Mankind_Will_Be_Close_to_Extinction

By the end of 21st century, mankind will be closed to extinction... Our population is bulging at the seams, we are starting to fight over natural resources, and our food production and sea farming are starting to be taxed to the limit. In some parts of the world they use the control of food as a weapon. We have millions dying every year from starvation and diseases, which the more advanced nations seem to turn a blind eye towards. We kill each other in the name of our different versions of God. And we fight over scraps of land because of ancient heritages and racial claims. We have issues with each other over stupid things such as Hair, Eye and skin color. Let’s throw in the proliferation of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. How long will it be before it boils over into all out regional & global conflict' We seem to be in some sort of mad dash of technological development, we are advancing at such a rate that every year we learn more than we have in the past 5 years, and the year after that so on and so forth etc. We seem to rely more on our technology to try and solve our problems than we do our own valuable, rich and extensive history. The ancients knew a lot more than we give them credit. We fail to learn how things that worked in the past can be applied to this day and age. Instead we choose to ignore the teachings of our ancestors in favor of our technology and think by invading outer space and the development of other sciences, we can advance even more technology and save ourselves from the mess we have created here on Earth. Until the population drops to a more ecologically supportable population, humanity will suffer these problems. In short, humanity itself shouldn't go completely extinct, because we've evolved an intelligence that goes a step beyond other animals, in that some people will be prepared to stave off complete extinction for at least a few generations...In small, isolated pockets. This is because our intelligence, forethought & creative inventiveness makes us more adaptable than many other species. I should note here that insects are thought to be the world's oldest land-bound species...They would have been the first to leave the waterways & "colonize" the land. They're still with us today & probably still be around when humanity finally recovers & maybe even after we finally go truly extinct. This will happen eventually anyway, unless we learn how to colonize other worlds, because our planet & solar system won't last forever...Still a few billion years left perhaps, but not forever. At least that's what the Astronomers & Astrophysicists figure...From their observations of space, our sun will eventually go nova, which means that it'll start to expand & likely to increase its size until it eventually engulfs planets out as far as the orbit of Mars. Then eventually collapse & burn out into a dead hulk. Certainly, the natural balance of the Earth's eco-system may be thrown a bit out of whack from human interference, but as the ecology of life adapts to changes, the eco-system will eventually achieve balance once again...Maybe with some "new" minor differences than what we see today, but these differences will come about from the adaptations of life. The 21st century began with the United States as the sole superpower in the absence of the Soviet Union, with several other entities, such as China and the European Union, becoming potential superpowers. The debate over what should be done about global warming, fossil fuel pollution and alternative energy raged in the new century after most of the 20th century was marked by industrial expansion. As the Cold War was over and Islamic fundamentalist-related terrorism on the rise, the United States and its allies turned their attention to the Middle East. Issues that have been frequently discussed and debated so far in this century include: Globalization. Advances in telecommunications and transportation, the expansion of capitalism and democracy, and free trade agreements have resulted in unprecedented global economic and cultural integration. This has caused (and is continuing to cause) economic and cultural shifts which have been the subject of considerable controversy. Overpopulation. The United Nations estimates that world population will reach 9.2 billion by mid-century. Such growth raises questions of ecological sustainability and creates many economic and political disruptions. In response, many countries have adopted policies which either force or encourage their citizens to have fewer children, and others have limited immigration. Considerable debate exists over what the ultimate carrying capacity of the planet may be; whether or not population growth containment policies are necessary; to what degree growth can safely occur thanks to increased economic and ecological efficiency; and how markets should accommodate demographic shifts. Evidence suggests that developed countries (such as Japan) suffer population implosion, and the population debate is strongly tied with poverty. Authoritarianism. Some currently democratic states, such as The United Kingdom, are felt by some to be moving quickly in the direction of a police state, with biometric identity cards,continuous surveillance and long term detainment without trial all having been introduced by the government. A good indicator of authoritarianism being a serious concern for the 21st century are the recent anti-authoritarian protests staged around the world. Examples include the 1999 Carnival Against Capitalism, the protest activities surrounding the 2001 Genova G8 Summit and the 2007 Heiligendamm G8 Summit, as well as the 2008 civil unrest in Greece, all with strong anarchistic and thus anti-authoritarian character. Abortion. Debates between "Pro-choice" and "Pro-life" factions on the controversial procedure continue. The approximate number of induced abortions performed worldwide in 2003 was 42 million. Dysgenics. Due to the negative correlation between fertility and intelligence, human genetic integrity may be deteriorating, lowering the intellectual capacity of the average human. Poverty. Poverty remains the root cause of many of the world's other ills, including famine, disease, and insufficient education. Poverty contains many self-reinforcing elements (for instance, poverty can make education an unaffordable luxury, which tends to result in continuing poverty) that various aid groups hope to rectify in this century. Microcredit lending has also started to gain a profile as a useful anti-poverty tool. Disease. AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria each kill over a million people annually. HIV remains without a cure or vaccine, and is growing rapidly in India and much of the African continent. Antibiotic resistance is a growing concern for organisms such as tuberculosis. Other diseases, such as SARS, ebola, and flu variations, are also causes for concern. The World Health Organization has warned of a possible coming flu pandemic resulting from bird flu mutations. War and terrorism. Active conflicts continue around the world, including civil wars in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the largest war since World War II), Chechnya, Côte d'Ivoire, Somalia, Senegal, Colombia, and Sudan (mainly in Darfur). The 9/11 terrorist attacks triggered invasions of Afghanistan and partially and controversially Iraq. The War on Terrorism has seen controversies over civil liberties, accusations of torture, continued terrorist attacks and ongoing instability, violence, and military occupation. Violence continues in the Arab–Israeli conflict. Considerable concern remains about nuclear proliferation, especially in Iran and North Korea, and the availability of weapons of mass destruction to rogue groups. Global warming. Climate scientists have postulated that the earth is currently undergoing significant anthropogenic (human-induced) global warming. The resulting economic and ecological costs are hard to predict. Some scientists argue that human-induced global warming risks considerable losses in biodiversity and ecosystem services unless considerable sociopolitical changes are introduced, particularly in patterns of mass consumption. Others, however, deny human influence as significant, or question whether global warming will actually be a significant detriment to the planet. Power in international relations. Issues surrounding the cultural, economic, and military dominance of the United States and its role in the world community have become even more pointed given its recent military activities, problematic relations with the United Nations, disagreement over several international treaties, and its economic policies with regard to globalization. Integration of the European Union and the African Union have proceeded. Intellectual property. The increasing popularity of digital formats for entertainment media such as movies and music, and the ease of copying and distributing it via the Internet and peer-to-peer networks, has raised concerns in the media industry about copyright infringement. Much debate is proceeding about the proper bounds between protection of copyright, trademark and patent rights versus fair use and the public domain, where some argue that such laws have shifted greatly towards intellectual property owners and away from the interests of the general public in recent years, while others say that such legal change is needed to deal with the threat of new technologies against the rights of authors and artists (or, as others put it, against the outmoded business models of the current entertainment industry). Domain name "cybersquatting" and access to patented drugs to combat epidemics in third-world countries are other IP concerns. Technology developments show no sign of ending. Communications and control technology continues to augment the intelligence of individual humans, collections of humans, and machines. Cultures are forced into the position of sharply defining humanity and determining boundaries on desire, thought, communication, behavior, and manufacturing. Some, notably Ray Kurzweil have predicted that by the middle of the century there will be a Technological Singularity if artificial intelligence that outsmart humans is created. If these AIs then create even smarter AI's technological change will accelerate in ways that are impossible for us to foresee. (However, gradual and simultaneous use of AI technology to increase our own intelligence might prevent this from ever occurring.) Fossil fuels are becoming scarce and more expensive, due to the escalating demand for petroleum ("oil") and oil-based products such as gasoline and kerosene, unmatched by production. Discovery of new oil fields has not been sufficient to sustain current levels of production, and some fear that the earth may be running out of economically viable oil. NATO–Russia relations have become strained as the "Western Alliance" and NATO square off with Russia and other nations over international policy and the future of the ex-Soviet sphere. An Eastern Europe Missile Defense Shield, military and social conflicts in the Caucasus (particularly Georgia and Chechnya), and the future of nuclear arsenals are among the topics that have strained the relations between the two sides with eerie reminders reminiscent of the Cold War. One of the major role is played by Terrorism. Terrorism can be defined as the use of violence against civilians in order to achieve political goals. Unlike other forms of protest, such as strikes and peaceful demonstrations, terrorist acts always involve violence or the treat of violence. Terrorism differs from an act of war against enemy soldiers or military targets because its targets are noncombatants or civilians. In addition, terrorism is different from criminal acts or random forms of violence because its goals are political; concerned with how a state is governed or how its people are treated. Terrorism has changed a great deal since the 1960s. The rise of Islamic fundamentalism, the end of Cold War, the global banking network, and the telecommunications revolution have all played their part in changing the motives and methods of international terrorism. With the launch of the war on terrorism, it is likely to change again, adapting itself to a more hostile environment. Until the 1980s, the major players in international politics were nation-states. The security system of the United States and its allies were set up to guard against military strikes by other countries, especially the Soviet Union or China. Terrorism was not seen as a significant threat to internal security, and terrorists were viewed more as pawns in global chess game between the superpowers. During the 1990s, there were signs that terrorist groups were outgrowing this lowly status, as more ambitious attacks were launched against Western interests around the world. But it was not until September 11, 2001, that the world finally woke up to the new threat. The new threat comes not from the nation-states, but from social, ethnic, or religious groups living within those states, who feel their interests have been ignored. In the 21st Century the Calamities and Disasters have immensely affected the Individuals and Communities. The loss of Human Life, Property and Natural Resources attributed to Calamities and Disasters is ever increasing. Prediction of climate change over the next 100 to 150 years is based solely on climate model simulations run on computers. The vast majority of modelling has concentrated on the effects of continued man-made pollution of the atmosphere by greenhouse gases, and to a lesser extent, atmospheric aerosols. The main concern at present is to determine how much the Earth will warm in the near future. Significant results from some of the best climate models available indicate that a global average warming of 0.3°C per decade can be expected to occur during the 21st century, assuming that mankind fails to control current emissions of greenhouse gases, although it could be as high as 0.6°C. In addition regional variations in the patterns of temperature and precipitation change will occur, with greater warming likely in the polar regions. Currently, models suggest that if the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, is doubled from pre-industrial levels, the Earth will warm by between 1.5 and 4.5°C sometime over the next 200 years or so. The large margin of error in future prediction of temperature emphasises that modelling the climate is inherently a difficult business. Part of the problem stems from trying to guess what climate feedbacks might occur that may enhance the initial warming due to an enhanced greenhouse effect. Melting ice in the polar regions for example could accelerate warming because exposed ground absorbs more energy from the Sun than snow and ice, which reflect about 80 to 90%. Whilst uncertainties concerning the actual response of the global climate to man-made greenhouse gas emissions exist, most scientists agree that the global warming trend of the 20th century will continue into the 21st century. The projected rate of warming is faster than at any time during recent Earth history. If nations fail to respond, the world may experience numerous adverse impacts as a result of global warming in the decades ahead. Looking at all of these facts, we can conclude that by the end of 21st century, mankind will be closed to extinction... It is We who has to now wake up and work with all hardwork, science and all together to survive ourself, our people, mankind to give a tomorrow to forthcoming ones...