I once read an essay and these aliens came to earth and showed an hour long movie of the 5 billion year history of earth. Humans were only in the last few frames. We are pretty unimportant when compared to eternity. Then again we are improtant enough that God would come down and hang with us for thirty years and then let us nail him to a tree.
Yes, I agree. An epidemic has not yet killed of our particular strand of speciation. But that doesn't preclude it from happening in the future. We no longer have chestnut trees or American elms because epidemic blights killed them all in the last century and a half. Chimpanzees in the tropical rainforest of Ivory Coast are being killed by an anthrax epidemic. And it is only the latest in a series of threats to the great apes. An ebola epidemic is believed to have killed more than half the chimpanzees and gorillas in large areas of central Africa. Humans are now being affected as the virus mutates. Ebola causes death in 90% of cases and can be spread by casual contact. Humans have had some other close calls. Bubonic Plague in the middle ages. In 1918, when the world population was 1.8 billion, an influenza epidemic incapacitated 1 billion and killed 20 million, all within the space of 8 weeks. A future Superflu could conceivably cause an extinction. Future Flu Epidemic Warning More recently there has been the SARS epidemic threat which has hopefully been contained. AIDS and HIV-related immune system disorders are a constant threat to the human population. There is validity to what you are saying. We have advanced medicine tremendously. But the viral threats have also advanced in equal pace, as witnessed by Aids, SARS, and the Spanish Flu. Bacterial threats that have become resistant to antibiotics are also going to be a big problem soon. And yes, Frogleg, I think we have been very lucky. I hope you are right in thinking that medical technology will stay ahead of epidemic threats, but history suggests otherwise. It is important to realize that a disease doesn't have to kill each and every member of a species to cause its extinction. All it has to do is reduce a population to a point beyond which it cannot sustain itself. Small populations make any species very suceptible to extinction. The growing size of human populations and the rate at which humans consume resources are causing a mass extinction of plant and animal species that is happening right now. There is a very good 4-page paper on the subject, if you are interested. The author is more articulate than I. Extinction of Plant and Animal Species
After Googling a bit, It seems that human consciousness is a hot topic, debated, and no where near solved. Ever get that feeling you're being watched, and it turns out you are? What does this mean? I read that some of the human brain may lie in the other dimensions discovered with String Theory. Others may say this proves the human mind is touched by God.
The problem with that implication is that the Ebola virus kills too quickly. The incubation period is too small to allow for traveling/more infections to occur. I also believe that the National Guard can be rolled out very quickly to enforce quarantines and stop this from happening at least in the USA.
A good point. Incubation varies from 2 days to 4 weeks with many authorities saying 21 days is average. But, if it gets out of central Africa, and into urban areas and places where people get around by air transport that situation could change. The virus continues to mutate as well, and future strains may travel better. The National Guard is pretty overestretched in Iraq right now, but the CDC seems to have a good handle on quarrantines at present.
http://www.wwitherspoon.org/StringTheory.htm#7. The Human Brain/Mind ...Quote from above link: But why must the mind function in the fifth dimension? Why could it not function in the third dimension of the current brain or in the fourth dimension of spacetime? It appears that some scientists doing mind research say that the mind is superior, or transcendent, to the “nuts and bolts” of the human body, which includes the delicate structure of the brain. If the mind is transcendent to the brain which exists in both the third dimension of our world and in the spacetime continuum of the fourth dimension, the mind must function in the fifth dimension.
I knew it, here we go with spirit. Look at what I posted in the Terri Schiavo thread a month ago! http://www.tigerforums.com/showthread.php?p=278201#post278180 Sorry to bud in but I had too! :thumb:
