Actually, all of those things and many more could cause the extinction of humans. In geologic time, the time-span of any species is quite short. We have eliminated all competitive species that could threaten our niche in nature. However, many things can cause extinction and we are not immune. Most likely is a simple epidemic. Many species have disappeared because of a plague or epidemic that impacted its life so profoundly that it could no longer sustain itself. The next Ebola Virus or Bubonic Plaque or Mad Cow or Dutch Elm disease could be the big one for humans. An epidemic lower in the food chain could cause mass extinctions that would include us. A worldwide die-off of plankton could disrupt the entire world biological order. Global warming and pollution will cause mass extinctions if given enough time. The chance are far, far greater that humans will become extinct within a few million years than otherwise. As many weapons as there are, there aren't enough to do that. Never were, really. An all-out nuclear exchange between the Soviet Union and the USA at the height of the Cold War would have been an unprecedented catastrophe. Political and Economic systems would have collapsed. But it would only have destroyed a very tiny portion of the planet and polluted very little more. Life would have continued.
when i say "widely accepted", i mean by scientists, by people who know. sort of like it is widely accepted that gravity exists. what do you think will stop robots from becoming smarter than people? are the computing machines we have in our heads so good that they could never be matched? there are large branches of species that are extinct. and you mention that dinosaurs are dead but their cousins alligators survived. so what, maybe when we go, some other ape might survive, whats the point? intelligent life is a pretty recent development in terms of the history of the earth. many species die, and red is right: exactly right.
in my neighborhood christianity is just one of lots and lots of religions. it is not ubiquitous. you need to look at the world as if it is bigger than your family and baton rouge. billions of people think christianity is wrong.
I understand what you are saying, makes sense from a secular viewpoint but I disagree because I don't look at things from a secular viewpoint. We'll have to agree to disagree. Just because billions disagree or think Christianity is right or wrong doesn't mean its right or wrong. With Human Nature in mind, meaning people in general would rather kill Christ, exterminate the Jewish race, in other words kill anything to do with Christ. I will believe what I do, Isreal, the Jews are God's people along with those that believe in him. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, I wouldn't want to push too hard, its up to the individual to make their own choices but I think they should investigate and way there options. Most people who hate or dislike Christianity are ignorant and have never read the bible or know what it stands for. They also lack understanding! Martin,this last sentence wasn't directed at you, it was a general statement.
the proof of a fundamental force is not the same as an educated prediction. and other people "in the know" scientist told us that margarine was better than butter, and now we learn that trans fat is an artery clogging machine. your assertion that because these educated scientist believe then something will come about is erroneous. you seem to assume that humans will not get smarter. Do you really understand the way a computer works. It's programmed by humans. It has no consious and never will--no matter what the "terminator" movies say. Red Quote: "Most likely is a simple epidemic. Many species have disappeared because of a plague or epidemic that impacted its life so profoundly that it could no longer sustain itself. The next Ebola Virus or Bubonic Plaque or Mad Cow or Dutch Elm disease could be the big one for humans" This simple epidemic hasn't gotton us nor or species links in over a billion years, and now all of a sudden there's a good chance? Please, this defies logic. Look, we humans are at the top of our game, crossed the threshold basically into imortality as a species. We will be around till the end of time. These things couldn't do us in when we were bumbling along for a relative eternity, and now all of a sudden they eventually will when we are unlocking the mysteries of the universe? No, the logical assumption is that we will now be around forever. Deal with it.
agree completely with your assessment. martin agrees blindly with "2 out of 3 scientists" quicker than I, Robot can be read. He took his blind faith tendencies and simply shifted them elsewhere.
[font=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]U.S. Center for World Mission estimated in 1997 that the percentage of humans who regard themselves as Christians rose from 33.7% in 1970 to 33.9% in 1996. 2 Its total number of adherents is growing at about 2.3% annually. [/font][font=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]These data are based on census or public opinion data.1Thus, a person is considered to be of a particular religion if they say that they are of that faith. Thus, about 75% of the adults in both the U.S. and Canada are Christians.[/font]
right, why would you believe in God when you can believe in all-knowing, never-failing, always honest, dependable ol'man?
faith? it isnt my fault you guys dont keep up with contemporary science. look, if you guys hate science, fine, believe in magic. humans can never be defeated. you win, even though humans have only existed for a an incredibly small fraction of the history of world, they will be here forever. if you choose to not be stupid, you can listen to me. odds are i understand biology and evolution far far better than you do. for years i was obsessed with it and read everything i could get my hands on. i have read most of the major and important books on the subject of evolution, as well as robotics and the future. a human programmed chess machine can easily beat a human. the idea that we cannot make something greater than ourselves is silly. computers get smarter and smarter all the time. at some point they will have similar computational power to our brains. how can that be disputed without claiming that human brains are magic? i understand that humans evolve. i also understand that it takes decades for new generations to come along, whereas artificial life is much much faster. really, think about this: what about the human brain as a computational machine makes it special? is it magic? why would another computational machine of comparable power not work similarly? (i have read far more about this topic that you ever will, so i let you know that there are scientists like roger penrose who believe a "quantum gravitational collapse" occurs in the human brain that cannot be replicated by machines, but this is not a widely held view) maybe ayn rand told you that man is a heroic being that conquers all, or maybe your religion tell we are unique and created in the image of the precious lord, either way, if you see things that way, you are simply refusing to not be ignorant. 157, what is that chart for, to show me that 2/3 of the world dont care about the jesus that you so stupidly worship? thats cool, i know you are the nicest dude around. i have read lots of the bible, i know plenty about christianity. but we have no existed for billions of years. modern humans are around 100 thousand years old i believe. plenty of humanlike species are extinct. i will accept your argument if you are saying we will evolve into a thing that is far beyond what is not considered human. when i say "human" i mean homo sapiens. certainly robots will take what we have and go from there. thats why some scientists call robots our "mind children" because they take what we are and continue it, even if homo sapiens die off like homo erectus or all the others. here, read this: http://www.transhumanist.com/volume1/moravec.htm i have read two more books by the guy who wrote that article, i know plenty more about this than you.
