Let's figure on the Earth being 4.5 billion years old. How much time is left before we're gone?
Let's count back. In a billion years we'll burn up because the sun, reaching the end of it's life, will expand greatly as a Red Giant and burn up the earth. In half that time the temperatures of the Earth will have been increased to the point that the oceans will have evaporated and Carbon Dioxide gone as a result and plants died off as a result of not having CO2. So, a most optimistic view has us dying off in half a billion years. That means we're already 90% the life of the planet.
Let's look now a bit closer. 4.56 billion years ago was the first sign of life. The dinosaurs showed up 570 million years ago, but it was 360 million years ago before they started getting larger and more populous and when ferns and conifer trees started inundating the landscape. The vast majority of them shook off their mortal coils about 65 million years ago. We dropped in probably 1.5 million years ago, but weren't much to look at until probably 20,000 years ago.
We are here, these past 20,000 years as a thin sliver of time. We would found our first cities 9,000 years ago, 4,500 years before the pyramids were built. Before we knew it Christ was here. 500 years ago the America's have their population destroyed and displaced by Europeans. 170 years ago we joined the Industrial Revolution. 60 years ago we created the atomic bomb. Fifteen years ago India, Pakistan, and North Korea gained the same capability. Now Iran is on the brink of doing the same, with Syria deeply interested in it and making plans.
Einstein once said "I don't know what World War III is going to be fought with, but World War IV is going to be fought with sticks and stones.".
It doesn't take much imagination to realize the chaos that can result from even the smallest of disasters (like Katrina). How numb were we when 9/11 happened? What if a city were nuked? Suppose Chicago or Washington D.C. were nuked. Would you go to work the next day? Do you really think anyone would claim responsibility? And if not, what could we do? Who do we go after? We can't just bomb anyone and make up a story to sate the public because what chaos would ensure if a week later a second city was nuked? At what point does daily life make sense when in a moment you and all your friends and family are ash? What is the point of getting a paycheck when nothing is being produced and nothing being sold? What kind of economy do you have when people just want to survive? This is in America, perhaps in most danger because of it's international policies, but nevertheless the largest, most advanced, and most influential country in the world.
Perhaps the question shouldn't be how much time is left for us as a species but rather how much time for us as Americans? As a species we may survive another 500 years, but as Americans, a pessimistic person could justify suggesting we have less than a hundred years.
Let's count back. In a billion years we'll burn up because the sun, reaching the end of it's life, will expand greatly as a Red Giant and burn up the earth. In half that time the temperatures of the Earth will have been increased to the point that the oceans will have evaporated and Carbon Dioxide gone as a result and plants died off as a result of not having CO2. So, a most optimistic view has us dying off in half a billion years. That means we're already 90% the life of the planet.
Let's look now a bit closer. 4.56 billion years ago was the first sign of life. The dinosaurs showed up 570 million years ago, but it was 360 million years ago before they started getting larger and more populous and when ferns and conifer trees started inundating the landscape. The vast majority of them shook off their mortal coils about 65 million years ago. We dropped in probably 1.5 million years ago, but weren't much to look at until probably 20,000 years ago.
We are here, these past 20,000 years as a thin sliver of time. We would found our first cities 9,000 years ago, 4,500 years before the pyramids were built. Before we knew it Christ was here. 500 years ago the America's have their population destroyed and displaced by Europeans. 170 years ago we joined the Industrial Revolution. 60 years ago we created the atomic bomb. Fifteen years ago India, Pakistan, and North Korea gained the same capability. Now Iran is on the brink of doing the same, with Syria deeply interested in it and making plans.
Einstein once said "I don't know what World War III is going to be fought with, but World War IV is going to be fought with sticks and stones.".
It doesn't take much imagination to realize the chaos that can result from even the smallest of disasters (like Katrina). How numb were we when 9/11 happened? What if a city were nuked? Suppose Chicago or Washington D.C. were nuked. Would you go to work the next day? Do you really think anyone would claim responsibility? And if not, what could we do? Who do we go after? We can't just bomb anyone and make up a story to sate the public because what chaos would ensure if a week later a second city was nuked? At what point does daily life make sense when in a moment you and all your friends and family are ash? What is the point of getting a paycheck when nothing is being produced and nothing being sold? What kind of economy do you have when people just want to survive? This is in America, perhaps in most danger because of it's international policies, but nevertheless the largest, most advanced, and most influential country in the world.
Perhaps the question shouldn't be how much time is left for us as a species but rather how much time for us as Americans? As a species we may survive another 500 years, but as Americans, a pessimistic person could justify suggesting we have less than a hundred years.
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