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A comment on I Hope the Search for Extraterrestrial Life Finds Nothing (2008) [pdf]. Parent comment

Re:I Hope the Search for Extraterrestrial Life Finds Nothing... by Emma_Goldman on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @01:01PM (#24122637)
Sure, but there's a small chance that it will bring about the end of modern civilization. In that sense it will be civilization-ending. An interesting question is whether humans would be able to rebuild civilization after events like this.

I think the main extinction risk is the secular trend for technology to become both more destructive and more decentralised. If that continues, it might only be a matter of time before independent actors will be able to extinguish the human race. And given the distribution of human motivations, if individuals can do it, someone will sooner or later.

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Re:I Hope the Search for Extraterrestrial Life Finds Nothing... by jeffreyrogers on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @01:08PM (#24122731)
I can see the civilization ending argument, although it seems like something resembling modern civilization could be rebuilt, maybe with less access to energy, but with less people you also need less energy, so I'm not sure how big of a problem that will be. Maybe without global industries there won't be the materials science necessary for space exploration.

I have a harder time believing independent actors can extinguish the human race. Biowarfare/terrorism is unlikely to do so for a variety of reasons, and nuclear warfare only has the potential to do in superpower level conflict, and even then I don't think it's certain.

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Re:I Hope the Search for Extraterrestrial Life Finds Nothing... by acqq on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @01:33PM (#24123078)
> human race

Being satisfied that some "naked apes" still living could mean a survival, as a biological species, of the probable destruction of current civilization is setting the bar really low.

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Re:I Hope the Search for Extraterrestrial Life Finds Nothing... by jeffreyrogers on Wednesday August 12, 2020 @02:14PM (#24134999)
Okay, but do you really think civilization is going to collapse entirely? I don't. Even if half of humanity died you would still have civilization of some sort.
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