"Otherwise we'll end of with (3) extinction of the humans."
This is almost certainly going to be the end result of our civilization. It won't happen overnight, of course, but I would guess that within a few hundred years, maybe a thousand at most, humans will either be completely gone, or barely hanging in a few isolated pockets. Once all the oil, coal, trees, and metals are depleted, and the planet is abysmally hot with desertification of large areas of formerly productive land and submergence of much coastal land (where most of our species live), it will be time for another species (probably not an intelligent species) to come to the forefront. Luckily for those of us alive today, we won't be around to experience any of this. I don't envy those who will be, though.
In many ways, this is just to be expected; the natural order of life. Homo sap has been the dominant species here for just about 200,000 years. Dinosaurs were the dominant species for over 160,000,000 years. Just think about that for a few seconds. Is there really any chance that our race can beat or even match that record, given where we find ourselves now, after what is just a moment of geological time? And if you're thinking, "Oh, but we have intelligence, we can adapt", you're fooling yourself. There is absolutely no proof that intelligence per se guarantees long term survival of a race. It's just our hubris that makes us assume that to be true.
"(2) figure out how to get resources/live on other planets."
Agree 100%. Unfortunately, mankind as a group just doesn't have this kind of foresight. And by the time we do realize the necessity, our technology, resources, and intellectual capacity may be so degraded as to make it functionally impossible.
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randy said on March 30, 2008:
"Otherwise we'll end of with (3) extinction of the humans."
This is almost certainly going to be the end result of our civilization. It won't happen overnight, of course, but I would guess that within a few hundred years, maybe a thousand at most, humans will either be completely gone, or barely hanging in a few isolated pockets. Once all the oil, coal, trees, and metals are depleted, and the planet is abysmally hot with desertification of large areas of formerly productive land and submergence of much coastal land (where most of our species live), it will be time for another species (probably not an intelligent species) to come to the forefront. Luckily for those of us alive today, we won't be around to experience any of this. I don't envy those who will be, though.
In many ways, this is just to be expected; the natural order of life. Homo sap has been the dominant species here for just about 200,000 years. Dinosaurs were the dominant species for over 160,000,000 years. Just think about that for a few seconds. Is there really any chance that our race can beat or even match that record, given where we find ourselves now, after what is just a moment of geological time? And if you're thinking, "Oh, but we have intelligence, we can adapt", you're fooling yourself. There is absolutely no proof that intelligence per se guarantees long term survival of a race. It's just our hubris that makes us assume that to be true.
"(2) figure out how to get resources/live on other planets."
Agree 100%. Unfortunately, mankind as a group just doesn't have this kind of foresight. And by the time we do realize the necessity, our technology, resources, and intellectual capacity may be so degraded as to make it functionally impossible.