Human extinction.

[royle]

But what if a bird sneezes or something and gives us all flu?

 

[ChicagoBlue]

We appear to be living longer, but weakening as a species, while those organisms that COULD kill us seem to be strengthening. Not sure how long it might be before those two trends collide to devastating effect, but it seems inevitable.

 

[Damocles]

We appear to be living longer, but weakening as a species, while those organisms that COULD kill us seem to be strengthening. Not sure how long it might be before those two trends collide to devastating effect, but it seems inevitable.

That would be worrying if it wasn't complete nonsense. Human health is increasing by every single metric<br /><br />-- Sat Sep 08, 2012 9:06 am --<br /><br />

We appear to be living longer, but weakening as a species, while those organisms that COULD kill us seem to be strengthening. Not sure how long it might be before those two trends collide to devastating effect, but it seems inevitable.

That would be worrying if it wasn't complete nonsense. Human health is increasing by every single metric

 

[SWP's back]

Unless the earth is literally destroyed or there's a genocidal alien invasion humans will survive. We may become fewer in number and we may live in very different circumstances but I dare say we've gone past the point of full on extinction.

Are you serious?

I hope so as he is correct.<br /><br />-- Sat Sep 08, 2012 9:12 am --<br /><br />

We appear to be living longer, but weakening as a species, while those organisms that COULD kill us seem to be strengthening. Not sure how long it might be before those two trends collide to devastating effect, but it seems inevitable.

Eh? In what way are we weakening?

 

[Challenger1978]

It's infuriating. It comes down to either a lack of scientific education or procrastination. Humans are exceedingly good at procrastination. Dealing with issues that aren't immediately apparent is difficult.

More to the point, there's absolutely NO WAY the Government will get to build this in our country. It doesn't matter if it provides free energy, people are idiots, scientifically illiterate and the fun that something like the Daily Mail will have with the risks of fusion reactors will make it almost impossible to get permission to build. "Government Building Doomsday Machine In Lake District!".

I always enjoyed speculating on the economic and social impacts more than the technological. What will a society do with almost free energy and free materials?

The most recent example being CERN and the Large Hadron Collider. Where in the hell did the rumour start that the LHC would cause a blackhole and end the world. What kind of mad demented shit is that, they're smashing atoms together, how do you go from that to creating blackholes ?

I felt really sorry for Brian Cox when all that was going on. As they kept wheeling him out on tele and asking him the same daft questions about blackholes and you could just see the bewilderment in his face.

 

[THEBLUEDONKEY]

In fairness part of the body of work currently being conducted at the LHC is indeed the attempt to create small black hole like events that will collapse in on themselves as soon as they form, It's not difficult to see how an ill informed public and sensationalist media can lead to misinformation regarding the LHC. This thread is indeed interesting and some excellent posts, I do think that some of the estimations regarding the timescales for these technologies may be bordering on the optimistic though.

 

[SWP's back]

It's infuriating. It comes down to either a lack of scientific education or procrastination. Humans are exceedingly good at procrastination. Dealing with issues that aren't immediately apparent is difficult.

More to the point, there's absolutely NO WAY the Government will get to build this in our country. It doesn't matter if it provides free energy, people are idiots, scientifically illiterate and the fun that something like the Daily Mail will have with the risks of fusion reactors will make it almost impossible to get permission to build. "Government Building Doomsday Machine In Lake District!".

I always enjoyed speculating on the economic and social impacts more than the technological. What will a society do with almost free energy and free materials?

The most recent example being CERN and the Large Hadron Collider. Where in the hell did the rumour start that the LHC would cause a blackhole and end the world. What kind of mad demented shit is that, they're smashing atoms together, how do you go from that to creating blackholes ?

I felt really sorry for Brian Cox when all that was going on. As they kept wheeling him out on tele and asking him the same daft questions about blackholes and you could just see the bewilderment in his face.

They may well be creating tiny blackholes.

Watch this:

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01mmrc0/Horizon_20122013_How_Small_is_the_Universe/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... _Universe/</a>

(from last week's horizon)

 

[a.woollam]

At the minute, we can create nuclear fission. This is the thing that powers the atom bomb. It's where we take a single Hydrogen atom and rip it apart which causes a huge release of energy hence the bomb.

Fission uses large atoms, usually plutonium or uranium, but anything bigger than iron can be used theoretically

 

[Damocles]

At the minute, we can create nuclear fission. This is the thing that powers the atom bomb. It's where we take a single Hydrogen atom and rip it apart which causes a huge release of energy hence the bomb.

Fission uses large atoms, usually plutonium or uranium, but anything bigger than iron can be used theoretically

I didn't know that, I try to forget that nuclear weapons exist if I'm honest so know very little about them. Now that you've mentioned it, it does sound a bit daft. Am I to presume then that the "H-Bomb" is named after a DT fusion reaction which can happen through the energy produced by uranium fission based on the name?

 

[Skashion]

I didn't know that, I try to forget that nuclear weapons exist if I'm honest so know very little about them. Now that you've mentioned it, it does sound a bit daft. Am I to presume then that the "H-Bomb" is named after a DT fusion reaction which can happen through the energy produced by uranium fission based on the name?

What's going on with you Damocles?