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Originally Posted by sapiens
I tend to agree with the other posters. Why extinction? Why not massive population decline?
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I think that massive population decline, for whatever reason, would be at least a loss of 50%. That would start us on the right path to stopping overpopulation. So, for the sake of argument, let's say 50% or more of the earths population dies off. If something has the power to wipe out over 3 billion people without us stopping it, it could have enough power to wipe out the other 3 billion. With the massive population loss comes the risk of extinction. I am not saying it is a certian end, but it is a real possibility.
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Originally Posted by sapiens
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).
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Let's say for the benifit of our genes, we try to reproduce. Does it benifit our genes to self destruct? Of course not. You argued with a moot point.
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Originally Posted by sapiens
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?
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Nature is not a conscious entity to the best of my knowledge. There are however natural responses to certian happenings that occour naturally or unnaturally. The greenhouse effect is a good example of a natural response to abuse to an environment. If we theoretically were to pump enough crap into the atmosphere, the Earth's atmosphere would begin to heat up. It is not conscious punishment, of course. It is a natural response that happens. If we were to have a real nuclear war, we would see a rise in cancer amoung other things. Admittedly, the scientists I was referring to are few and far between. I can see that the throey could be possible though.
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Originally Posted by sapiens
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.
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I hope someone can think about it on a large scale, because it seems a lot like we are headed in a bad direction globally.