Repent or perish!

[BeBMan]

Because this is about the apocalypse.

Can humanity avoid self-destruction without having colonies anywhere else besides Earth?

Isn't it the case that with advancing technology it is becoming way easier to do catastrophic damage by wars, terror, environmental desasters etc etc., maybe to a point that the mechanisms to counter this (be they technological as well, or political or whatnot) just cannot keep up anymore?

(yeah, might say tech may also provide better means to prevent stuff, but it seems we learn usually only after bad things happned - which might be too late at some pt.)

Discuss.

[Lorizael]

Well, when you talk about self-destruction, that's a very specific kind of destruction. Like, if you're only talking about our propensity to blow each other up, then that is very tightly linked to resource scarcity, territoriality, tribalism, etc. I think it's clear that our capacity to blow each other up is going to increase along with our technology, but not clear that our desire to do so will. In a Star Trek utopia, we could of course use the deflector dish to set up a tachyon dispersion field that destabilizes the planet's core and causes worldwide volcanoes and earthquakes, but if we've got holodecks and replicators, will we want to?

[Proteus_MST]

Well, one thing is for sure.
If we don't establish coplonies outside of our solar system, we will "only" last 3-5 B years, till our sun turns into a red giant and transforms earth into a barren rock in space.
So, finding a new home under another sun ... and maybe also being ready to travel to yet other suns will be the only way to ensure cintinued existence of mankind

As for deaths due to conflicts among humans themselves:
Maybe it would helpful and look at other apes, especially Bonobos.
They solve most of their conflicts by engaging in hot uninhibited promiskuous sex. Perhaps this would make human society more peaceful as well
(although, unfortunately, many major religions wouldn't allow this ... so it would only be doable within a society where people don't adhere too strictly to religious rules)

[The Mad Monk]

One problem with your idea...

We. Are. Not. Bonobos.

[Proteus_MST]

One problem with your idea...

We. Are. Not. Bonobos.

No reason not to try the idea. Maybe it works for us as well as for Bonobos.
One things for sure ... implementing it will bring a lot of fun into many peoples lives

[Lorizael]

Well, one thing is for sure.
If we don't establish coplonies outside of our solar system, we will "only" last 3-5 B years, till our sun turns into a red giant and transforms earth into a barren rock in space.
So, finding a new home under another sun ... and maybe also being ready to travel to yet other suns will be the only way to ensure cintinued existence of mankind

Nah. This is just a reason to take the Spaceship Earth metaphor very literally.

[Elok]

No reason not to try the idea. Maybe it works for us as well as for Bonobos.
One things for sure ... implementing it will bring a lot of fun into many peoples lives

Obligatory:

[pchang]

Well, one thing is for sure.
If we don't establish coplonies outside of our solar system, we will "only" last 3-5 B years, till our sun turns into a red giant and transforms earth into a barren rock in space.
So, finding a new home under another sun ... and maybe also being ready to travel to yet other suns will be the only way to ensure cintinued existence of mankind

As for deaths due to conflicts among humans themselves:
Maybe it would helpful and look at other apes, especially Bonobos.
They solve most of their conflicts by engaging in hot uninhibited promiskuous sex. Perhaps this would make human society more peaceful as well
(although, unfortunately, many major religions wouldn't allow this ... so it would only be doable within a society where people don't adhere too strictly to religious rules)

Actually, the Sun is getting hotter over time and it is estimated that it will be 10% brighter in about 1 billion years. At that point, it will be hot enough to boil away our oceans. So, we have about 1 billion years to figure out how to live somewhere else.

http://phys.org/news/2015-02-sun-won...ion-years.html

[Aeson]

Or we can develop technology that shields the earth from the sun. A billion years is a long time.

[N35t0r]

And even harvest that energy.

[kentonio]

Because this is about the apocalypse.

Can humanity avoid self-destruction without having colonies anywhere else besides Earth?

Isn't it the case that with advancing technology it is becoming way easier to do catastrophic damage by wars, terror, environmental desasters etc etc., maybe to a point that the mechanisms to counter this (be they technological as well, or political or whatnot) just cannot keep up anymore?

(yeah, might say tech may also provide better means to prevent stuff, but it seems we learn usually only after bad things happned - which might be too late at some pt.)

Discuss.

Coincidentally, I woke up thinking about this very thing this morning. My only solution was to cover the planet in spy nanobots programmed to recognize certain patterns of behaviour that would represent development of dangerous and potentially humanity killing technologies, which would then flag these for a law enforcement or military strike. You'd also have to have them looking for evidence of nano-filtration systems of course which would be a red flag, and you could also use them to solve all crime as a nice added bonus. Obviously people would scream about invasion of privacy, but if the whole system was computer based with human interaction only triggered by the detection of wrong doing, then you could get around a lot of that. Also if it was the only guard against possible species annihilation then **** peoples privacy anyway.

[Egbert]

We certainly are developing plenty of ways to wipe ourselves out. Environmental destruction, nuclear war and so forth.

And yet I wonder just how much of a threat is artificial intelligence. I do not mean an AI that becomes self aware and wipes us out.

I was thinking of something more mundane. If an AI breakthrough is achieved that allows robots to replace human workers for a wide range of occupations could our civilisation adjust to an unemployment rate of close to 100% in just a few years?

If an AI was developed that could replace say shop assistants, bank tellers, labourers, tradesmen, accountants and so forth how fast would businesses replace humans with machines? I think it would be possible to do that within a few years. Each company would do so to cut costs and in the process totally destroy consumer demand by way of loss of wages for those same consumers.

The "Industrial Revolution" was a process of using labour saving machines however that, for reasons, took decades allowing time for economic adjustments that ultimately enriched us all. Compress that decades long process into a few years and what happens?

[Lorizael]

Coincidentally, I woke up thinking about this very thing this morning. My only solution was to cover the planet in spy nanobots programmed to recognize certain patterns of behaviour that would represent development of dangerous and potentially humanity killing technologies, which would then flag these for a law enforcement or military strike. You'd also have to have them looking for evidence of nano-filtration systems of course which would be a red flag, and you could also use them to solve all crime as a nice added bonus. Obviously people would scream about invasion of privacy, but if the whole system was computer based with human interaction only triggered by the detection of wrong doing, then you could get around a lot of that. Also if it was the only guard against possible species annihilation then **** peoples privacy anyway.

Thank you, kentonio, for hypothesizing another way humanity might destroy itself.

[BeBMan]

Well, when you talk about self-destruction, that's a very specific kind of destruction. Like, if you're only talking about our propensity to blow each other up, then that is very tightly linked to resource scarcity, territoriality, tribalism, etc. I think it's clear that our capacity to blow each other up is going to increase along with our technology, but not clear that our desire to do so will. In a Star Trek utopia, we could of course use the deflector dish to set up a tachyon dispersion field that destabilizes the planet's core and causes worldwide volcanoes and earthquakes, but if we've got holodecks and replicators, will we want to?

Hm, remember that copies of the Voyager's holodoc became a class of workslaves, showing that the oh so great federation in TNG has degenerated into an evil empire build on holoslavery, led by Darth Riker or so ( )

[The Mad Monk]

Coincidentally, I woke up thinking about this very thing this morning. My only solution was to cover the planet in spy nanobots programmed to recognize certain patterns of behaviour that would represent development of dangerous and potentially humanity killing technologies, which would then flag these for a law enforcement or military strike. You'd also have to have them looking for evidence of nano-filtration systems of course which would be a red flag, and you could also use them to solve all crime as a nice added bonus. Obviously people would scream about invasion of privacy, but if the whole system was compunter based with human interaction only triggered by the detection of wrong doing, then you could get around a lot of that. Also if it was the only guard against possible species annihilation then **** peoples privacy anyway.

What's the point of saving a humanity that's no longer human?