The Aerie
I was reading an article entitled Earth's Final Sunset Predicted when I stumbled across this sentence...
"like all previous hominids and more than 99 percent of all species that have lived on Earth, humans will probably go extinct, and it will likely happen sooner than a billion years"
This sentence really jumped out at me, making as it did a billion-year long-jump off of a couple of extremely shaky assumptions. So, of course, being an opinionated bastard, I promptly wrote to the article's author...
Now I recognize that this person is just reporting the news, and is probably not entirely responsible for the sentence in question. Maybe it was assembled following discussions with a number of astronomers - or maybe it was her own, who knows.
Anyway, here's my reply... enjoy!
| Unlike more than 99 percent of all species that have lived on Earth, we're self-aware, and arguably intelligent. So one really can't draw a conclusion from the behavior of the other 99% of life.
Additionally, one of the ways in which humans could "go extinct" would be to evolve into something else. So while whatever is around in a billion years might not be "human," it might call us its parents. So that sentence struck me as kind of a reach. You want an interesting article? Here's my layman's theory of evolution. Life has had various waves of evolution: fish to land, cold to warm blooded, for example. I think the next wave of evolution will be self-awareness and intelligence. Basically, I think that a couple million years from now, about as many species of animal will be evolved from human as the ratio of furred, warm-blooded creatures to lizards right now. In other words, as civilizations rise and fall, as human existence extends into geological and evolutionary time, humans and their posterity will evolve to fill different ecological niches. As we have seen with ostriches and whales, evolutionarily expensive but un-needed attributes (flight, legs) will evolve away, but traces will remain (whale finger-bones in the fins). So what kind of creature would evolve from human and fill the evolutionary niche of a squirrel, a pig, or a hedgehog? Will self-awareness, opposable thumbs, or problem solving ability remain or devolve away? Wish I could live to see it! So "humans" may not be around in a billion years - probably won't. But I'm fairly confident some kind of self-aware creature evolved from us will still be here. And, if they truly are evolved from humans, they'll probably be desperately trying to shift the planet's orbit, having waited til the last minute to start... |
Excellent points, assuming that we don't completely screw over the planet by then.
It is quite apparent to me that many humans are still lacking in a certain self awareness...or perhaps it is empathy...an ability to understand how the person's actions affect those around it and beyond.
Posted by: B.D. at February 27, 2008 6:52 AM