# A Poll: How will the human society end? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 16, 2010, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-how-will-the-human-society-end/560828 "2010-11-16T04:14:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-how-will-the-human-society-end/560828/1 "2010-11-16T04:14:56Z")
The title pretty much says it, though if we evolve into another species (and another after that and on and on if necessary), for the purposes of this poll let’s continue to call our descendant species “human”. Also, if humanity reduced to a few tens of thousands of people scurrying around picking through rubble like rats, we’ll say that’s sufficient to count as the end of society. industrial poisoning of the environment A plague A war An asteroid Some kind of other astronomical disaster like a wandering black hole, supernova, etc. Sun expands to destroy earth. We create new technology, abandon biology, and become some kind of machines. The universe winds down The Rapture Mass suicide Other (please tell us what) ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-how-will-the-human-society-end/560828/2 "2010-11-16T05:06:07Z")
Added poll. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-how-will-the-human-society-end/560828/3 "2010-11-16T05:10:43Z")
A poll will collide with its identical anti-poll, and the universe will collapse in on itself. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-how-will-the-human-society-end/560828/4 "2010-11-16T05:12:11Z")
Where is the option for “I don’t know?” ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-how-will-the-human-society-end/560828/5 "2010-11-16T05:56:37Z")
I think most likely humans will develop computer AI or the ability to push human intelligence to superhuman levels, we will not evolve in the traditional sense but will transform into something whose mental processes are far from human. OTOH, a devastating enough nuclear or biological war might just take our civilization down to a level where we could easily be wiped out by some mundane ecological event, as [we almost were about 70,000 years ago.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_bottleneck) ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@Mister\_Owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Owl)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-how-will-the-human-society-end/560828/6 "2010-11-16T06:14:35Z")
Where is the option for “we will spread across the universe like a plague of cockroaches?” ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-how-will-the-human-society-end/560828/7 "2010-11-16T06:31:25Z")
A war. Specifically, nuclear weapons in the hands of lunatics. Specifically, Fundamentalist Christian Americans vs. Fundamentalist Islamic Middle Easterners. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-how-will-the-human-society-end/560828/8 "2010-11-16T06:32:41Z")
> [@Mister\_Owl](#): > > Where is the option for “we will spread across the universe like a plague of cockroaches?” That is wither when the universe winds down or we will never die. Cockroaches are immortal. ---
**Author:** ![Fugazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@Fugazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fugazi)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-how-will-the-human-society-end/560828/9 "2010-11-16T11:14:57Z")
Here on the Dope I would have expected zombie apocalypse to be one of the choices. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-how-will-the-human-society-end/560828/10 "2010-11-16T13:17:13Z")
There will be a war and some dang fool hothead will go ahead and launch all the missiles, making someone else launch all of theirs and we all die of radiation. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-how-will-the-human-society-end/560828/11 "2010-11-16T13:25:42Z")
Nuclear weapons in the hands of the religiously intolerant. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-how-will-the-human-society-end/560828/12 "2010-11-16T13:29:59Z")
I think we’ll eventually learn to harness energy in such a way that weapons even more potent than nuclear weapons will be created. The environment of paranoia surrounding them will be incredibly strong, with a huge incentive to use them on your enemies before they can do the same to you, and due to the power of those weapons, the very structure of society will be threatened. Or there could be deadly technologies which become widespread where only a small portion of society could do a lot of damage. For example, perhaps genetic engineering becomes common and someone - a terrorist, a mentally ill genius, something - creates a superbug that wipes us out. ---
**Author:** ![ramel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb8c5e/32.png) [@ramel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ramel)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-how-will-the-human-society-end/560828/13 "2010-11-16T13:37:55Z")
> [@](#): > > industrial poisoning of the environment This is possible, but although I can imagine environmental disaster wiping out 99.9% of human life, it’s that last 0.1% I have trouble with. Humans are very resilient. > [@](#): > > A plague Not likely at all. The more people a plague would kill, the harder it would be for it to spread. It might reduce humans to small pockets here and there, but I just can’t imagine total human extinction. > [@](#): > > A war Not with the low number of nukes we have now. Even in 1985 when nukes were at a peak, some humans somewhere would probably have survived a full on nuclear war. > [@](#): > > An asteroid Possible, but unlikely. > [@](#): > > Some kind of other astronomical disaster like a wandering black hole, supernova, etc. Also possible, but unlikely > [@](#): > > Sun expands to destroy earth. By the time that happens, I strongly doubt humanity would be tied to living around a single star. > [@](#): > > We create new technology, abandon biology, and become some kind of machines. I can’t imagine everyone doing this. > [@](#): > > The universe winds down Also possible, but I doubt we’ll live that long. > [@](#): > > The Rapture HA > [@](#): > > Mass suicide No > [@](#): > > Other (please tell us what) What I think will kill humanity, is an accident. As technology advances, potential disasters become bigger and bigger. We only need to wipe our selves out once to die, but we need to have no accidents forever to survive. Eventually we’ll reach a point where someone somewhere will do something wrong, or we’ll get some unexpected result. But this won’t be with technology of now or the near future. This will probably be centuries away. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-how-will-the-human-society-end/560828/14 "2010-11-16T14:00:56Z")
I chose other, but I don’t know what the other will be. I agree with **ramel** above up till the final comment on “accident.” I can’t see one singular event being significant enough to wipe us all out. Naturally I could be completely mistaken. We’re not going to spread across the universe. I could see some human colonization of Mars far in the future, but intergalactic distances are freakn’ huge: too huge to be overcome, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![BigDadWolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@BigDadWolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigDadWolf)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-how-will-the-human-society-end/560828/15 "2010-11-16T15:23:39Z")
I selected “Asteroid” as being representative of any number of catastrophic events from space including asteroids, gamma ray bursts, solar flare, nearby supernova etc. Out here in the galcactic boondocks we’ve been lucky for a long time but sooner or later something from space will get us in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-how-will-the-human-society-end/560828/16 "2010-11-16T15:51:08Z")
Nuclear war, while horrific and given an extrapolation of the current rate of proliferation probably inevitable at some point, would not kill off humanity. Nations will be destroyed, tens or hundreds of millions may die due to primary effects (blast, firestorm, radioactive fallout) and similar numbers due to secondary effects of collapse of modern industrial and logistical capability, but enough people will survive to maintain some semblance of human society. The increase in background radiation from the detonation of every weapon in the world’s arsenals would be almost negligible compared to background radiation, serving only to lower average life expectancy by a few years, though the hazard of biological uptake of radioactive isotopes like [SUP]90[/SUP]Sr and [SUP]137[/SUP]Cs would have to be managed in children to reduce developmental mortality. Biological plagues are generally self-limiting, though one can argue that the poxes and influenzas of the European colonists essentially wiped out many of the various Native American civilizations. Rather than converting humanity to a machine intelligence and “abandon biology”, I strongly suspect our technology will become more organic in nature and form. Merging with that technology in a transhuman-like fashion may substantially alter the fabric of society, but that will be a largely evolutionary development rather than a sweeping change that could be seen as destroying human society any more than Protestantism destroyed the Catholic Church. I would contend that of all possible disasters that have the potential for wiping out human society, the impact of a large, potentially hazardous celestial object or some other space-bourne hazard (gamma ray flux from a supernova, gravitational disruption of the Earth’s orbit by a passing star or supermassive brown dwarf, et cetera) are most likely, and the ones that we could do the least to prepare for or prevent short of abandoning the planet. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-how-will-the-human-society-end/560828/17 "2010-11-16T16:00:40Z")
No love for war-mongering aliens coming to take our water and women? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-how-will-the-human-society-end/560828/18 "2010-11-16T18:31:29Z")
If we manage to get off this rock and colonise other planets then humanity will be pretty much immortal but over the ages will diverge into separate species specific to each planet. But that’s a pretty big if. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-how-will-the-human-society-end/560828/19 "2010-11-16T18:47:58Z")
So this is a question about the human _species_, not the present human society. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-how-will-the-human-society-end/560828/20 "2010-11-16T19:09:26Z")
There is a big rock whizzing around in space with our name on it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-how-will-the-human-society-end/560828.md?page=2)