova, not only destroying the planet Earth, but the entire solar system. So if by that time we have not figured out a way to travel to other solar systems, then the human race will cease to exist.

[Tricky]

I dont buy the whole "global warming" thing,especially as this winter has been the coldest in the UK for a good few years!what will be will be,and if it comes to a point where humankind is looking at extinction it wont be in our lifetime or even in 3 or 4 generations lifetimes,why worry?

[EvilNed]

The human race will always be around. The humans, unlike all others, can adapt to their enviroment... Or adapt the enviroment to themselves! No other species can do this as quickly and ingeniously as the human race.

[MoonSylver]

I heard the other night that we're tracking an asteroid that is going to make a close enough pass that it will fly UNDER our communications satellites in 2027. Based on how it passes we will then be able to determine if it's going to hit us or not in 2036. So...2036...mark you calenders kids!!!

[AcesandEights]

So...2036...mark you calenders kids!!! Well, iirc, Apophis isn't large enough to finish us off in a single swat, even if it does manage to tag us. Sure, it could spur real, reciprocal nastiness, as survivors squabble for resources in the afflicted regions and that could conceivably cause a global war, but a hit alone from it and it's direct results shouldn't be enough to do us in as a species.

[Mike70]

here are the possible strike points for apophis in 2036. a lot of them are in the middle of siberia, the pacific ocean and the western atlantic. the estimation of the energy that would be released is something like 1,500 megatons. by comparison the tunguska event was in the range of 3-10 megatons and the explosion of krakatoa, arguably the most violent natural event in recorded history, was 200 megatons, killed probably over 120,000 people and generated tsunamis over 100ft high . it is also the loudest sound ever, the 4 huge explosions were heard clearly in perth, australia 3,500km away. take that and magnify it by like seven times or so and that'd be what apophis hitting the earth would be like. the damage from a 200 megaton explosion. this is a pic of krakatoa (using an alternate spelling of the name) with the areas of the island that were obliterated in shade.

[Danny]

i think were too stubborn and greedy to be wiped out any time soon.

[Neil]

My fear is, in my lifetime we will realise we have started a snowball that cannot be stopped. eg: Global warming increases, ocean temps start going up, and we realise there is nothing we can do but watch the methane ice sheets at the bottom of the oceans start to melt. Temps spiral up and more methane melts.... And the snowball grows... In the end huge areas of the worlds are too hot/baron to live in... And the majority of plant/animal life goes! Maybe some humans will survive, but human civilisation, as we know, will be dealt a knock it most likely could not recover from. Remember the climate we currently live and thrive in can easily change to one we cannot live and thrive in.

[Tricky]

The jury is still out on how much of it is a natural occurance & how much is man made though!i know we dont help matters,but im more inclined to stick with the natural occurance side!

[mista_mo]

we'll never die out, as we'll develop rocket missiles and shoot monkeys mixed with human DNA out into the space, and have sex with a lot of alien women.

[axlish]

Right about the time we have the proper technology to exist on other planets by using domes, tunnels and hydroponic growing systems, we'll need to use it on ourselves, here on Earth. I don't buy into the theories that have the Earth rapidly declining into descent at an immediate and exponential rate, but I do think that the changes will be significant enough in the next hundred years to force everyone to adjust their lives a bit. Here's hoping that technology and awareness meets the appropriate levels in time to either do something about it, or prepare us for survival after the results.