i haven't posted here in ages, but i was curious to see what you all had to say about this matter. for the record, i repeatedly asked for my account to be deleted, but daniel (i think that's the guy) insisted that i stay. so be it. so: you know all those sci-fi scenerios set in a post-apocalyptic world where the remnants of humanity are nosing about barren lands... and then one of them discovers the remains of a high-tech civilisation from the past and it leads to a fascinating story? well, it hit me recently that we are that forgotten people. traditionally we've thought of 'atlantis' or 'xanadu', etc as being the one, but as the science reports pour in, it now becomes clear that we ourselves are that doomed but fascinating society. because the brightest minds in science now give us between 10-40 years before our stupidity wipes ourselves and 99%+ of life off the planet. that's assuming that we don't manage to unite the globe against the threat. (yea, right) so what do you think is worth remembering about this era of humanity? (good or bad)
First off: accounts don't get deleted. Even banned accounts remain for database integrity reasons. The software is designed that way, for better or worse. This is the era of the search for knowledge and for purpose. We have mapped the Earth and sought to define the limits of the universe. We have tried, more than any previous period in history, to encompass all of humanity into one group with tolerance and understanding of how our differences make us stronger than our similarities. It is the time when we learned how to cause destructtion on an unprecedented scale, and yet have made efforts to back away from weilding such fire. The Djinn cannot be pushed back into the lamp, but we can resist the temptations he dangles before us.
I would have to ask exactly when this era begins? It would be relative to how far in the future the ponderer would live. 100 years from now? We might be seen as the beginning of the high-technological era. 1000 years from now? We might be seen as part of the industrial revolution. 10,000 years from now? We might not be seen at all. 100,000 years from now? We might be given a different species name than the one the ponderer applies to him/herself 1,000,000 years from now? They might be arguing if we qualify as our own species or if we are just a derived form of ardipithecus ramidus.
Amazing. AND I agree, 100%. Maybe I just have too much faith in humankind, but i genuinely cannot see us destroying ourselves, for the very reasons you talked about here, Cog.
No. Mother Nature is not going to destroy us. The most she might do is play mind games with us, trickery and the like. Make us THINK it's destroying us. But ultimately, what she is doing, in my belief, is she is warning us of what WE are doing to ourselves. I am pretty confident we'll come out of this OK.
How does Mother Nature get rid of a problem? She destroys it. So many people refuse to do anything about the threat of Global Warming because they think the Earth goes through cycles. Yes, this is true, it does go through cycles. Usually caused by a shift in the environment, such as a massive warming. -shrugs- Global Warming scares the bajeezes out of me. lol
Even if we do destroy ourselves, the evidence and artifacts we leave behind would have significance to whoever comes after us. If nothing else, they can learn from our mistakes.
Y2K bug. That was supposed to be the end of the world, once upon a time. Now I hear people say the worlds gonna end Dec 12, 2012. Something about the Aztec calendar ending. Me being a religious person however, I do believe that one day something will happen that will basically be the end of the world as we know it, but I really don't think it's something that can be predicted. We do have some control of it, we can make choices that help or hinder the planet. It's kinda up to us when the world ends. Hmm. I'd love for some of the nice things humanity has accomplished to be remembered, but I can't help but feel the horrible things stand out so much more. Our unquenchable thirst for knowledge, for a bigger and better everything, and the mistakes we've made along the way. I agree with Carmina. I just hope they learn from those mistakes.
I don't wonder about the end...it'll come when it has to. I just wonder if we can truly estimate history though, even with science.
Don't want to be dark here, but they won't learn from our mistakes if they're anything like us. Because we did not. History proves that. About the world ending and global warming? I think it's a bit more complicated than simply 'cycles, no worries' and 'zomg, we are gonna die'. About the world ending -- that's been practically the biggest topic of importance since the dawn of humanity. What happens when everything ends? It's a bit more important than "WHat happened when it all started" because it's somehow in the future and threatening our lives. Humanity is going to end some day. But it won't be today. Won't be in 100 years. Won't be in 200 years. I can't tell if some accident might or might not happen, so don't know. What we would be remembered with? It depends. Think about what the lost cultures are remembered with now. That's the closest thing we could get to. Also, the next N1 species might not be intelligent even, nor think like us. Just the opinion of a physically-tired teenager ofc.
Who cares? If the doomsday scenario happens, we won't be around to worry about it or to ponder our legacy. Mankind is probably the most "selfish" species on Earth and will act to preserve itself long before reaching some mythical point of no return. Personally, I reject the notion that the Earth is reaching some terrible global warming crisis. There have been many times recorded in archeology when there was NO ice on Earth at all. Life survived. Same thing when the entire Earth was covered in ice. All this popular verbiage about global warming is nothing more than a political tools used be people who are trying to impose THEIR version of eco-extremism. My greatest concern is what will I do when the sun expends all its energy? Where will I go for a tan? Oh my!
I would not say that. We are the only species that can and does recognize the concept of altruism, and acts upon it. Yes, we are driven to survive - so is every other species on the planet. But we do care about preserving other species. We make mistakes, but no other species acts to preserve species other than itself. With our saelf awareness comes unparalleled cyniciusm and self-loathing. But that too drives us to better ourselves. Despite Shakespeare's cynical tone: What a piece of work is man. How noble in reason! We strive for greatness. We may never reach it, but only because we set the bar ever higher.
...nothing worth wasting good memory cells on, since the bad way outweiged the good... so, good riddance!
everybody rants on about doomsday this and doomsday that. All ya got to worry about is the moron sitting with his/her finger on the red button for that Nuke. I've already reserved my seat at the front of said Nuke btw.
My favorite human accomplishment would be our music, so of course I'd want that to be remembered. Wouldn't it be awesome to see some freaky alien monkey-lizard shredding on a salvaged guitar along with the best of us ancient ones? Of course, we wouldn't see it...
A few poeple have mentioned the idea of humans being a selfish species. ALL species are selfish. Selfishness, as a concept, is just an abstraction of survivalism. The goal of every single organism is to survive to the point of being able to procreate. Some animals seem to be sharing animals, but only because in doing so they each gain an individual edge. They are not being nicer than other animals, or more thoughtful. It is a survival strategy, which, given whatever way that animal happens to earning a living in the world, works for it. Humans are not selfish. The things that make people believe humans are selfish as a species has more to do with the fact they we are a dangerously overpopulated species. We hog everything up because... well... because we do! If we were talking about any other species, other than ourselves, ba-jillions of dollars, pounds, yen, and rupies [rupees] would be going into research and development to find out how to get us under control. But, of course, since we are talking about people, conversations like that are a no-no.
The scale of selfishness depends upon the way we rate it--if surviving is selfish, then eating food and drinking water is selfish too.
Well, he seems to be holding a Jackson (can't read the name on the headstock), so that's not quite as awesome as maybe an ESP or Paul Reed Smith... 8/10.
