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Steven Meglitsch

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Will there still be humans on this planet a million years from now?

I keep mulling around in my mind the question of whether or not the human species is evolutionarily viable on the long term. There seem to be a lot of pros and cons, but to me it looks as though the jury is still out.

The secondary questions are:
1. If we are still here in a million years, what will be different about us? What parameters will permit us to succeed.
2. If not, what will lead to our downfall, and what parameters in the human species will have hindered our continued survival?

Topics: a better world diagnosing humanity survival
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    Peter Law 30+

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    Nov 26 2012: Not a chance. Our DNA is being mutated with every passing generation; eventually it will become non-viable. We are not, nor ever have, evolved. We are devolving, just like everything else in the universe.
    This world is not our home. Our home is with our Creator.

    :-)
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      Steven Meglitsch

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      Nov 26 2012: And you believe that the Creator wants us to fade away?
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        Peter Law 30+

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        Nov 26 2012: No. He wants us to know him & live with him forever. It's laid out in the bible, this universe is temporary & will be replaced.
        The earth's rotation is slowing, the magnetic field is waning, even without the DNA problem a million years is not on the cards.

        http://www.earthage.org/intro/A%20Closer%20Look%20at%20the%20Age%20of%20the%20Earth.htm

        :-)
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          Gerald O'brian 50+

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          Nov 26 2012: Did you coin that term?
          I love it.
          But isn't DEVOLUTION a kind of evolution (a bad one)? I don't know how it works, but I guess non-viable genes are selected, so that each generation is less fit than its predecessor. Certainly this selection cannot be natural, because adaptation is rewarded in nature. So, Divine intervention?

          By the way, your view of life and the universe is the sadest I've ever read.
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        Peter Law 30+

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        Nov 27 2012: Hi Gerald.
        I don't see how eternity in bliss can be construed as sad.
        Let's face it; we get our three score & ten, then we die. Whether the planet goes on for another million is a tad irrelevant.
        As I understand it we get our parent's mutations plus a couple of hundred new ones, so in the long term they mount up. Some say that there are good mutations which drive evolution. If you want to believe that then you're fine. Personally I don't buy it.
        I have spent a large part of my 60 years trying to figure this out & for what it's worth, I believe the bible is spot on.

        :-)

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