How do you suppose our species will end?

Question

Assuming it will. My proposition is that we'll most likely end ourselves through nuclear warfare. If not, then a virus epidemic may very well have the best of us. If not that, then cosmic interference, such as an asteroid, or perhaps even deadly radiation from a nearby supernova.

And inevitably, if manage to survive those things, the collapse of the universe is unavoidable, if the theory is correct. So, what are your thoughts?

Answer 1

There are lots of ways humanity could be wiped out - although I don't think any of them are particularly likely.

Natural causes - An extinction-level asteroid impact would probably be sufficient, although not much else would - a disease epidemic, major climate shift, etc. would still leave many survivors to rebuild within a few hundred years. The window for such an impact is, however, extremely short, because it's extremely likely that within 300 years or so we will have the means to predict and avert all dangerous impacts. And the chance of that happening is, from historical comparison, 0.001% or less.

There are a few other possibilities that would be much more catastrophic, though. One is a supernova very nearby, which would blast Earth with intense gamma radiation and most likely kill all macro-organisms. However, there aren't any stars large and old enough for this to be a risk for hundreds of thousands of years. Another is orbital destabilization of Earth (such as ejection from the Solar System) by a close-passing star - but the chance of that is extremely remote, and in addition we'd have thousands of years of warning. And the last that I can think of is alien invasion… which is really out there, obviously.

The eventual solar threats to life on Earth are not really relevant to humanity/posthumanity. The Sun is not large enough to supernova, but it will eventually engulf the Earth when it runs out of internal fuel and swells into a red giant. That's a good 4-5 billion years away, but well before that, though, the Sun will have become bright enough to heat Earth's surface enough to trigger a major atmospheric shift by overwhelming the "cloud effect" (which keeps temperatures on Earth stable) with a runaway greenhouse gas effect, boiling the oceans and making the planet Venus-like, uninhabitable except by micro-organisms. But even that is about 2 billion years away, plenty of time for posthumanity to rise and either avert the problem or simply head elsewhere.


Accident - A scientific experiment run awry, or an unexpected side-effect of some new technology could potentially wreck some serious havoc.

One possible horribly catastrophic scenario would be the unforeseen generation of a miniature black hole somewhere on Earth. If the hole did not evaporate instantaneously (and it would have to be pretty large not to, so I don't know how it would be possible to generate one accidentally) it would quickly bore a hole to the center of the Earth, absorbing more and more mass as it went, and eventually implode the planet. But that evaporation problem is pretty severe, although if Hawking was wrong about BH radiation (as it hasn't been experimentally verified) it would be a lot easier. Furthermore, sufficiently far into the future, the destruction of the planet would not necessarily mean the destruction of the posthuman species.

A more peculiar possibility is the creation of a new type of "transforming" matter - for example, a supercollider experiment might generate some bizarre particle which transforms every particle it comes in contact to a bizarre particle as well - so the number of bizarre particles grows exponentially, eventually transforming the whole planet. Whether or not this is even possible… who knows, it's just speculation.

The last one I've heard talked about is the nanomachine-gone-berserk. If in the future we create a race of benevolent nanobots (to do things like repair cellular damage, make chemical and material compounds, enhance performance of macro-organisms, etc.) and allow them to self-reproduce (to increase efficiency) there is a possibility that some sort of mutation could create a disease-like strain of nanobot which instead of benefiting its hosts acted like a disease and transformed all material it incorporated into more malevolent nanobots. But, I think this is quite unlikely, because any self-reproducing machines would be loaded with thousands of preventative measures to avoid viral behavior, and furthermore in the event of an epidemic civilization could devise - or evolve - an "immune system" to counter this. A deliberately weaponized version of nanobot to be as virulent as possible (that escapes from the lab or looses its restrictions) might be more dangerous, but there would still - probably - be sufficient safeguards and countermeasures. It all depends on how hard it is to produce them.



Deliberately - The scenarios by which humanity could wipe itself out by choice are mostly the same as those above, except instead of the disaster being accidental, it would be instigated by some sort of apocalyptic cult. I am not sure how likely this is - personally I expect that technology by which a central government can actively track the activities (and even thoughts) of everyone and every thing alive will precede any of the above technologies and stop this long before it starts, and the social institutions which produce this sort of destructive behavior (extremist religion) will be filtered away, so I would say that the chance is extremely remote.

There is also the possibility that civilization could simply decide that Earth would be better off without a posthumanity, and eliminate itself. But I don't see it happening.


Collateral damage - The only example of this I can think of is a war that got out of control due to the use of weapons of mass destruction - either the ones we have now (nuclear weapons) or those of the future (engineered pathogens or nanobots?). However, this possibility is dependent on the existence of two or more large antagonistic nations armed with the capability to research and mass-produce these weapons… a situation I don't think is likely to be the case for very long. This will remain a risk for maybe a few hundred years, but I'm convinced that eventually cultural homogenation and advancement will inevitably lead to world government, and large-scale war will be a thing of the past.

Answer 2

There are a variety of possibilities:

Some species do not evolve unless or until the environment changes in such a way that requires them to so their offspring can better survive. Cockroaches, Coelacanths, Horseshoe Crabs, etc., have been around in a relatively unchanged state for several million years because their forms were sufficiently adapted already to manage in the environment just the way they are. It is possible that humans, if we can manufacture tools to aid our survival, may not need to evolve a great deal unless and until a severe environmental challenge arises.

If (or when) such a challenge arises, it may kill off a significant number of the extant homo sapiens, but assuming enough survive to reproduce, then the evolutionary process will then begin again. Perhaps transportation following such a calamity would fall apart and humans on different parts of the planet (or if we've settled other planets, different worlds altogether) will have the opportunity to evolve in divergent ways. At that point, homo sapiens could evolve into two or more species that over a few thousand years would no longer be able to produce viable offspring when interbreeding.

Finally, it is of course possible (indeed, probable) that the planet or solar system will undergo significant change that would render earth no longer capable of supporting life as we know it. When that occurs, unless we have colonized other planets (and/or other solar systems), our species will no longer be a component of life in the universe. This is the greatest reason to look to exploring other parts of the Galaxy--so that some members of our species can continue to live, explore, and pass along knowledge that we have accumulated.

^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^

Answer 3

I think that our species will most likely end in one of my two ideas. One idea I have is that the sun will die, because it is a star and all stars eventually die. Before the sun completely dies it will first turn into a red giant. Scientists say that once the sun turns into a red giant it will eat up all of the first three planets(earth too). So that is my first idea. My second idea is that we will be hit by a asteroid or a meteor. Even if it is not so large that everyone dies the dust would probably block sunlight and so plants will die. Herbivores will die and then carnivores and omnivores and then we would die because we would not have anything to eat too. That is my last idea. There are many more different ways that our species will end but it won't happen for a long long long time. =)

Answer 4

I know - let's all sit around wondering how the world will end instead of making use of the time we have! We'll all lose the little muscle we have because we have our lame asses planted in front of a computer answering useless questions in Yahoo Answers...no one will produce food and we will all die of stupidity induced starvation.

Answer 5

I'll go with a disasterous change in global climate, followed by an unstoppable epidemic of which no anti-biotic can stop due to resistance.

Answer 6

Nope. Ours is in all possibility between the main complicated of species to wreck. we are too huge unfold, too adaptable, too customary. failures would recommend the top of civilisations, yet that's no longer the top of g. hom sap!

Answer 7

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

-- Robert Frost

Answer 8

My rent is past due I don't care if the universe collapses.

Answer 9

Go check out Exit Mundi. So many ways to die, so little time..... (Personally, I like death by kittens theory myself....)

Answer 10

Killed off by the robots.