We're doomed...

[jägermonsta]

We're not going to last forever... it seems the consensus on our pending doom is that we'll self destruct ourselves.

So for the human race to continue on... which is more likely to take place in order to avoid our demise?

I don't see world peace ever happening... but how exactly do we conveniently travel through this thing we call the universe

Well given our advancements of knowledge and technology over the last 100 years of all things regarding space... I choose: "Let's blow this joint!"...

[VaeVictis]

world peace would still kill the planet we wouldnt be killing off tons of people to keep the population in check... i say first things first, wipe china off the map, that should help the population count

[peewee_RotA]

i say first things first, wipe china off the map, that should help the population count

Why? Are the Chinese particularly bad at math?

[beanstorm]

i say first things first, wipe china off the map, that should help the population count

Why? Are the Chinese particularly bad at math?

I think the Chinese started the whole math thing off didnt they?

We are doomed and Its because of people like vae victus.

Ok  But!

Where would you get your next cheap pc or laptop from if you wipe china off the map? 
What is that whole vae victus thing anyway?  I googled it and found a Swedish made game a quote from a movie and a German thrash metal band. 

I made it easy for you Vae, go get a mirror and pick the moustache most like yours.

[VaeVictis]

i say first things first, wipe china off the map, that should help the population count

Why? Are the Chinese particularly bad at math?

lol wasnt a racist joke, chinas population is huge, the worlds large population will lead to some pretty bad problems down the line if ya think about it

i say first things first, wipe china off the map, that should help the population count

Why? Are the Chinese particularly bad at math?

I think the Chinese started the whole math thing off didnt they?

We are doomed and Its because of people like vae victus.

Ok  But!

Where would you get your next cheap pc or laptop from if you wipe china off the map? 
What is that whole vae victus thing anyway?  I googled it and found a Swedish made game a quote from a movie and a German thrash metal band. 

I made it easy for you Vae, go get a mirror and pick the moustache most like yours.

maybe cause you cant spell its not victus its victis lol and its latin

[|iR|Focalor]

Says the kid who thinks Nazi means "National Fascism" and not "National Socialism". I guess he knows Latin better than German.

Since you want the Chinese wiped out, go get yourself a fucking helmet, some boots, and a gun. Don't be a god damn pussy. You want it done? Get off your lazy ass and join the military. Why should other people worth more than you have to die for your stupid thoughtless whims while you sit on your ass reaping the benefits of the blood they spill?

Fucking retard.

Idiots like you don't remember what happened in the Philippines and Japan during WWII. Idiots like you don't remember what Korea was like. Idiots like you don't remember what Vietnam was like. Next time you think it's a good idea to go fucking with Eastern Asian nations, ask a vet that lived through it.

[quadz]

We're not going to last forever... it seems the consensus on our pending doom is that we'll self destruct ourselves.

So for the human race to continue on... which is more likely to take place in order to avoid our demise?

So many interesting possibilities...

I can never resist starting out with the cosmological time view.  The earth appears to be about 4.5 billion years old, and we have evidence that primitive life forms existed here as far back as 3.5 billion years ago.  However, looking forward from where we are now, it's predicted that in another billion years, due to the sun's expansion toward its red giant phase, the earth will no longer be within the "habitable zone" for life in the solar system.  (For biological life as we know it, anyway.)

So - sure, a billion years is a huge number, but the interesting part for me is, if life has been here for 3.5 billion years, and only has 1 billion years left.... then we're about at the 78% mark for the total possible run of DNA based evolution on this planet.

Here's that laid out on a number line... the "!" is the YOU ARE HERE mark.

beginning of biological life on earth                                end of biological life on earth
[----------------------------------------------------------------------------!---------------------]

(Each tick on the graph is 45 million years, the total span of the graph being 4.5 billion years.)

An important implication there, is: that's essentially a best case for how much more time DNA-based life has on this planet.  And no amount of conservation will extend that limit.

Of course, the end for complex life forms could come much sooner.  Cataclysmic meteor impact, nuclear holocaust, genetically engineered super-plague, etc...

But in the limit, the only currently known feasible way to beat the above "countdown to extinction" is to get off the planet.  Presumably colonizing other solar systems, spreading slowly outward from our region of the galaxy.

  *  *  *

On a related note, our brains are an indisputable existence proof of low-power highly parallel computing machinery, which can be constructed from a completely digital program (DNA).  Our brains are a digitally specified mechanism which (somehow) achieves consciousness.

Based on the existence proof of the biological brain, it has seemed plausible that a conscious, intelligent non-biological machine brain should be able to exist.

Such non-biological machine brains may be significantly better suited to interstellar travel than our fragile human forms.

So it's possible the first really viable interstellar travellers wouldn't be biological.

  *  *  *

Anyway, so many wild possibilities.  But one thing physics tells us is true: our time here on this planet in our present biological form is limited.

[VaeVictis]

Says the kid who thinks Nazi means "National Fascism" and not "National Socialism". I guess he knows Latin better than German.

Since you want the Chinese wiped out, go get yourself a fucking helmet, some boots, and a gun. Don't be a god damn pussy. You want it done? Get off your lazy ass and join the military. Why should other people worth more than you have to die for your stupid thoughtless whims while you sit on your ass reaping the benefits of the blood they spill?

Fucking retard.

Idiots like you don't remember what happened in the Philippines and Japan during WWII. Idiots like you don't remember what Korea was like. Idiots like you don't remember what Vietnam was like. Next time you think it's a good idea to go fucking with Eastern Asian nations, ask a vet that lived through it.

you take shit too seriously

[peewee_RotA]

you take shit too seriously

Yeah, he's been warned about Scat porn on at least one occassion.   

[|iR|Focalor]

Says the kid who thinks Nazi means "National Fascism" and not "National Socialism". I guess he knows Latin better than German.

Since you want the Chinese wiped out, go get yourself a fucking helmet, some boots, and a gun. Don't be a god damn pussy. You want it done? Get off your lazy ass and join the military. Why should other people worth more than you have to die for your stupid thoughtless whims while you sit on your ass reaping the benefits of the blood they spill?

Fucking retard.

Idiots like you don't remember what happened in the Philippines and Japan during WWII. Idiots like you don't remember what Korea was like. Idiots like you don't remember what Vietnam was like. Next time you think it's a good idea to go fucking with Eastern Asian nations, ask a vet that lived through it.

you take shit too seriously

Yeah. Now that you've had time to think rationally about your dumbassed comments, glad to see you agree with me that it's a retarded idea. Think back to the Pacific campaign of WWII. The Japanese fought tooth and nail to defend every last inch of every island the allies landed on. They usually didn't STOP fighting until every last one of them had been killed. I remember my grandfather talking about it. By the time the days fighting was over on each island, there were dead bodies strewn everywhere and the stench was sickening. There was nothing left of anything except smoldering ashes once they claimed victory. There was nothing to be happy about in winning the fight. And it was the same thing on island after island, week after week, month after month. If it hadn't been for "the bomb" and a few lucky breaks, there's a very good chance that Japan would've won.

The Chinese would be quite similar. They have centuries and centuries of warrior traditions and philosophies. With all the shit that is still going on in Korea (yes, the Korean war technically never ended), it's a possibility that the US might find itself with China as an enemy before it's all said and done.

[VaeVictis]

Says the kid who thinks Nazi means "National Fascism" and not "National Socialism". I guess he knows Latin better than German.

Since you want the Chinese wiped out, go get yourself a fucking helmet, some boots, and a gun. Don't be a god damn pussy. You want it done? Get off your lazy ass and join the military. Why should other people worth more than you have to die for your stupid thoughtless whims while you sit on your ass reaping the benefits of the blood they spill?

Fucking retard.

Idiots like you don't remember what happened in the Philippines and Japan during WWII. Idiots like you don't remember what Korea was like. Idiots like you don't remember what Vietnam was like. Next time you think it's a good idea to go fucking with Eastern Asian nations, ask a vet that lived through it.

you take shit too seriously

Yeah. Now that you've had time to think rationally about your dumbassed comments, glad to see you agree with me that it's a retarded idea. Think back to the Pacific campaign of WWII. The Japanese fought tooth and nail to defend every last inch of every island the allies landed on. They usually didn't STOP fighting until every last one of them had been killed. I remember my grandfather talking about it. By the time the days fighting was over on each island, there were dead bodies strewn everywhere and the stench was sickening. There was nothing left of anything except smoldering ashes once they claimed victory. There was nothing to be happy about in winning the fight. And it was the same thing on island after island, week after week, month after month. If it hadn't been for "the bomb" and a few lucky breaks, there's a very good chance that Japan would've won.

The Chinese would be quite similar. They have centuries and centuries of warrior traditions and philosophies. With all the shit that is still going on in Korea (yes, the Korean war technically never ended), it's a possibility that the US might find itself with China as an enemy before it's all said and done.

do you like trying to sound smart while making yourself look like an up tight prick? as i said kid, you take shit too seriously

[|iR|Focalor]

kid

I've left cumstains on your momma's pillow older than you.

[fdrjk]

kid

I've left cumstains on your momma's pillow older than you.

yes
yes
Yes
Yes
YES
YES
YES!
YES!
YES!!
YES!!
YES!!!
YES!!!
YES!!!!

 

[Barton]

An important implication there, is: that's essentially a best case for how much more time DNA-based life has on this planet.  And no amount of conservation will extend that limit.

Of course, the end for complex life forms could come much sooner.  Cataclysmic meteor impact, nuclear holocaust, genetically engineered super-plague, etc...

But in the limit, the only currently known feasible way to beat the above "countdown to extinction" is to get off the planet.  Presumably colonizing other solar systems, spreading slowly outward from our region of the galaxy.

  *  *  *

On a related note, our brains are an indisputable existence proof of low-power highly parallel computing machinery, which can be constructed from a completely digital program (DNA).  Our brains are a digitally specified mechanism which (somehow) achieves consciousness.

Based on the existence proof of the biological brain, it has seemed plausible that a conscious, intelligent non-biological machine brain should be able to exist.

Such non-biological machine brains may be significantly better suited to interstellar travel than our fragile human forms.

So it's possible the first really viable interstellar travellers wouldn't be biological.

  *  *  *

Anyway, so many wild possibilities.  But one thing physics tells us is true: our time here on this planet in our present biological form is limited.

Trippy thought. If nirvana exists, it must certainly would be that. 

[|iR|Focalor]

Obviously I don't believe in an afterlife (and if it wasn't obvious, then it is now), so I don't live in fear that I'll go to Hell for cheating on that Spanish 2 quiz in high school or for running that stop sign and never being caught when I was 20. Probably the only 2 things I really "fear" about death is:

1. That it will probably hurt like hell when my heartbeat stops, yet my brain will probably still be able to sense pain, so I'll probably feel the pain of my entire body suffering from lack of oxygen.

2. That I won't survive another 1000 years to see what amazing things technology will achieve and what will happen in the world.

People living today think to themselves, "It must have SUCKED to live back in the 1500's! No electricity! No internet! Life today is so fucking awesome!" Yet in another 500 years, technology is probably going to advance so much that those people will say, "It must have really sucked to live back in 2010!"