# Serious: How long will it take before humanity goes extinct, in your opinion? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 11, 2019, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-how-long-will-it-take-before-humanity-goes-extinct-in-your-opinion/833819 "2019-05-11T08:26:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-how-long-will-it-take-before-humanity-goes-extinct-in-your-opinion/833819/41 "2019-05-13T15:58:13Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > But again, you are looking at it from our eyes. Why is it important that Bengal tigers exist? It’s not. It sucks for Bengal tigers if they don’t but their ecological niche will simply be occupied by something else. Except, thanks to us, that’s not what would happen. We’d happily wipe out whatever began to fill that niche. If, that is, we haven’t already wiped out anything that might be able to fill the gap. No, an insensate planet doesn’t care. But when somebody talks about destroying the earth, they’re usually talking about the life forms on it, not the planet, itself. Not a big fan of the blue-green algae argument. Or of the “All I personally care about is humans” argument. Those are nothing less than arguments in favor of mutually assured destruction. It’s the sort of thing you’d expect to hear from those nutjob Christians who want to bring about the end of the world and from greedy politicians and business owners who want to exploit even more and poison even more so that they can make a little more money. Can’t let a little catastrophic climate change get in the way of the bottom line, after all. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-how-long-will-it-take-before-humanity-goes-extinct-in-your-opinion/833819/42 "2019-05-13T17:12:40Z")
> [@GreysonCarlisle](#): > > Except, thanks to us, that’s not what would happen. We’d happily wipe out whatever began to fill that niche. If, that is, we haven’t already wiped out anything that might be able to fill the gap. Probably not. History is replete with excamples of humans eliminating one animal and one por more animals just takes that niche over. Or plants. Or who knows. The ecosystem marches along. > [@](#): > > Not a big fan of the blue-green algae argument. Or of the “All I personally care about is humans” argument. Those are nothing less than arguments in favor of mutually assured destruction. That just doesn’t logically follow at all. It’s a total break in anything approaching reason or common sense. Being concerned about humans means NOT wanting them destroyed, which means, inevitably, finding ways to NOT alter the environment in ways that end up killing people. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-how-long-will-it-take-before-humanity-goes-extinct-in-your-opinion/833819/43 "2019-05-13T17:15:44Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Being concerned about humans means NOT wanting them destroyed, which means, inevitably, finding ways to NOT alter the environment in ways that end up killing people. If that’s what you meant, fine. But that is not what the takeaway I got from your previous posts. ---
**Author:** ![jebert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ec9cab/32.png) [@jebert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jebert)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-how-long-will-it-take-before-humanity-goes-extinct-in-your-opinion/833819/44 "2019-05-13T23:17:38Z")
I have trouble imagining human life lasting another 10,000 years. The outlook for the next 50 years is dire enough. I predict there will still be plenty of insect life around, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-how-long-will-it-take-before-humanity-goes-extinct-in-your-opinion/833819.md?page=2)