Scientists Think Humans Are Definitely Going To Go Extinct
Humans going extinct is definitely on the table according to some scientists. And the event could be coming sooner than later.
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Look, humans have been around on Earth for roughly 300,000 years. We’ve been running this thing for millennia on top of millennia so you’d be forgiven if you just assumed that would go on for the rest of time as well. Humans extinct? I don’t think so. But the future is long folks, and we might not always be walking around on Earth like we own the joint. In fact, your (many) great-grandkids might be there for when it all goes kaput. That’s because some scientists are starting to throw out the word “extinction” when it comes to humans and it could happen sooner than you would think.
In an opinion piece for Scientific American (via Futurism), Henry Gee puts it all about the table when it comes to humans going extinct. According to his posting, there are a number of different factors at play that will ultimately lead to us no longer walking this planet. He lays out a pretty clear, and somewhat alarming path for human extinction and when you read his hypothesis it feels pretty sound, at least on a high level. For starters, we can let ourselves off the hook some because essentially all living things eventually go extinct. So that much might be inevitable. That being said, there are other factors at play.
For starters, humans might go extinct because the initial trends are starting to head that way. Population growth is starting to decline, the first sign that things might be going off the rails. But there are reasons for population decline that might be pointing to something bigger afoot when it comes to the longevity and viability of the human race. It’s looking bad on a low and a high level for us folks.
And that population going down leading to humans becoming extinct, according to Gee, has some to do with the quality of sperm heading in the wrong direction. Those little guys aren’t as strong as they used to be across the human population. And it doesn’t take a biologist to know that if the sperm isn’t so great well it’s going to be harder and harder to have kids running around the planet. Pollution could be a factor there, and stress as well. Two things we seem to have an overabundance of these days.
Gee also cites economic growth on a massive scale as something that will one day lead to human extinction. As a species and a planet, you can’t just keep growing and growing forever. Eventually, there is a limit and when you tap out all of your resources in the quest for growth, well some of them just don’t come back. Oh and he also thinks that women gaining more freedom is a factor as well. They just aren’t bearing as many children because of it.
Finally, Gee points to “extinction debt” as the most telling sign that humans going extinct is on the proverbial horizon. Eventually, there just isn’t enough habitat to support a species and the whole thing goes kaput. Gee says that it has happened to every other living being on Earth through history and humans won’t be saved just we are cool and smart. Extinction debt comes quicker for species that are the most dominant and who can move and migrate to get what they need. Check and check.
In all, are humans going to go extinct tomorrow? No, but the real signs of it happening could happen during this century. I guess with that in mind, we should really start to live it up now. Because we might not be around for all that much longer.
