The ultimate destiny of humans. (Given a couple assumptions)

bobcat said:
I never even thought of the communication thing. Perhaps that would be accomplished in the same way electronics communicate. Maybe we could think in real time as we are sending it telepathically by a chip in our speech center. That's scary.
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In English terms, it is suggested we could go back 700 years and be understood. Beyond that - not. Yikes. Without trying to be dramatic, a lot of what I hear from the projects in the US isn't totally understandable to me.
 

bobcat said:
Ha ha, Never say never. While I would agree it would be almost imaginable that we could travel to another solar system, I think it is within the realm of possibility that we could live on the outer planets or moons as they warm up from the sun expanding. JMO
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We need to be very careful, imo. Ask someone in medieval times if it would be possible to chat to someone across the globe, and they would have said no. Build a vehicle out of metal that didn't require livestock? Nah. Medicine and surgery? Nah. Make babies in a test tube? Impossible. Fly to the moon?

A lot of what we think of as impossible today will surely be overcome in the future.
 
I think our ultimate destiny as humans will be an uncertain and complex one. But one based on our potential for greatness along with the terror of our darkest tendencies. If we believe that homo sapiens have been on this earth for 200,000 to 300,000 years, and what we have achieved in that time, albeit initially slowly, where might we be in another million years.

Consider our advancing technology and advancing knowledge. Then throw into that our ingrained tribal tendencies, our nationalist impulses that have led to wars, violence, genocide, famine and social fragmentation throughout our history. I don’t see this stopping in the future, but accelerating.

Wars are still happening, as is the deliberate taking of other people’s lands. Hell, it seems that we are now in the realms of threatening neighbouring nation states with economic collapse to force them to become part of someone else’s nation -- and bizarrely many people seem fine with that. Let’s not forget what has gone wrong around the world in the past, with an our nation first approach. Even if we reach for the stars, these tendencies will come with us. Those tendencies might even become more sophisticated, as we fight it out on another close by planet with its limited natural resources.

Scientific progress will likely continue to be a defining feature of our future, leading to innovations in medicine, space exploration, and artificial intelligence. However, just as with previous breakthroughs, these advancements will be a double edged sword, and the advancements won’t necessarily be shared with every nation, not when we have a tendency to look after ourselves first and not want to share.

I think the potential to enhance human biology and colonise other planets would be overshadowed by the misuse of technology in a way that would divide us further. Then throw in religion or even new religions yet to be dreamt up. Then add the impulses of the unchecked & overpowerful.

Look at our human history of the past to determine our future destiny. I don’t think our future will be pretty.
 
MarkD said:
Oh I hope not until we show an ability to reverse our defilement of this planet and live together peaceably here with some intact biodiversity I would hope to contain our infestation to just this planet.
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I think the primary reason for the expansion idea is because if the earth were to be wiped out by an asteroid or nuclear war, then the colony or colonies would be the survival of the human species (For better or worse).
 
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"Considering what has transpired in the last 100 years, it is mind-blowing to think what might happen in a million years."

If I was in my 50's what is transpiring now would bother me more. Feeding billions of humans & animals when the soil needed is degraded just won't be the same.

95% of the Earth’s Land Set to Be Degraded by 2050 | Earth.Org

Then there is the minor detail of earth's resources being depleted long before a million years from now.

But to stay with the theme of this thread. IMO Earth's population will exceed the ability of planet earth to support billions of humans and animals.
If mankind survives & earth survives I can envision small pockets of humans living a primitive life style.

I almost feel selfish enjoying everything that there is to enjoy now.
 
bobcat said:
I think the primary reason for the expansion idea is because if the earth were to be wiped out by an asteroid or nuclear war, then the colony or colonies would be the survival of the human species (For better or worse).
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Yeah I got that. My response was to say why it might be better to go down with the ship if we can’t manage ourselves any better than we’ve been doing. Hopefully there is more to the cosmos than what we know and something better equipped will continue on if we don't spread devastation everywhere.
 
MarkD said:
Yeah I got that. My response was to say why it might be better to go down with the ship if we can’t manage ourselves any better than we’ve been doing. Hopefully there is more to the cosmos than what we know and something better equipped will continue on if we don't spread devastation everywhere.
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Well, we've had nuclear weapons for 75 years now, and somehow, we have managed to not use them in all-out war, simply because no one will win. However, just because something hasn't happened doesn't mean it won't.

Maybe it's a pipe dream, but perhaps with the rise of AI, maybe (hopefully), more common sense might be injected into the equation. Who knows.
 
Understanding how to convert Mass/Energy into
Nothingness in another dimension to jump a short
cut of say 1000 light years in a few (minutes ?) and
stay at a relevant time dimension one has left behind
seems sort of crazy to believe.

Jumping back seems even crazier. Why would one
want to get back to the old rat race? Why wouldn't
one just want to stay in the Utopia he has, no one
bugging, hassling, bullying him. Just the sounds
of the new soothing world to wake up to. purr-fict!

There is always bullying, it doesn't make any difference
what time frame, physical thing, hobby, whatever, always.

Maybe that is actually the Lords promise, Hal-a-lu-ya!
Simply a 1 person heaven utopia of singleness. Makes sense.
 
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bobcat said:
Assuming some humans are still alive a million years from now, and we haven't destroyed ourselves and the planet.
Assuming any deity hasn't interceded.
Assuming some giant asteroid hasn't come to crash the party.

Considering what has transpired in the last 100 years, it is mind-blowing to think what might happen in a million years. Granted almost all species have come and gone, but a few are still around, so humor me.

Perhaps we may have remote colonies on other planets that we can terraform. Humans surely won't be the humans we are now. We likely will be enhanced with robotics, implanted chips, and other inventions to overcome the limitations of the human body. Maybe rapid space travel would even be possible. No harm in imagining.
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Humanity is evolving quickly and I find that fascinating! Scientists began integrating biotechnology into humans and animals decades ago. It is a new era of artificial intelligence, which is our hope for the future. AI has been developing rapidly so that there will be solutions beyond our current comprehensions. You can read The Singularity Is Nearer by futurist Ray Kurzweil for more information about this.
 
I don't see humans going extinct; we can find ways to adapt. Scientists are already growing meat in labs. Vegetables can be grown indoors. So we can find new ways to feed ourselves — especially with the help of AI.

Soylent Green may become a reality someday. Why bother burying dead bodies when we can use them as food? Maybe not for humans, but to feed other animals. Or to feed poor people.

Eventually, we'll get 100% of our power from clean, renewable sources. That could happen by the end of the 21st century. It may take another hundred years for our climate to return to normal, but in the meantime, humans are not going extinct. Granted, some people (people without money) will have it a little rough.

No matter how hot or cold it gets, with advances in heating and air conditioning technologies, we can maintain suitable living conditions. We might have to refrain from going outside except in emergencies or to construct new buildings, but for the most part, we could exist indoors without too much discomfort. We'd just have to take vitamin D to compensate for lack of exposure to sun rays.
 
HermitHogan said:
I don't see humans going extinct; we can find ways to adapt. Scientists are already growing meat in labs. Vegetables can be grown indoors. So we can find new ways to feed ourselves — especially with the help of AI.

Soylent Green may become a reality someday. Why bother burying dead bodies when we can use them as food? Maybe not for humans, but to feed other animals. Or to feed poor people.

Eventually, we'll get 100% of our power from clean, renewable sources. That could happen by the end of the 21st century. It may take another hundred years for our climate to return to normal, but in the meantime, humans are not going extinct. Granted, some people (people without money) will have it a little rough.

No matter how hot or cold it gets, with advances in heating and air conditioning technologies, we can maintain suitable living conditions. We might have to refrain from going outside except in emergencies or to construct new buildings, but for the most part, we could exist indoors without too much discomfort. We'd just have to take vitamin D to compensate for lack of exposure to sun rays.
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I think you are correct. One thing we learned from Darwin is that it isn't the strongest that survive, but those that can adapt. The dinosaurs were much more powerful that smaller mammals, but they couldn't survive in the conditions they found themselves in. Humans make mistakes and some don't make wise choices, but we have an immense capacity to innovate and adapt.

The things humans have learned to do from splitting the atom, to space travel, heart and brain surgery, microwaving food, and 3D printing even a house, and so much more, shows we have the capability to adapt. Granted that some things could wipe out a significant portion of the population, but I would never bet that we wouldn't find a way to survive, even a nuclear holocaust.
 
How many rocks and fly by pictures of planets is it worth spending millions of dollars to collect from outer space?

Is there any validity to the space program?

I took a class in college enticingly named Space Exploration. It was a geology course about the earth and its various formations like mountains lakes volcanoes and craters.

When they went to the moon it was similar.

They keep alive the idea that there could be intelligent life or even the famous "class M" planet out there just to keep NASA funded.

I read a meme the other day that said something like, If Star Trek was going "where no man has gone before", why was there always somebody there already when they got there?
 
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hello time zones are killing me - can't keep my eyes open - what are we discussing now - where we are going or where we are goin to end up - OK well as I'm last here - I'll just turn out the lights and switch of the TV? where did they say they put the mop and bucket - I like the mop as a charging ram but a bucket over my head?? no fear!
 
OldFeller said:
How many rocks and fly by pictures of planets is it worth spending millions of dollars to collect from outer space?

Is there any validity to the space program?

I took a class in college enticingly named Space Exploration. It was a geology course about the earth and its various formations like mountains lakes volcanoes and craters.

When they went to the moon it was similar.

They keep alive the idea that there could be intelligent life or even the famous "class M" planet out there just to keep NASA funded.

I read a meme the other day that said something like, If Star Trek was going "where no man has gone before", why was there always somebody there already when they got there?
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Space exploration could be blamed on the Animals (The band, not the real animals)

 
I don't know if we can guess what the eventual destiny of humans will be. In all the World Fairs, there was always some vision of what they thought the future would be, like in the 1939 & '64 Fairs. But when we look back at the proposed future, it was the 1939 and 1964 versions of the future. All the guesses about the future were grounded in the present. Maybe there's just way too many variables for us even guess the outcome, with our 2025 knowledge.
 
Are humans that special to defy the inevitable? Or do we just think we are? We've had a good run, not near as long as some of the hominids that came before us, but we've done well. But all species go extinct. That's just part of evolution.
 

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