MovieChat Forums > Encounters at the End of the World (2008) Discussion > Human Extinction?

Human Extinction?

posted 15 years ago by rip_strike
16 replies | jump to latest

Good film, amazing footage, but did anyone else pick up on the little remark about 'most scientists believe that we are doomed to extinction'? (paraphrased). Does anyone else think that we have engineered our own downfall due to our short-termist attitudes and complete inablility to change, even in the face of overwhelming evidence? Given numerous examples of societal collapse, usually after localised environmental issues (see Jared Diamonds 'Collapse') and that, according to the UN, in 2050 the world population will exceed 9bn people. Is there any hope of a hollywood-esq triumph, or more pluasably, end in unmitigated disaster for our species???

[–] stuart-193 15 years ago

Reference 2012 - the planet's extinction is inevitable from one cause or another. Our only hope of survival is getting all our heads together and actually getting off this rock

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I don't know what it is, but its weird and pissed off!

[–] rip_strike 15 years ago

A valid point, however I was thinking in the short-term (at least geologically speaking), in the next 1,000 years

[–] TimMeade 15 years ago

Hi there Rip.

Enjoyed this film and its quirky take.

But, for a documentary, there were a few lazy comments of which the 'inevitability of Man's extinction' was the most prominent.

It may or may not be true, but it was put forward with no supporting evidence and in no great context.

Felt these asides would have been better edited out.

[–] rdoyle29 15 years ago

It was expressed not as a statement of fact, but rather as a statement about what certain people believe to be true. Hence, proof isn't really an issue.

[–] Redisca 12 years ago

I agree. I thought it was a bit of the old fear-mongering, fueled by Hollywood's obsession with humanity's destruction. Herzog may be a great film maker, but he is not infallible and, apparently, not altogether above sensationalism.

Technically speaking, it's not incorrect. The universe itself has an expiration point, and eventually ALL life will become extinct, EVERYWHERE. It's also a realistic bet that there will be catastrophes at SOME point in the future that will kill large numbers of people.

But a complete extinction of the human species in the foreseeable future? Not likely. We are both too numerous and too adaptable for that to occur, barring some huge cataclysm, like a planetary collision or some cosmic accident that fundamentally alters physical reality as we know it. I am not saying things won't get bad for humanity in the next millennium; I'm saying the prediction that the Homo sapiens will go extinct is bogus.

And I note for the record that although he claims that most scientists believe in humanity's imminent extinction, he did not actually get anyone to say that on-camera.

[–] stuart-193 15 years ago

Oh - yes ... short term. OK, this will be up for some real discussion then. Heres a start

We all get a massive "life on Earth forum" together on the internet and we persuade every country currently blocking access to such arenas to allow everyone in the world to join in the discussion (language barriers overcome by universal translation on the fly). Its purpose is to inform everyone of everything and ask their opinion. This could then be used to exact some real people power and get true democracy.

Then we get our heads together and figure out how the get off this rock - do you think it'll happen in the 1000 year timeframe?

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I don't know what it is, but its weird and pissed off!

[–] mmgc 14 years ago

A microbiologist knows what damage a virus can do to a population
A geologist knows what damage a super volcano can do to a civilization
And an astronomer knows what damage a asteroid can do to the entire planet.
That is why perhaps many scientist have a gloomy outlook for the future.

[–] jtaboada 13 years ago

Not to forget the glaciologist, which is the scariest of all:
"What will happen when these 'babies' reach North?"
And that's in the VERY short term.

[–] chrombot 12 years ago

No one in the movie ever says "when" we will go extinct, it's just an accepted thing. Maybe the scientists feel it's, realtively soon for humans.

Still, I think the point was, they're researching life, learning about the origins of life and evolution. The subject of our ultimate death may come up as well.

[–] GuyOnTheLeft 12 years ago

I thought this was one of the more annoying aspects of the film (which was uneven to say the least but worth watching). I don't share this view. We may drive a lot of other species into extinction, and we may make the world a less pleasant place to live, but complete extinction for humans strikes me as unlikely. We are just too tenacious, adaptable, resilient, and ingenious.

[–] scottg458 12 years ago

What about when Earth becomes uninhabitable due to temperature increases with the changes in the suns life cycle? That is factually going to happen, even if none of the other natural disasters occur in the next 4/5 billion years there is no way we could survive that.

Luckily, I've personally decided not to live that long, so it isn't on my list of priorities.

[–] GuyOnTheLeft 12 years ago

Are you sure that's going to happen fast enough to make us extinct? If it's reasonably slow, we could adapt and evolve. Even if it's pretty fast, humans are clever and adaptable: I'd think going underground would be a pretty solid solution to that problem.

[–] suggest-472-116260 11 years ago

What if we found a way to interfere with the sun's life cycle so that it can maintain a relatively stable state? It's a tough problem, no doubt, but we have an enormous amount of time to figure out how to make it happen.

In closing, don't forget: to be truly intolerant, you must become progressive.

[–] datrax 11 years ago

Climate change is 'just' one of the latest contributions of humans to the current Holocene mass extinction in addition to human expansion, destruction and pollution of habitats, poaching, overfishing, lifestock farming and so on. If little changes then the number of species driven into extinction will rise from 140.000 per year to 1.4 million per year within two decades. There are estimated to be 8 million species left on this planet at the time of writing. So in this sense, all or most complex life will go extinct long even before the climate is predicted to change ~2 degrees Celsius.

Sources:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction
guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/07/extinction-species-evolve

[–] princesstinymeat 12 years ago

In the words of Laurie Anderson, We are all going down - together.

[–] witster18 11 years ago

well,... living here in the far right Southeastern U.S.... it was only a couple of years ago that 90% of this regions inhabitants emphatically denied any type of global warming... I mean they'd get flat out angry about the possibility... I think this film simply states that "educated" people know it to be a fact... not that everyone here in the SE isn't educated.. just that most aren't..:)

if you say anything about the environment you're a tree-hugger, anti-bible, anti-gun zealot.