How will humankind manage to destroy ourselves?

[Brazilº]

Originally Posted by Illini Warrior

Obammy has proven to be the greatest threat to our way of life in the US, and thus the entire world, since Hitler's 1930's raise to power and Krushchev's nuclear threats .....

Our way of life recently has been to spend more than we earn, wreck the planet for cheap energy and consumer goods while kicking the down-trodden in the gut along the way. Politicians do not have the solution nor are they the only source of the problem.

To the OP:

I don't have a crystal ball that tells me how the planet will rid itself of our species, but wars will continue to be waged over energy, water and ideologies. The toll on humankind will be great as brave souls are lost and resources are further diminished.

[cygnus]

but but but
I thought evolution was supposed to be making us better and better in everyway. What happened??? snort snort

[alergyfree]

A pandemic of stupid

[chuckbyf]

Originally Posted by Optimist

Hubris and sinful pride. Man proposes, God disposes, and the notion that we affect things much (like global warming) is balderdash.

We did manage to poison and kill everything in sight though.

[chuckbyf]

Originally Posted by cygnus

but but but
I thought evolution was supposed to be making us better and better in everyway. What happened??? snort snort

Maybe evolution will make us better in a million yrs. Of course, we won't be around then. Forget it.

[papadoc1000]

Ignorance, apathy, and following the pied piper will get us there. The greed of Government Inc will shove us off the cliff. The sad part is that like the frog who starts in cool water headed for a boil, there won't be that many people who understand it.

[wassup]

i think eventually the nucs will be used and then we will all be screwed

[cobra7479]

Its in our nature to destroy ourselves...Terminator 2 Quote....

[Doc_Shane]

Some type of nuclear event, whether it is intentional warfare or some accident.

Mankind has the uncanny knack of ****ing everything we touch up eventually.

[Ankylus]

Once again amazes me how many folks can't stay within the scope of the OP. The OP asks us to speculate on the end of our species. I vote for pandemic by mutant microbe, something like The Stand, but from somebody's home lab rather than from some big government facility. I don't see nuclear exchanges of sufficient scale to create a nuclear winter destroying life happening any time soon, although there will be one in the next 30 years. Birth rates are declining in all identifiable populations of the species even if overall population continues to grow. So that trend is reversing itself.

I consider the odds of any of that happening to be almost as likely being wiped out by an asteroid or a gamma ray burst.

Not saying that about EOTWAWKI, just destruction of the species.

[hebegbz]

Originally Posted by Ankylus

Once again amazes me how many folks can't stay within the scope of the OP. The OP asks us to speculate on the end of our species. I vote for pandemic by mutant microbe, something like The Stand, but from somebody's home lab rather than from some big government facility. I don't see nuclear exchanges of sufficient scale to create a nuclear winter destroying life happening any time soon, although there will be one in the next 30 years. Birth rates are declining in all identifiable populations of the species even if overall population continues to grow. So that trend is reversing itself.

I consider the odds of any of that happening to be almost as likely being wiped out by an asteroid or a gamma ray burst.

Not saying that about EOTWAWKI, just destruction of the species.

I used to think that it might be some sort of nuclear exchange that would be our undoing, but recent events have caused me to realize that it might very well be our quest for cheap energy that ends our human reign on this planet. (Okay, maybe just the northern hemisphere) But what happens when everybody from the top half of the world tries to move south all at once? Do you think they will be eager to share their resources?

We have been running up a nuclear tab for about 40 years and it's about to be called due.
If the spent fuel pool at Fukushima Daiichi #4 burns, it may start a chain of events that ends with all 7 of the spent fuel pools boiling dry, and the already melted reactor cores being deprived of the tons of water being sprayed on them daily. It would be hard to estimate the amount of caesium 137 and other highly radioactive daughter products that would be dispersed into the atmosphere in the resulting fires.
BTW if they burn, I doubt any firefighters would be willing to get close enough to fight it. That worked at Chernobyl, but I think people are smarter now.

Imagine what it would be like if you couldn't get any food that wasn't contaminated with radioactive poison. Not for you, or your children.
After a while, you will start regarding "radiation contamination below govt limits" as "Clean", and "Safe" as the ads will proclaim.
The half life of Caesium 137 is about 30 years, but that means that only one half of it will decay in 30 years. The rest goes on and on.

I don't know if it would "destroy humanity" but it sounds like it could get close.

[rextex]

I'm not sure but we're working very hard at finding a way!!

[gallon]

Originally Posted by Illini Warrior

Obammy has proven to be the greatest threat to our way of life in the US, and thus the entire world, since Hitler's 1930's raise to power and Krushchev's nuclear threats .....

How so? This sounds just wing nut irrational.

[Skimp]

The human race has destroyed themselves a million times before. We are living Deja Vu but don't have remembrance of the past, nor the vision of the future, and no understanding of the present. Just keep on shoot'n til ya run out of bullets.

[COM_AMG]

The CERN facility. One day we are here...the next, poof...nothingness. And we will never see it coming.

[COM_AMG]

Originally Posted by talon115

I actually think that at least in the USA it will be a mixture of the Military Industrial Complex and it's need to have a villian(s) which will eventually be us. Along with the Prison Industrial Complex that already has all citizens as the enemy. And the Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex that needs us all sick to buy their drugs. Add to that the Media Industrial Complex that keeps us all in the dark and just spoon feeds us what they want us to know and you have a recipe for disaster. .

You seem obsessed with lots of industrial complexes. Such an absurd term.

Originally Posted by Optimist

And when you do cut things back (as we have done, and the Europeans) the Muzzies and the Mexicans, and the little slant-eyed folk proceed to wetback you out of existance. Forbearance has to be balanced with a zero tolerance program for outside interference, and our .lib .gov and .PCMEDIA would not let such a program stand at all, at all....

Congrats, you win the #1 bigoted racist ignorant redneck award for this entire forum.

[PapaWhiskyBravo]

The usual combination of events.

Depletion of resources + a change in the climate.

Although having said that, while theres water and sunlight they'll be some folks bunkered down somewhere. Humans are pretty bloody adaptable critters.

[bonex3]

I'm building a space craft and find myself a little planet on the edge of the galaxy. Things on this planet are getting outta control.

[Optimist]

Originally Posted by COM_AMG

....Congrats, you win the #1 bigoted racist ignorant redneck award for this entire forum.

You ain't authorized to award it, COM-AMG. And, since you have obviously not bothered to examine any of the 5K+ other posts I have on here, that suggests you really don't have much notion of where I come from.

[chuckbyf]

Originally Posted by gallon

How so? This sounds just wing nut irrational.

When you don't know what's going on, you have to find a scapegoat.