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Originally Posted by willravel
Earth will not be able to sustain human life on it's present course. No one can argue with this. Either something has to be done, or we will face a real threat of extinction within our grandchildrens lifetime.
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I tend to agree with the other posters. Why extinction? Why not massive population decline?
Quote:
Originally Posted by willravel
One of the main goals of any species is the continuation of itself.
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Very, very few if any legitimate biologists would support this point. The group of biologists that supported this view were called group selectionists. They argued that individuals do things for the benefit of the group. Group selectionists have gone the way of the dodo. Most biologists that even recognize group selection would regard it as a very weak force, much weaker than genic selection. Species do not have goals. From a biological perspective individuals do not reproduce for the benefit of their species, but rather for themselves (or more appropriately: for the benefit of their genes).
Quote:
Originally Posted by willravel
Yet, as we live now, we are destryoing ourselves. It is becoming clear that we are too self involved to see that we are self destructing. Many scientists theorise that this is planetary self preservation; we are out of control, so nature is dealing with us.
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I'm skeptical about your comments regarding planetary self-preservation. Do you have references for the "many scientists"? (I'm honestly curious). Nature is dealing with us? Is nature a conscious entity?
Quote:
Originally Posted by willravel
I was pretty general about this, because being specific about this would take up way too much space. What can we do to prevent the destruction of our species? Why are so many people convinced that we are not in any danger?
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Reasonable questions to which I don't have good answers. Maybe humans aren't capable of thinking about such large populations or such an extensive resource depletion as we have today. I don't know.