How long do we have as Human?

[betazed]

... at this point in time, i honestlly dont see how Humanity will ever go extinct (a good thing, IMO)

Whack Earth with a asteroid the size of the one that hit us during the Permian-Triassic boundary and all that will remain will be bacteria pretty much. That will be the end of humanity.

Humanity's eggs are still just in one basket.

 

[Winner]

Whack Earth with a asteroid the size of the one that hit us during the Permian-Triassic boundary and all that will remain will be bacteria pretty much. That will be the end of humanity.

Humanity's eggs are still just in one basket.

Not necessarily

 

[betazed]

Not necessarily

What do you mean?

 

[Xen]

A)thier is no garuntee that such an asteroid will collide with the earth

B)we have technology that can neutrlaize the asteroid- weathe rit be engines dighniged to nudge the asteroid ir multiple waves of nukes to obliterate the asteroid in a such a way that while it dose namek many more projectlies, the sheer foprce of the successive explosion knocks them on non-earth bound trajectories

 

[Winner]

What do you mean?

Well, we have two options:

1) Build shelters.

2) Destroy that piece of rock in space

Asteroid of this size will be probably spotted relatively soon so we will probably be able to launch some payload and push it out of collision course. Especially when talking about distant future.

 

[betazed]

@Xen, @Winner: Deflecting asteroids is not that easy. Simple math is enough to prove that. And I am talking about a giant nicket-iron asteroid here (one which is at least a 100 km wide) wieghing trillions of tonnes. Granted most of these guys have been tracked - but we most probably have missed a few.

Also granted that we will have years of advance warning, but i fail to see what exactly we can do if we knew right now that one of these guys is going to hit us in 2030 (say).

Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_deflection_strategies

 

[Xen]

simple; dozen upon dozen, upon dozens, upon dozens- hell i dont care if it would take the equivlent of every nuke between the USA, and Rusians have n thie rcurrent stokpiles combined to do it, enough sheer nuculer force could, withg enough application either force siad asteriod in a different direction, or split into numerous chuncks, of which yet more nuculer explosions could nudge on different trajectories.

 

[Thadlerian]

In 100 years? We'll have our PCs in the mobile phones. I can't imagine anything else changed, such as thing are going now.

 

[blindside]

We'll eventually expand into space, at first colonising than conquering and destroying other planets and beings. Other aliens will also be humanoids, perhaps almost identical to us except from another planet. We'll intergrate with some of them, wipe out the rest and become master of space. Not too different than what we do to ourselves on Earth.

 

[betazed]

simple; dozen upon dozen, upon dozens, upon dozens- hell i dont care if it would take the equivlent of every nuke between the USA, and Rusians have n thie rcurrent stokpiles combined to do it, enough sheer nuculer force could, withg enough application either force siad asteriod in a different direction, or split into numerous chuncks, of which yet more nuculer explosions could nudge on different trajectories.

All the nukes in the world (together or individually) would not even make a dent to this monster. There is pretty much nothing you can do to stop it.

Heck nukes may not even stop one 10 km wide asteroid.

You can do the math. Calculate the volume of a sphere approx 100 km in radius. Fill it with iron. let it have a velocity of 35,000 km/hr. Calculate its kinetic energy. now calculate all the energy of all the atomic devices we have. compare those two numbers.

Let me know.

 

[Xen]

All the nukes in the world (together or individually) would not even make a dent to this monster. There is pretty much nothing you can do to stop it.

Heck nukes may not even stop one 10 km wide asteroid.

You can do the math. Calculate the volume of a sphere approx 100 km in radius. Fill it with iron. let it have a velocity of 35,000 km/hr. Calculate its kinetic energy. now calculate all the energy of all the atomic devices. compare those two numbers.

Let me know.

time to make more nukes.

 

[Winner]

All the nukes in the world (together or individually) would not even make a dent to this monster. There is pretty much nothing you can do to stop it.

Heck nukes may not even stop one 10 km wide asteroid.

You can do the math. Calculate the volume of a sphere approx 100 km in radius. Fill it with iron. let it have a velocity of 35,000 km/hr. Calculate its kinetic energy. now calculate all the energy of all the atomic devices we have. compare those two numbers.

Let me know.

You are definitely right, but:

SO big asteroids crossing Earth's orbit don't exist (or at least we don't know any). Ateroid of this size would have to come from outer Solar system, perhaps even form Oort cloud. In this case it is more likely it would consist of ice and rock, quite similar to comet. Comets (unless they are very quickly or come from very uncommon direction can be spoted more likely than asteroids (thans to their "coma").

When we are aware of it say 2 years before impact, the force needed to change its heading isn't so high. We have not to use force equal to its kinetic energy, only a small bit - the departure from its course will grow with time. So with only small force we can move it billions kilometer from Earth and that is enough.

But as i said, it is extremely unprobable this will ever happen. I am much more worried about smaller rocks, not bigger than 1 km. These can move unnoticed next to Earth and then there will be time left only for evacuation of estimated target area...

 

[BorgeoisBuffoon]

For an incredibly simplistic view...

Yes, Europe, China, and India will be stronger. India stronger, yes, but not at superpower status. If they don't acheive it, Europe and China will be at least pretty darned close to superpower status.

At the risk of incurring wrath here, the U.S. will still be a very major if not the major power of the world. We still have a big plus in technological, economic, and military matters, and even without the New American Century stuff, I would still see it as a priority to make sure we're still on top and strong. I would hope America will attempt to build up the standard of living and domestic matters much more and try to be more in contact and peace with the rest of the world, though-and go back to something of still sticking somewhat to ourselves ala the 19th-early 20th century.

Technology will still go at an explosive rate, though I suspect someone travelling from this century to the next will still recognize many things.

Africa and most poorer nations, regions, and areas will hopefully stabilize, but still remain insignificant on world and economic matters, sadly. Life will probably be short and sad in proportion to the rest of the world in that time, no matter how much it improves from here.

Oh, and I will have made some sort of bid for world dominance. Overall, you can see how much an optimist I am.

 

[Winner]

We'll eventually expand into space, at first colonising than conquering and destroying other planets and beings. Other aliens will also be humanoids, perhaps almost identical to us except from another planet. We'll intergrate with some of them, wipe out the rest and become master of space. Not too different than what we do to ourselves on Earth.

Very funny But i think you are watching Star Trek too much

 

[blindside]

Very funny But i think you are watching Star Trek too much

I don't watch star trek but now that I think about it, I see the similarities.

 

[Winner]

I don't watch star trek but now that I think about it, I see the similarities.

As far as i know, the odds we will ever meet another civilisation are very low.

But if that happen, think about this:

We as humans have civilisation for about 10,000 years. 90 percent of our technology was developed in past two centuries. Do you really think the civilisations we well find (or vice-versa) will be in same age as we are? I am not mathematician, but the chance is extremly, extremly low. It is more likely they will be for millions, or billions (!!!) year older than we are. So who will conquer whom?

 

[Amenhotep7]

History shall repeat itself. POwers shall rise and fall (although I think America shall last as a great power another 500-1000 years). We may form a more global govt, but it will be nothing more than a grand federation.

Then we'll pull the ol' "Manifest Destiny" trick with Space colonization. We'll give the aliens our shinies and make promises, but we'll eventually conquer them and put them on reservations where they shall eventually open up casinos.

 

[sourboy]

I'm sure there will be another world war, there will be more ethnic cleansing, catastrophic natural disasters, rise & fall of nations, etc. - but unfortunately, some of us will survive - and thus start another round of plaguing Earth.

 

[Winner]

I'm sure there will be another world war, there will be more ethnic cleansing, catastrophic natural disasters, rise & fall of nations, etc. - but unfortunately, some of us will survive - and thus start another round of plaguing Earth.

I don't think so - in the world where every major state has nuclear weapons simply cannot be any major war between them. If that happens, this war would be their last.

I personally think, that world will be better in the future. USA and new powers like EU and China will counterweight US power by peaceful means, there will be much more attention paid to negotitation than to pre-emptive strikes. World can be united through trade and commerce.

 

[Desmond Hawkins]

What will happen to me as a human?

Somewhere between now and about 2080 I will cease to exist.