# Future of the human race poll **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 3, 2003, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-of-the-human-race-poll/179362 "2003-06-03T14:06:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ryan\_Liam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ryan_liam/32/3965_2.png) [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-of-the-human-race-poll/179362/21 "2003-06-04T22:49:39Z")
I second that opinion ---
**Author:** ![born\_too\_late](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba9def/32.png) [@born\_too\_late](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/born_too_late)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-of-the-human-race-poll/179362/22 "2003-06-04T23:03:29Z")
I’m gonna vote no. Darwin is spinning in his grave. People are getting pretty dumb. On the other hand, it’s not hard to survive when you can sue someone because you can’t understand that coffee is hot, and that if you spill it on yourself, you’re gonna get burned. In conclusion, lawyers may survive, cockroaches may survive, but people? Nah. 😃 Hey **Tyler** , mind if I use this for a sig? > [@](#): > > The Romans had gladitorial combat to keep the mob happy while the empire fell into ruin. We have reality TV. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-of-the-human-race-poll/179362/23 "2003-06-05T00:45:50Z")
People aren’t any dumber than they have been at any time in the past. As far as the OP goes, _of course_ there’ll be massive changes to society. I hope to see the nanotech revolution, space flight, and I am absolutely dying to see where art, literature, and music will be in 100 years. The 20th century was a big crazy roller-coaster, just like every one in recorded history before that. I see no reason to think it will change. And that’s a wonderful thing. ---
**Author:** ![Tyler\_Do\_Urden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Tyler\_Do\_Urden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tyler_Do_Urden)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-of-the-human-race-poll/179362/24 "2003-06-05T02:38:26Z")
**born too late** knock yourself out. Wow, I’m a newbie and I’m already being quoted. Garsh! 🙂 I better not let it go to my head. ---
**Author:** ![croaker67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@croaker67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/croaker67)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-of-the-human-race-poll/179362/25 "2003-06-05T02:58:05Z")
As long as my life is ok, who gives a rat’s ass to the rest of humanity. They will survive. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-of-the-human-race-poll/179362/26 "2003-06-05T03:14:14Z")
Very interesting mix. I am pretty pessimistic about the human race (yes, we do indeed suck!), and I wasn’t sure if I was alone in being such a pessimist or not. Guess not. I’m suprised at some of the optimists, though. 10 000 years? 250 000 years? At my most optimistic I just don’t see that. There are an awful lot of us, though, and humans are incredibly tough. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-of-the-human-race-poll/179362/27 "2003-06-05T03:28:07Z")
100 years ain’t diddley in terms of the human existence. So, yes, I think we will survive. Without massive changes to society? Those come along at a much quicker clip than a 100 year cycle. Ask a commie. Or a nazi. Or a techie. So, massive changes are pretty much a given. While a change will have to come eventually, I think it’s possible we’ll still be relying to some extent on fossil fuels in 100 years. And capitalism ain’t likely going away. > [@](#): > > Oh, and Antiquarian: we’re aslo the only species that changes nature to suit us, instead of the other way around. Beaver dams are natural, 'cause beavers build’em, but skyscrapers are not, 'cause humans build’em? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-of-the-human-race-poll/179362/28 "2003-06-05T04:34:33Z")
Someday, when we’re in all in our 800s, sipping on Tang in our rockers, we’ll think back to this thread and _laaaaaugh_, laugh, laugh! \ ‘Won’t survive a hundred years?’ Feh, we were some crazy kids back then… \ Happy ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-of-the-human-race-poll/179362/29 "2003-06-05T04:37:17Z")
But seriously, if’n our species/culture does survive the next 100, 250, 1000 years, stumbling across this thread would be a anthropologist’s wet dream. Happy ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-of-the-human-race-poll/179362/30 "2003-06-05T05:45:17Z")
> [@](#): > > Do you think the human race will survive the next 100 years without massive changes to society? I think there are two ways to interpret this question, and I’m going to try both. #1: ‘If we do not make major changes, and soon, will we survive?’ I can’t give this a concrete ‘yes,’ because people just have a bad track record at predicting the future. I imagine people have been saying things like this for quite some time. Still, I think we could be at a very important turning point in history, and if we make the wrong choices now, we could pay for it for a long, long time. #2: ‘Is it possible for us to go 100 years without making huge, huge changes?’ A resounding no. Society ALWAYS changes a great deal over the course of 100 years. Think about how much computers have changed things, and that’s mostly in the last 10 or 15 years. People first landed on the moon only 40 years ago, and think about how much space exploration has changed (and it has a LONG way to go). Planes and automobiles came into popularity this century and changed society a lot as well. Darwin published _Origin of Species_ less than 150 years ago. The Industrial Revolution wasn’t that long ago. History is full of big, big changes, and more are coming. That’s probably one of the only things we can be sure of. ---
**Author:** ![Vlad\_Dracul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/50afbb/32.png) [@Vlad\_Dracul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vlad_Dracul)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-of-the-human-race-poll/179362/31 "2003-06-05T07:45:26Z")
It’s actually only RECENT history that’s full of big changes. For most of human history, very little of any significance changed in a human lifetime. Most of that change has been entirely the result of technology, it seem to me. I’ve seen very little evidence of any sort of “higher consciousness”. We’re still the same bunch of greedy, horny, lazy, irrational ground monkeys we always were, just with fancier toys. The big question is whether we will be able to adapt to the rapid change our technology has produced. We might fail, in which case, our Western civilization would likely collapse, being replaced by something more primitive. If we succeed in adapting to the rapid changes, then it is nearly impossible to predict what sort of world we will make for ourselves, as we haven’t even done a very good job of predicting what the past 20 years would be like. ---
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dread_pirate_jimbo/32/3897_2.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-of-the-human-race-poll/179362/32 "2003-06-06T01:05:51Z")
I believe that, between the mid-East, the Chinese, the India/Pakistan situation, the Russians misplacing all their nukes, and the imperialist, warmongering Americans, we’ll all be fried in a nuclear war within the next 20 years. Humans are too stupid, selfish, and arrogant to realize just how close we are to wiping ourselves out. So don’t bother saving for your retirement, 'cuz you ain’t gonna get one! ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-of-the-human-race-poll/179362/33 "2003-06-06T02:10:31Z")
I agree with **Marley’s** second point. There will be huge changes to human society, of one sort or another, and we just don’t know what exactly those changes will be. I personally believe there will be major war within a generation. Just consider all the nutjobs out there who have already shown that they’re willing to resort to violence: Islamicists, White supremacists, Black supremacists, Environmental freaks, anti-abortion freaks, Basque separatists, and probably a whole boatload that the media is ignoring completely. All it takes is for one of these groups to get a nuclear bomb and a particularly vitriolic leader and … boom. I still remember some of the irrational and racist responses immediately after 9/11. With a larger terrorist attack, it would only be worse, and our political leaders might be intimidated into doing something stupid. Beyond that, who knows. look at it this way. An observer in 1903 might have been able to predict that the Imperialism of the major European powers would eventually erupt in a major war. But there’s no way they could have predicted that it would lead to the rise of communism in Russia, or that lingering effects would cause economic depression, or that that would set the stage for another major war, or the eventual downfall of colonialism, or the Cold War, etc… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-of-the-human-race-poll/179362.md?page=1)