The Earth stands on the brink of its sixth mass extinction and the fault is ours

[stormlord]

I'm going to confesss what I wrote in my post above is BS. I don't want to mislead anyone into thinking I was serious. There're people out there who actually would believe me and I don't want that.

BUt are there aliens out there? Maybe. I don't know. It'd be awesome to have a dream and the answers to be revealed, wouldn't it? Only trouble is the answers would be buried inside you and you couldn't prove them in todays world.

As to the OP, I was reading about the sixth massive extinction in 2003. Old news. If you can solve war and murder and all of our other problems you might be able to solve this too. Frankly, I don't see any silver bullet. Species have already perished due to us and will continue to at a increased rate. Whether or not we destroy ourselves is open to debate, but there's no controversy surrounding the major negative impacts we're having on this planet. Still, I remain optimistic and believe, despite the negative consequences which will ensue, we'll still become a space faring species and someday travel to the other stars. Even if I never see that day and die today or tomorrow or soon or whatever, I have faith humanity is far stronger than I.

EDIT: if I could still edit my previous post I'd delete it.

[Humerox]

Originally Posted by stormlord [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'm going to confesss what I wrote in my post above is BS. I don't want to mislead anyone into thinking I was serious. There're people out there who actually would believe me and I don't want that.

BUt are there aliens out there? Maybe. I don't know. It'd be awesome to have a dream and the answers to be revealed, wouldn't it? Only trouble is the answers would be buried inside you and you couldn't prove them in todays world.

As to the OP, I was reading about the sixth massive extinction in 2003. Old news.

EDIT: if I could still edit my previous post I'd delete it.

actually it makes for a p cool basis for a book

[paulgiamatti]

Originally Posted by Humerox [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

actually it makes for a p cool basis for a book

[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Bazia]

u guys must have good weed

[Glenzig]

Is that your round about way of saying that you believe what scientists tell you to believe? Cause if that isn't your point, could you maybe express it a little more concisely?

[DetroitVelvetSmooth]

Originally Posted by Glenzig [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Is that your round about way of saying that you believe what scientists tell you to believe? Cause if that isn't your point, could you maybe express it a little more concisely?

It's more often something like, "I trust that the scientific community is a sufficiently critical and competent body when it comes to understanding several complex and non-intuitive features of the natural world."

[paulgiamatti]

Originally Posted by Glenzig [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Is that your round about way of saying that you believe what scientists tell you to believe?

No, but it is my roundabout way of saying that "So you only believe what you can see?" is an incredibly stupid question.

Science doesn't tell anyone what to believe. Science tells us we should question beliefs and treat them with skepticism because, as Krauss often elucidates, the universe simply doesn't care what we believe. Something is either true, or it isn't, and science is simply the best method that we have for telling us what is true, or what isn't. If you refuse to acknowledge this, then you refuse to acknowledge that you're living in the 21st century.

This message board exists because of science. The fact that our average life expectancy is now inching toward 80 years is because of science. All of our buildings, our cars, our technology, our entertainment, our food - everything we love and take for granted in our lives - is because of science. So if you refuse to acknowledge it, and if you refuse to "have faith" in science - as you stupidly put it - like the rest of us do, then that's your problem and not ours.

[Glenzig]

Originally Posted by paulgiamatti [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

No, but it is my roundabout way of saying that "So you only believe what you can see?" is an incredibly stupid question.

Science doesn't tell anyone what to believe. Science tells us we should question beliefs and treat them with skepticism because, as Krauss often elucidates, the universe simply doesn't care what we believe. Something is either true, or it isn't, and science is simply the best method that we have for telling us what is true, or what isn't. If you refuse to acknowledge this, then you refuse to acknowledge that you're living in the 21st century.

This message board exists because of science. The fact that our average life expectancy is now inching toward 80 years is because of science. All of our buildings, our cars, our technology, our entertainment, our food - everything we love and take for granted in our lives - is because of science. So if you refuse to acknowledge it, and if you refuse to "have faith" in science - as you stupidly put it - like the rest of us do, then that's your problem and not ours.

Why would I deny the good science has done? We have access to some very remarkable technology thanks to scientific advancement. Medical science has come a long way in just the past hundred years, and has all but done away with some of the diseases that may have killed a lot of people.
However, science is still done by humans. Therefore it's has had some very disastrous consequences also.

The fact that science is done by humans also opens it up for bias. That bias is plainly seen with frequency if you aren't plugging your ears. Name a scientist that believes in intelligent design and listen to the cries of "he isn't a real scientist".
To flatly insist that there is no bias in science is to hold a very shallow view of human nature, not to mention history.

[paulgiamatti]

Originally Posted by Glenzig [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

To flatly insist that there is no bias in science is to hold a very shallow view of human nature, not to mention history.

Biased science is bad science. Unbiased, objective science is good science.

[stormlord]

Originally Posted by paulgiamatti [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Biased science is bad science. Unbiased, objective science is good science.

Science is the best methodology we have to understand the natural world, but I wouldn't be a fool and throw my faith behind it without always keeping a healthy dose of skepticism. But when does skepticism become unhealthy? I'm sure it can be.

Here's an article about the streetlight effect in science:
http://discovermagazine.com/2010/jul...etlight-effect

Like someone else here said, humans are by nature flawed and potentially immoral. It makes sense our natural traits will carry over into the sciences. What science does better than any other methodology is to limit the carry over. But does it perfectly limit our nature from infecting our science? I doubt it.

If I HAD to put faith in any methodology which examines reality to produce value, it'd be in science. So if that what you want from me, you'll get some. But do not expect me to hand over my heart and soul and complete trust to it.

Back to the OP, I have to say since it's never been easier to get at the information in this world, it's easier than ever to bury yourself in the concerns of the world. How much of a danger is it? Can people worry too mcuh about the fate of the world? There're so many problems. One wonders how the world evne survives, given all its problems.

One needs to bury themselves in optimism and hopeful stories sometimes too. And behind all of this needs to be action and planning. People have to back their concerns and their dreams with actions, or it's wasted emotion.

Personally, I think w'ere doing great, being humans y'know. If we become extinct, oh well. We had a good run. It may come across as apathetic, but what can I say? Life is hard. Always been hard. I don't hate or blame people. And it's not like I haven't researched this. Years ago, I researched it enough to want to end my life, or at least forget everything. Even during the best of times when I was in school, it was drilled into us how dreadful things were. I remember I was in a physics course and we were watching some video about population growth, building on coursework which had already damaged our perspective on life. My classmate turned to me and said "I don't htink I'm going to have any children, unless I have to." True story.