I have come to the conclusion that Humanity is doomed

[anarch]

We are, on the whole, stupid, violent, and arrogant about our place in the world. Aside from that, I was just reading some post about how a bunch of fundie Christians had gotten a schoolteacher suspended for showing a 12 minute video of a sock-puppet version of Faust, on the grounds that said teacher was a devil-worshiper and degenerate. These fundamentalists are the people who seem to have the biggest sway in the culture of what is, ostensibly at least, the richest, most fortunate and resourceful nation on the planet? It is surreal. If things don’t change drastically (and I don’t even know if Democrats taking back the legislative branch can do it) in our culture, I see no possible outcome besides another Dark Age.

We have utter madmen and monsters in control of most of the world’s governments, and practically all of the extremely scary weapons of mass destruction. We have a culture that seems inordinately and increasingly controlled by anti-science fundamentalist religious fanatics bent on removing reason from any and all public policy, and an ignorant majority of the public who is happy about this turn of events. We have the looming specter of Peak Oil (and no matter what your take is on the really alarmist versions of this, there’s no denying that the world’s energy needs are very soon going to outstrip supply to the point of universal discomfort at best), and no real work being done on a large scale to mitigate it.

Well, Nature will persist at least. If we destroy ourselves or otherwise die off in large numbers, maybe whoever or whatever is around millions of years from now can use the petroleum that is sure to develop from our decayed corpses to do something useful next time around.

[Syncronaut Seven]

1. Decayed corpses? How morbid!

I expect the neo-cons to render our fat as due course.

[wtbymark]

2. viva la revolution!

separate jesusland from the sane states

[Pharaoh]

3. Thank God for Dope!

:party:

[quinnox]

4. The Sun will go supernova one day

and the earth will be barbecued like a marshmellow.

[anarch]

5. well, yes, but I meant sooner than that

[Yollam]

12. Most species develop, flourish, then die out.

Why should we be any different?

The shark and the alligator are a couple of exceptions to the rule - creatures that have survived for tens of millions of years with little change. I don't pretend to know whether humanity will destroy itself in a hundred years or adapt to fix its own messes and eventually spread out to the stars. I don't expect to see the answer in my lifetime, and I don't waste much time sweating it. The rosier scenario is more comforting, so I choose to believe it. But human beings are adaptable. Look at the conditions people manage to survive under in sub-Saharan Africa. If anybody will die off on future tribulations, it will be pampered, air-conditioned, flabby Americans and other Westerners first...

[Odin2005]

15. As a Biology major, this meme used by fellow biologists annoys me.

It assumes humans have no more control over thier own destiny then other species, which is not true. The more technologically advanced we become the more control over our destiny we have. Once we reach the status of what futurists call a "Type I civilization" sometime in this century, our species will most likely become immortal.

[anarch]

16. there, now...that's the kind of optimism I was hoping for

in response to my pessimism. I still think it will take some serious change of course for what you say to happen, though. We really do seem to be regressing as a matter of policy right now.

Despite our species' relative disadvantage compared to various insects and ferns, I'd like to think our cerebral cortex makes up for it. Any beast that can develop the technology to potentially destroy all life on the planet ought to have some positive potential as well, I think. Maybe all that doesn't matter. I dunno.

[shadowknows69]

25. We also have the ability to hasten our extinction

a perk all the other species weren't fortunate enough to be born with

[BeHereNow]

17. Why do I find that thought mildly comforting?

Is it because somewhere along the way
it occured to me that the scale on mankind's
deeds upon the earth had tipped?
These are the thoughts I have a great deal
of the time. I remember telling a friend
some years ago that it felt as though
there had been a shift in the center of gravity
throughout the universe.
That something had changed.
When you review the history of man,
the last hundred years appears to be the
end of something fantastic, and the beginning
of something very dark.
That's how it feels to me any way.
Especially when I listen to certain composers, read certain
philosophers or study certain works of visual art
from the past.
Everything created today pales in comparison.
And a whole generation of craftsmen are
dying off with no one to carry on their knowledge.
The same if true of many indigenous people.
I don't know folks, maybe we are just lucky
to have lived part of our lives in that world.
I don't see anything like it coming in our future;
I see the antithesis of it.
BHN

[anarch]

23. everything is a cycle

If it all falls apart, maybe the next time around people (or whatever ascends to take our place) will do better.

Mostly it just bemuses me that we have chosen to base our whole civilization's existence on a clearly limited, non-renewable resource...and to engage in gross overconsumption with no consideration for the long term.

[BeHereNow]

26. Indeed- NON renewable resource...there is no connection

to that fact in the global collective consciousness.
If there were even a glimmer, people would
be in the process of making radical changes.
But no, we slumber along as the train
careens to wards the cliff.
It is astounding to watch, for those
who are watching.
I want to read Kevin Phillips new book to
digest what he has to say on this subject.
I heard him briefly on a radio spot yesterday
discussing the non renewable aspect .
He is a brilliant man.
Too bad most people need a dictionary
to read him.
BHN

[LaPera]

6. Our inherent greed...will doom our human experiment, its inevitably

can last only so long, as we greedily pollute beyond comprehension, eat up all our resources faster & faster, new weapons and ways to destroy life, and to steal what others have and finally the extreme hate and disregard most have for each other...All this can't go on forever...I guess that's why there are so many religious believers...figuring God will save the day...but along with our inherent greed... it's just our inherent ego convincing us...we are not doomed, and at the last second, saved as a species.

Unfortunately, not a chance!

[SmokingJacket]

7. Most species do eventually go extinct.

I mean, the gingko tree and the horsetail fern and, well, certain weird looking fish seem to have avoided extinction for a really long time now -- but they're the exceptions.

Something better adapted to the planet will rise up and take our place.

[cynatnite]

8. I envision our environment turning on us...

with as much destruction that has been done to this planet, I wouldn't blame the earth for aborting the human race.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

9. And, who will know, or care?

We'll just be gone and forgotten, unless some latter day archeologist digs up some fossils and wonders what kind of goofy creature we were.

We are unique only because we tell ourselves we are unique.

[anarch]

11. but we seem to have such potential

I think, on our own planet at least, we're pretty close to unique...or at least more highly developed in the areas of cognition and awareness than other species. But instead of capitalizing on this advantage, we seem to be hell bent on emphasizing our negative characteristics (greed, ignorance, hatred and the like).

I think we are in a unique position relative to other animals...some indigenous cultures saw Man as having a special mission, as guardian of the Earth--but we have betrayed ourselves and our planet, squandered our resources, and abused our environment.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. Meanwhile the lowly cockroach has been around 350 million years.

Apparantly, nature has developed some species that are far more "successful" than our "highly-developed" selves.

While I agree with your concept, on the grand scale of things, we humans are newcomers to the scene, pipsqueeks endowed with the arrogance to believe that we are important to the universe. This while we are, in reality, a minor species, located on a very insignifiant planet, circling an ordinary sun, on the outskirts of an unimpressive galaxy, amongst billions of other galaxies, in what could be (according to quantum physics), one of trillions of universes.

As someone said, we are like a flea riding on an elephant convinced that we are steering it.

[Vox_Reason]

10. Reading quickly, I thought you were referring to Sean Vanity

I'm so disappointed.

[TreasonousBastard]

13. I've always had a crackpot idea that...

dolphins and some other species had evolved long before we did and gave us those Atlantis myths. Eventually, they saw how things were going and decided to devolve themselves back into the sea and just enjoy the sushi.

It's our turn now. Back to the jungle and just munch on fruits and leaves.

[porphyrian]

18. We should all just give up.

Why bother, right?

[anarch]

21. not my intent

We as a species need to reconsider our motivations, though. IMHO.

[specimenfred1984]

19. The Fake Religious Stuff is a Purposeful Distraction

Fundies aren't really in power, they're just pandered to. The cons use religion as propaganda, nothing else.

Peak oil, global warming and a shortage of resources are horribly real, and the nuclear threat too. We very well might be doomed but hey, at least we know it.

[anarch]

20. I dunno...it's more the evident popularity of ...

well, what do you want to call it? Anti-Reason? Atavistic superstition? Anyway, it's more the growing numbers of people who are clearly idiots that give me pause.

[Triana]

22. You just now figured that out?

This race will destroy itself beneath the weight of its own inability to evolve. It saws off the limb on which it is perched then expects to survive.
It won't. Stupid is a gross understatement.

[anarch]

24. nah...I'm just feeling down today

and there've been a few things lately that just make me shake my head...like, wow, no matter what happens, or what obvious lies our "leaders" tell, or what evil they inflict on the world, there are always going to be a large number of idiots who are never going to wake up.

Certainly not a new sensation, but hitting me with a renewed force lately. :shrug:

[Triana]

27. Understood. I know the feeling

:argh: