08-07-2009, 11:43 PM | #1 (permalink) | ||||||||
Spice Master
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The Future of the Human Race.
I have a few friends that I discuss with (Bald nerd is one, hopefully another will be joining soon) the future of the human race on two primary planes: The pointlessness of our current (arguably, our entire) existence on this planet, and how badly we are fucking it up. I'm by no means at all a hippie or anything and i'm far from composting all my waste, but to be around the world, and with all the information we have available to us and see all the things that are completely fucking up our ecosystem, its hard to say how much longer we're going to be able to sustain life on planet earth. There are so many problems, ranging from the well known (deforestation, pollution, general wastefulness) to the lesser known but still very important.
Here is a good article to get started about what the future holds for humans if we don't get our shit together: Consumerism is 'eating the future' - opinion - 07 August 2009 - New Scientist Highlights: Quote:
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I can personally say I live a pretty minimalist lifestyle, even moreso now than in AZ (although thats kind of obvious). One of the many reasons I quit the nightlife scene (on top of the fact of how pointless of a career path it was) was that I couldn't dumb myself down to enjoy myself surrounded by mental and physical vanity almost nonstop in my life. Lack of intellectual discussions aside, people don't even care. Its like the human race in modern culture is on life-auto-pilot. WHY does everyone work so hard to get money/posessions? Most people can't even answer that question (the answer is to attract a mate, get a family and spend all that money on them, until they run out and go into debt for the most part, fyi). And if they are intelligent enough to answer the question, they accuse you (me) of being a cynic or a pessimist. Clearly I don't hold any of you in the ranks of what i just said, but I also don't know all of you that well. I'll leave that introspection to yourselves. | ||||||||
Last edited by Mr. Blonde; 08-07-2009 at 11:46 PM. |
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08-08-2009, 12:03 AM | #4 (permalink) |
Resident Pube Inspector
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I haven't seen the movie, but have read the book. It's basically a documentary. It's very easy to read. Gore has it set up to be very visual; tons of pictures, charts, and graphs. It is quite informative, but some people would question his data.
Basically, I find it worth reading if you have an open mind. |
08-08-2009, 12:37 AM | #5 (permalink) |
I make bad decisions.
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it was a decent documentary. I saw it with one of my extremely liberal environmentalist buddies when it came out (he paid for any of his friends willing to see it). I still always question the validity of those types of documentaries though.
I've actually thought about this from time to time. I think we'll see in our lifetime, major changes regarding power. I would like to see us use more nuclear power as well as more developments of other alternative fuels. Efficient public transit would be extremely nice to have. I think one of the things that makes it more difficult for the US is just the sheer size of our nation. This applies to a lot of other technologies, as it isn't cost effective to implement a lot of the ideas due to coverage of the area is far too costly. |
08-08-2009, 12:44 AM | #6 (permalink) |
Spice Master
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Power/fossil fuels is just one facet of the challenges we're going to have to overcome. Overpopulation, food sources, food COST (i predict that it will skyrocket within the next 50 years as we continue to overconsume), chemicals in the environment...
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08-08-2009, 02:24 AM | #7 (permalink) | |
Ahoy Fuckbag
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The real X-factor is science. I fully believe that science can essentially overcome nearly any "problem" posed to humanity given enough incentive. Shit, high school kids are breeding bacteria that break down plastics and chemical treatments that make the metal skeleton for large stone works (bridges, highways, etc.) nearly rust-proof. Basically the first country to implement a space elevator and a way to effectively shield radiation outside of the Earth's magnetic field will have free reign of the Solar System and all its resources. Even if we don't escape the planet, we'll soon enough be in a position where mining old garbage dumps for resources will become a lucrative endeavor. I could see it going either way. | |
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08-08-2009, 12:28 PM | #8 (permalink) |
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Whether or not you are saying this meaning leaving Earth and living in space/ another planet, or just escaping the perils of Earth's limited resources, I think that, even though living in space would be one giant leap for mankind, it would be a bad idea. By the time we have the technology to live in space, we'd also have all the futuristic space technology you only see in movies. This would probably make for a decline in human evolution. I imagine the process of moving to space and living there to be quite similar to the computer-animated film Wall-E.
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08-08-2009, 01:05 PM | #9 (permalink) |
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I like the spirit of this thread, but I think in general you guys are being over-dramatic. There's a lot of ego-centrism in play here; humans since the beginning of civilization have thought that their generation would be the one to witness armageddon and destruction. The Earth can sustain a human population of 20 billion or more without too much trouble. That's still so far away. Some of the major problems that humanity thinks they're facing, global warming in particular, are basically just the new religion of "educated" elite upper-middle class whites. We're not even sure if humanity has made the slightest contribution to this issue; it could very well just be a part of the natural cycle of Earth's heating and cooling. Climates change, species go extinct. This is a natural part of Earth's evolution.
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08-08-2009, 01:16 PM | #10 (permalink) |
Gangnam Style
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Gore made a science fiction movie, not a documentary.
Had he been stupid enough to run for president again, his "data" would have been exposed for all his false claims. The scientific community really just didn't care to fight him at the small number of people who actually believed his story. Just 30 years ago, the opposite "climate shift" was occuring and all the talking heads were saying we were going to go into an ice age. If you really want to buy into the Earths 4.5 billion year old existance being overrun by a decade of data, then enjoy wasting yours time on this "cause" |
08-08-2009, 10:42 PM | #13 (permalink) |
Ahoy Fuckbag
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We're already on the cusp of post-human evolution. Through genetics and bionics the gap between the "haves" and "have nots" is going to grow by leaps and bounds. The poor folks will get to stay on Earth while the money will endeavor into space and a "space middle class" will be working for large corporations in a form of indentured servitude to pay for their bioengineering etc. The whole trans-humanism thing is really some pretty interesting stuff to look into if any of you are bored and I am sure it will go hand in hand with space travel.
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08-09-2009, 12:05 AM | #14 (permalink) | |
Emperor Meow
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(1) the discovery of a planet that can be colonized and has resources of value. and (2) either the ability to travel light speeds, or finding a portable and nearly 100% renewable energy resources than can last the thousands of years it would take to get to the next nearest solar system. The growth rate of space travel technology and achievement lags far far behind everything else. We went from launching the first rocket into space in 1942 to traveling to the moon in less than 30 years. 40 years later, we haven't even achieved a manned mission to mars. Unless we discover a way to travel faster than light, your dystopian space middle class future sure as fuck won't be happening in this millennium. | |
#YOLO
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08-09-2009, 12:54 AM | #18 (permalink) |
Emperor Meow
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hmmm you got me thinking about it because the units of measure don't seem to correctly cancel
light takes 4.2 years to get there light is 37474 times faster than a rocket propelled shuttle so it should take a shuttle 37474 times longer than light to get there, right? |
#YOLO
Last edited by THEINCREDIBLEdork; 08-09-2009 at 12:55 AM. |
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08-09-2009, 01:09 AM | #19 (permalink) |
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I'm aware that a light year is a unit of distance.
The units in the equation do not yield a measurement of time. The meters/second in the speed of light and speed of shuttle would cancel each other out when they are divided by each other. Multiplying that quotient by a unit of distance (light year) would equate in.. well a unit of distance. |
08-09-2009, 01:28 AM | #20 (permalink) |
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I cannot comprehend your most recent calculations because I am having a difficult time comprehending light years.
Here: 4.2 light years to nearest star 8,000 m/s= top speed of shuttle 1 light year= 9.4605284 × 10^15 meters 1 year= 31,556,926 seconds (4.2 light years) X (9.4605284 × 10^15 meters/ 1 light years) X (1 second/ 8,000 meters) X ( 1 year/ 31,556,926 seconds) = ... This is weird. My calculator gave me the same number as your initial equation's answer (157391.0402426396 years) |
08-09-2009, 01:29 AM | #21 (permalink) |
Emperor Meow
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A light-year is equal to:
exactly 9,460,730,472,580.8 km thats 9460730472580800 meters from now on L is 9460730472580800 meters there are 31 556 926 seconds in a year (4.2 * L [m]) / 8000 [m/s] / 31,556,926 [s] = 157391 years ---- u unit of distance y = unit of 1 year a light year is 1 u/(u/y) my original equation: (299792458 [m/s] / 8000 [m/s]) * 4.2 [u/(u/y)] all units cancel out except year NEVER CHALLENGE DORK, TWAT. |
#YOLO
Last edited by THEINCREDIBLEdork; 08-09-2009 at 01:31 AM. |
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08-09-2009, 01:49 AM | #22 (permalink) |
Resident Pube Inspector
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ID, too bad I was able to justify a valid equation and answer first. You're skepticism led you to a more believable justification. FAG.
... ID, too bad I was valid. You're skepticism led you to a FAG. ... ID, too bad I was you're skepticism. You a FAG. ... ID, too bad you're a FAG. |
08-09-2009, 01:54 AM | #23 (permalink) |
Almost there...
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Nobody cares, Blonde, because nobody alive today has to live with the consequences of their actions in tomorrow's future. And frankly I think that's difficult to argue with. Nobody really has a collective "for the good of the species" mentality. Now if we find a way to cheat death and stop the aging process then people will start to care.
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08-09-2009, 01:58 AM | #24 (permalink) |
Emperor Meow
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actually, my original justification is valid, and more simple, and therefore better. You did sneak your post in before mine, but most of my time was spent trying to find a way to dumb it down enough for you to understand it. I've also been multitasking by playing with my balls at the same time. You don't have balls. This is what happens when a woman tries to comprehend something outside the kitchen.
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#YOLO
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08-09-2009, 04:39 AM | #25 (permalink) |
Spice Master
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Agreed. Interestingly enough we're already getting up there with nanotechnology; I wonder if people will actually start changing their behavior once they're able to live longer. I also wonder if our descendants will hate us for how reckless we are/were. Almost like a future version of slavery. At the time, it was status quo and therefore most people were okay with it. 300 years later, we're ashamed of our ancestors.
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