The madness that is this century continues.
Again I repeat - the human species will not reach 2020.

A horribly predictable and awful event.

It's not just this century, JK. There have been such things happening since time began.

Yes and worse things have happened in the past but there's a thread of mindless, incredible disaster, both manmade and natural, that tells me we are watching the extinction of the human race.

I suspect other species may be saying "and a good thing too".

We're multiplying at an alarming rate for a species on its way out!

Unless a stray comet strikes us, the human race will be around for a few hundred thousand years yet. Just as well since it will probably take most of that time for us to become fully civilized.

Seriously, we are a young species- a mere blink of the eye in evolutionary terms- with probably less than 1% of our journey completed. We're on a downward phase of our evolutionary graph right now but the general trend is up.

We'll be intelligent enough to shake off the the shackles of religion in a few thousand years and that will be a good start. The problem is, we cannot see the bigger picture when our part of it is so minute.

Good to see an optimist arrive on this thread!
Sadly Anthony I don't agree; I think the blind stupidity of even the brightest members of the "human race" is crippling us.
And Mother Nature is well aware (as she expressed on Boxing Day 2004).

We've not got long. 13 years at most.

Unfortunately I suspect I may well still be alive to witness the end.

Not looking forward to it.

Apologies if I sound like a sandwich board carrier.

That's what I thought when I read your post, JK. Prophet of Doom! The end is nigh!

I'm sure people would have had your view during the black death, the 100 year war, the two world wars, the 17th century witch hunts, etc. etc. Man's history is crammed with appalling violence and injustice, and each generation abuses the planet worse than the last. Despite this we continue to exist and multiply.

Anthony, I think there will always be things beyond man's understanding. Until we can answer two basic questions - where does space end? - If it ends, what's beyond it? - we can never say that there is no greater power or intelligence. It's taken us thousands of years to just travel to the moon.

Unfortunately, man's idea of being fully civilized is being able to do things as fast as possible with the least effort regardless of the cost to others. We've increased our knowledge, but not our intelligence. Our top modern engineers are still baffled by Stone Henge and the pyramids.

Mankind will be around for a while yet, but that will not necessarily be a good thing for planet earth.

Anyone who knows me well would be amused to see me as the optimist in any discussion! I'm on unfamiliar territory. JK, I really don't see you plodding the streets of London proclaiming that the end of the world is nigh! Mother Nature has a mighty armoury but she has never been able to take out more than a few thousand humans in one fell swoop. Just what sort of event would it take to eliminate all 7 billion of us? Even the worst global warming case scenario would see the likes of Bangladesh, the Netherlands and South East England disappearing under the sea. Devastating, catastrophic, yes, but not the end.

The worst type of nuclear holocaust would kill millions and put human evolution back by centuries, but there would still be survivors who would regroup and rebuild.

Cat, just because our brains are not yet developed enough to grasp the notion of infinity doesn't mean there must be a magical force behind it. Darwin blew the tenets of Judaism, Islam and Christianity out of the water, and many still haven't caught up with him, but they will eventually. I agree with you fully that humanity has a badly misguided view of what civilization should mean but as I said before, we have only just set out on our journey.

I'm not really optimistic as none of us will be around to witness the enlightenment. We'll just have more of the same miseries inflicted on us, but the end of the human species will not be one of them.

I disagree that Darwin blew Christianity out of the water. He was a Christian himself, of sorts. He explained evolution, but for something to evolve it must first come into existence (be created somehow). I believe that evolution and creation can easily co-exist.

I think our brains are possibly less developed than in previous centuries. We have more technology and devices to make life easier so that many of us need to think less. You just have to take a group of teens on a camping trip and see how clueless they are without their gadgets. I'm continuously reminded of the Zager and Evans song 'In the year 2525'.

H G Well's vision of the human race being split into the practical, sinister Morlocks and the hopeless Eloi becomes less far fetched.

The Cat wrote:
I disagree that Darwin blew Christianity out of the water. He was a Christian himself, of sorts. He explained evolution, but for something to evolve it must first come into existence (be created somehow). I believe that evolution and creation can easily co-exist.

Darwinism doesn't disprove every kind of creation theory, but it certainly rules out Christianity's version. Smarter Christians have of course moved the goalposts and decided that all that creation in 6 days poppycock was meant to be symbolic all along, but surely either you believe in the teachings of a religious book or not. If you start picking and choosing the bits you like best, you have invented a new religion.

I agree that the masses are using their brains less than in previous eras, but that is not indicative of a less developed brain. I'm not certain, but I'm unaware of any precedent for a species devolving. We could be the first, I suppose, but I doubt it.

Not really wanting to labour this point, but again I disagree. If the Christian God is all powerful, then it's certainly possible that he could have created the universe in 6 days. It's beyond our comprehension, but so is infinity. Someone once said that if we could understand God, we'd be equal to him and therefore he would not be God. Man's theories of the creation of the universe continue to change as more discoveries are made. What we think is fact today may be disproven tomorrow. We are still a tiny speck in eternity, still trying to explain what happens on our one small planet in just one of numerous galaxies.

On the issue of human brains. If they become less developed through lack of use, that's just evolution, not devolution. There is a snake with small useless limbs attached to it's side. The scientific theory is that it "evolved" from being a kind of lizard due to using it's limbs less and less. Not all evolution is progress.