what is the prognoscis for people on this planet in the next 500 years?

Question

it seems there is little hope of surviving on this planet in the long term.
We are a primitive species(witness our behaviour at soccer matches, or our wars in the name of religion) hell bent on destruction. Our existence seems pointless - there is no grand scheme of things so doing something for the ""greater good" is a waste of time.

Answer 1

It's going to be tough, but we've managed to forge on

Answer 2

In 500 years humans will have all but died out – all but a small number of communities being forced to live either in overcrowded regions that still support human sustenance – maybe underground.

Beyond that they will eventually die out. We will not be able to leave this planet. Even if we had the technology, the idea that we can jump ship to another planet forgets that we need the perfect mix of oxygen, CO2, the right temperature etc. that actually formed us in the first place.

Any animal that becomes to big for its environment (dinosaurs?) will eventually die out, paving the way for an organism that is (normally by chance) perfectly suited to the environmental conditions that are killing the others off - in this case, I suspect extreme temperature changes and generally volatile weather conditions to be the final blow.

This organism will need to develop slowly and will therefore be unintelligent at first, if the planet is to recover sufficiently enough to support sentient life again.

(FINAL COMMENT: The idea that humans have nothing to do with climate change is beyond stupidity (laziness/ denial) - modelling comparing human and non human contributors to this phenomena supports strongly the fact that we have played our significant part).

Answer 3

Invest all your money now in company's that help space exploration. This is your only hope to escape of this husk of a planet and move on to the next leaving a path of destruction behind! As a long-term shareholder your family have the wright to board the great ships to mars at the end of the world in the next 500 years.

If you want to start now then I can invest the money for you. Just £10,000 invested today with a 10% rise per year should guarantee you a space on the ships and a place to stay on mars*

*Subject to availability, Mars may not be your destination. Share prices rise as well as fall.

Answer 4

What is the prognosis for people on this planet in the next 500 years?

My prognosis is a post-mortem !!!! By the way PROGNOSISI SPELLS LIKE I JUST WROTE IT !!!

YES, NEGATIVE... no the positive Star Trek future of no money, great science, everyone working for the better of humanity and the galaxy, peace and love, and all nicey nicey universe…...

I think we should strive for it, we can try, but RELIGION and the HUMAN CONDITION will be our doom (all of these good deeds....) Science will kill us too if misused...

See Dr. Stephens Hawking’s video on Yahoo, he is so right.... and yet it can be a lot worse….

We are the only species endowed with the following attributes:

GREED, STUPIDITY, CARELESSNESS, IDIOCY, WARMONGERISM, UNCANNY ABILITY NOT TO CARE, SELFISHNESS, ..... only 3 species are though to be SELF AWARE, HUMANS, CHIMPS and ORNAGUTANS, but honestly are we SELF AWARE of how dumb we relay are….

....and worst of all some level of intelligence to make it all be exponentially worse...more dangerous....

My post-mortem says: In 500 years (save this is going to be the next best seller, better than the Prophecies of Nostradamus ....)

There will be at least 25 more world famines, 4 large world wars, and one Nuclear one (large scale)... and that last one will be the last one of its kind, as we will learn from that one... there will be more divisions of countries into smaller ones, possibly even in Europe and the USA. China will split into smaller factions and become the worlds nightmare and along India the worse Pollutant...

Africa will disintegrate, Latin America and SE Asia will become chaotic (More than today)... Desertification will expand... everywhere in AFRICA, Australia will become the next Sahara… China will become 80% desert
..from Africa into the Mediterranean... desertification will grow…

New plagues will occur, and new bacterial resistance to antibiotics will make life a mess again, a couple of plagues some viral some bacterial will exert population pressures and will kill billions... petty doom and gloom stuff right... ???

In 500 years the world will only be able to support 1 Billion people may be, no more.

Non renewable energy resources would have been depleted (fossil fuels), the oceans salinity will increase by 50% and 70% of the animal species in land and water will have vanished from the earth...

The green forests of the world will be decimated by 75% and levels of oxygen in the atmosphere would have decreased by 15% making breathing at high altitudes impossible. Winters will be shorter but brutal and hurricanes and storms will double in size....

If we have not found a way to terra-form mars and colonize the moon with local resources, we will be ready for a possible extinction in another additional 1000 to 500 years....

100+ major volcanic eruptions will change the look of the planet. There will be mega volcanoes acting up all over and a few large earthquakes that will fracture some of the continental masses but the continents will still look very much like they do now.

There is even the possibility of a hit by a large asteroid whipping out 10 to 20% of all humanity....

There will be at least 30 nuclear power generation disasters and availability of fresh clean safe water will be a big problem, water will be very very expensive resource used for irrigation for food production and drinking… we are not to be clean people any more….. No hot long showers every day or more than once a day but more likely once a month.. Welcome to the age of heavy perfumes to mask human smell.. yuk!!!!

Of course we can change all of that if we take on element out of the equation, only one, us the HUMAN FACTOR….. I think not.

The insects will actually inherit the earth for a short reign of 100,000 years or so… there will be some revival in a limited scale for life (Insect life that is) but eventually we will look like MARS... after a 50,000 to 100,000 years period all traces of humanity will be gone for ever and explorers for another part of the galaxy will declare categorically that THERE WAS NEVER LIFE HERE...

the sad end

MAXR

Answer 5

Scientists will as usual see things too late, but the way technology is advancing - we will adapt, as us humans do better than all other life on this planet (microbes excluded). Posssiblly even redesigning our DNA to cope with the new conditions. Who knows, but ultimately we will have to be off this planet in 5 billion years time, as there will be no sun.

Answer 6

First of all you need not worry, as far as global warming goes. Humans have nothing to do with it. We are not powerful enough to bring any substantial or grave change to this planet. And secondly nature has got its own cycle feature which keeps repeating. it has happened when we were not here and it will happen when we won't be here.

Answer 7

Why worry ? None off us will be here in 100 years never mind 500.

Answer 8

Doomsayers have always been popular. But until now, the conditions for humans on Earth have kept getter better. I see no reason why it shouldn't continue that way.

Answer 9

Nothing- I mean we are killing the planet and everything on it, even our selves.

Answer 10

DEATH,if we don't control the population and the rich resource wasters,,,:-)=