Poll: The Human Prospect

[DeistPaladin]

What's your opinion about the human prospect? Do you feel optimistic, nervous or fatalistic about the future of humanity?

Please discuss.

 

[5810Singer]

I can't vote for any of those because;

1: I don't have enough certainty in my position to come down off the fence.
2: I think our species has got plenty of potential, and strong survival skills,.....but I'm not so sure about our civilisation.

 

[MRaverz]

Currently I would say that we are doomed, unless there were some sudden increase in the scientific knowledge of the general public. However even if this were achieved, I'm sure that it would be used in ways which were selfish and corrupt. For all the good humanity can do, it is too lazy and selfish.

In terms of fatality of the species... Environment wise; overpopulation is a major issue, I see no way in which we will be able to feed each member of the species adequately with the current population growth rate. With lack of resources will come war, I think that much is inevitable. Yet we could still colonise the galaxy, whereby threats would include stars engulfing planets and the tendency for members of each planet to diverge into separate species if geographical isolation is not counter-balanced.

I wouldn't say I was cynical, just realistic.

 

[obsidianavenger]

i am optimistic but nervous. our ability to destroy ourselves grows with scientific advance, but so does our ability to stave off ultimate extinction. i honestly think its a matter of pure luck whether we make it or not, but i do think the human intellect is up to the challenge if eiventually given free range. and despite all the woo out there rationality is spreading....

 

[xman]

The obstacles are great and the consequences dire, but we are still here. So far we are still going and for many of us things are getting better. The time of greatest possibility of total global thermonuclear destruction, the 80's has past and no bombs fell. The terrorists have even been foiled from attaining WMDs (although this shouldn't be credited to George W. and the recent trip to Iran) This is all good news, but the best news is that we are on the verge of great changes in every field of science and medicine. If we can get through the economic devastation which lies in the wings and can hardly be avoided much longer, we will see the dawn of a truly astounding world. Will it be perfect? No. That would be silly. We're still human after all, but I'm optimistic.

 

[Aught3]

I'm an optimist about this question, every other option is too depressing.

 

[Josan]

I voted for optimistic. Would have voted for hopefull if it said "Hopeful: We'll eventually solve our immediate problems that threaten our extinction but greed, corruption and poverty might very well always be with us." or something like that. Directly stating that greed, corruption and poverty will always remain isn't hopefull in my opinion.

 

[Prolescum]

I'm optimistic that reason will eventually become a defining characteristic of our species (I was brought up with Star trek's influence), but realise the problems are more vast than your options suggest.
I'm certain that we are nowhere near the apex of discovery and endeavour, but recognise our annoyingly regular inability to see past the problems that pollute our collective spirit.

 

[DeistPaladin]

I voted for optimistic. Would have voted for hopefull if it said "Hopeful: We'll eventually solve our immediate problems that threaten our extinction but greed, corruption and poverty might very well always be with us." or something like that. Directly stating that greed, corruption and poverty will always remain isn't hopefull in my opinion.

Maybe it's a matter of wording. To me it's the distinction between the "Star Trek" future and the "Babylon 5" future.

Star Trek is a utopian future where poverty and greed are eliminated and there's no corruption apart from an occassional star-fleet-admiral-gone-bad. The halls are brightly lit, the rooms are immaculately clean and everyone cheerfully and dilligently works for the common good.

Babylon 5 is more the future I see as realistic. Humanity comes together in a one-world government, we go to the stars and we seem to have gotten past our technological adolescense in one piece. However, the set is still gritty which reflects the economic and political backdrop. There are still societal problems of all kinds and human nature hasn't drastically changed though there's a general sense of progress.

The latter to me is still "hopeful", in the sense that we survive, come together, overcome our problems with overpopulation, nuclear prolifieration and environmental issues, and then go to the stars. This to me would be "success". At the same time, it's not a rose-colored vision of the future. Have I clarified?

To get less hopeful, we go to Terminator 2. This vision addresses a lot of concerns ("It's in your nature to destroy yourselves") but in the end there's an expression of hope ("The future is not set..." and "...if a terminator could learn the value of human life, maybe we can too."). Essentially, we're not likely to survive but still might pull it out.

So:
Optimistic: Star Trek
Hopeful: Babylon 5
Nervous: Terminator
Fatalistic: The Day After

 

[Master_Ghost_Knight]

The answer to that depends on the extent of time we are talking about. Given enough time humans are allways F*, and there is absolutly nothing that can be done to changed that.

 

[Nogre]

I vote optimistic, but I don't think that it's just going to pan out that way. I think that right now, we're just seeing the battle against religion, poverty, greed, etc. really take off and for the wondrous end to be in sight, even if it won't get here in full within our lifetime. And I see this as reason to fight ever harder for everything we could achieve in the future, as it's anything but set.

 

[RestrictedAccess]

I guess that depends on what kind of future we're talking about.

Even if we got our species off of this rock by the time our sun gives out, the universe isn't likely to last forever. When it goes, we go.

In terms of human society - it's probably always going to have it's ups and down. Humans are skiddish, panicky animals that lose their rational minds when catastrophe strikes. Sometimes all it takes is one good natural catastrophe to turn a population of people into primitive beings. Sometimes it doesn't even take that.

 

[Giant Blue Anteater]

Even though some things that are happening right now make me lose faith in humanity, I still have great hopes in its future. I think the problem of religion would likely wane significantly (or even be gone completely) by the end of this century or two. But poverty might take a little longer to mitigate and greed and corruption might as well. Even if it may not seem like we're going anywhere, I still think we'll make it.

Hopefully, we will unite into a global confederation and begin terraforming and then subsequentially colonizing Mars, Venus and then begin sending colony ships (generation, sleeper or embryonic ships) to confirmed habitable planets and slowly expand our influence throughout the Galaxy. Hopefully our encounters with other intelligent life that may be floating in the Galaxy prove to be peaceful and do not end up into a bloody interstellar war. But only time will tell...

 

[PAB]

You need better options really,
humanity will most likly become extinct one way or another , either literally via destruction or via evolutionary change ,
however if humanity is in the process of becoming human consistently the end of humanity may be dependent upon perspective again on evolution wether phenotypical or socio-cognitive
according to brief cosmological lectures i picked up on , the earth has a finite life span , as does the sun and this galaxy will most likly collide with the next nearest, so its all change
destruction is creation etc etc

 

[Soap]

Our civilization will end sooner then it should. The only thing we can do to strengthen our chances by showing others how to not be selfish. That's the main issue, selfishness. We have people that don't care about the long run because as long as they don't have to deal with it, it's not their problem. One day a generation is going to brink on the existence, and only wishing that the right thing was done.

 

[Ozymandyus]

I always think it's funny that people say 'well, even if humanity does survive, our earth/sun/galaxy won't be here in X billion years, so we're doomed anyway. If we survive the next 200 years without any major catastrophes that end civilization as we know it, its pretty certain that some descendants of ours will be highly mobile and able to move to safety from any coming supernovas, galactic collisions, and other world ending inevitabilities when they come.

Despite all the doom and gloom, we have managed to survive this long despite the ability to destroy the earth several times over which we have had for decades now. Every generation likes to believe theirs is the one closest to the end times (which I would suppose is true if there were end times) but honestly, I think some of the most dangerous times are already past us. As tough as things are, it'll all turn out okay. But don't stop working towards that future, and keeping an eye on the possibility of destruction! Goooo Team Human!

 

[Unwardil]

I put optomistic because I think all the problems facing us can be solved and that with sufficient cultural evolution, we can come up with a whole new set of social problems such that we couldn't even possibly concieve of at the moment.

 

[nasher168]

Depends what you mean. In the very long run, we're doomed. We can outrun it for billions of years if we can, but eventually the universe will catch up with us.
Our civilisation is also doomed. We will probably make it quite far before it happens-maybe we'll even start colonising other star systems, but eventually imbalance will arise and, like the countless civilisations before us, we will fall.
However, I am in the "Hopeful" category by this poll because I am convinced we will adapt to and overcome each problem that comes our way for a very long time-I'm talking a thousand or so years minimum.

 

[PatrickTheScienceGuy]

we are doomed unless we can become non-corporeal beings, time travelers and colonist the past, or leave our universe.

I know I'm pessimistic at the best of times.