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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Do you think the human race will still exist in the year 3000

73 replies

Butterfly98 · 11/05/2019 18:46

My DS has just asked me this question. He's been learning at school this week about pollution and the damage it causes to the planet, animals and vegetation. Some species of animals are almost extinct all because of us humans. Surely a lot will have to change if humanity is to survive for another 981 years?! My DS is fascinated about the fact that if humanity is still around by then won't it be great to be able to look back at actual real recordings of our ancestors from over 1000 years ago! Imagine seeing their social media accounts and getting a real feel for what life was really like such a long time ago. What will have changed by then and how will we evolve? Can we get a lot more modern than we are now with new inventions? Interested to hear all thoughts on this.

OP posts:
mumwon · 11/05/2019 22:40

not by year3000 sun is less than half way through its lifespan (4 & half billion years lifespan about 10 billion & bit)

icannotremember · 11/05/2019 22:41

Probably, but in nothing like the numbers we do now. Life will be dramatically different- either because we've taken the actions we need to take to stop fucking the environment up, or (more likely) because we haven't.

SmellsLikeAdultSpirit · 11/05/2019 22:43

There may be a few pockets of humans left but I think most of the human race will have been wiped out

cupofteaandcake · 11/05/2019 22:44

I'm probably going to sound quite mad but why do humans think they are so clever? Unless we acknowledge that the problem is population we are going no where. The animal kingdom is waaaay ahead of us, always has been. Nature understands the process, human beings think they are sooo clever inventing 'stuff', really very stupid. I count myself quite lucky, I'm in my 50s I'm hoping I won't see the worst of it.

cupofteaandcake · 11/05/2019 22:46

Sorry just read back, Marilyn has it. We are so disconnected. Look at how the animal kingdom adapts and grows. We have stopped growing, we are going backwards, rapidly.

thenightsky · 11/05/2019 22:49

I think our decline will be slow but sure. I read recently that men's sperm counts are dropping like stones right across the globe. We will just slowly disappear, like damp squibs, rather than something dramatic. Earth will move on and we will become the next fossils.

Mamalicious16 · 11/05/2019 22:49

Just one point.
If there are too many humans on the planet why do they continue to create ways of living longer. We used to die in our 70's. It's our bodies way of saying it's giving up. But no, bugger that, let's find a way of helping us all live longer???!!! Why??? Fwiw when I'm old (70's if I get there). My hips go, my eyes go, I get dementia etc, I want to die, not be a burden to my family, the NHS, the state etc

cupofteaandcake · 11/05/2019 22:56

Exactly Mam, we think we're so bloody clever but it's so stupid. Oh look we can keep people alive who are aren't evening functioning in any way and the people around them are suffering nearly as much as they are Sad

Hearhere · 11/05/2019 22:58

Fwiw when I'm old (70's if I get there). My hips go, my eyes go, I get dementia etc, I want to die, not be a burden to my family, the NHS, the state etc

sure, but if we could find some way to stop ageing so that we (for all intents and purposes) could remain at age 30 for say 300 years would you still volunteer to die at 70?
you'd want to carry on enjoying life wouldnt you?

Devonishome1 · 11/05/2019 22:59

Weird thought but if we are all wiped out, imagine all the stuff that humans would have left behind,houses,cars et,etc!

Mamalicious16 · 11/05/2019 23:07

sure, but if we could find some way to stop ageing so that we (for all intents and purposes) could remain at age 30 for say 300 years would you still volunteer to die at 70?
you'd want to carry on enjoying life wouldnt you?

No thank you. I want to live life as it is now. Enjoy fabulous forties fantastic 50's and 60's. Then if I'm still fit and healthy and my mind is ok any more than that is a bonus. I'm going to possibly push even further and say I want it to be legal in every country to officially end your own life ( with help) when you've had enough of the pain etc and want to die with dignity.

noodlenosefraggle · 11/05/2019 23:28

Mostly because, as with all living things, we have an inate survival instinct. Even if we know there are too many of us, other people need to die early, not us!

Mamalicious16 · 11/05/2019 23:43

Mostly because, as with all living things, we have an inate survival instinct. Even if we know there are too many of us, other people need to die early, not us!

I must've missed the memo ......

HappybutsometimesGrouchy · 11/05/2019 23:53

Basil Ah, but don't you remember the rest of the lyrics? Triple breasted women swim around town totally naked. No bra needed 😁

user1498581287 · 12/05/2019 00:38

I think, if we're lucky and think a bit, we will still be here, in 3000. In fact, I even think life might be fairly recognizable.

Hello!!! future people, if you're reading this! :)
I just wrote that-because , it's an odd thing to think of, but it's just possible some or all of what's written on mumsnet could be preserved, and I think people in the future will be as interested in history as we are -so someone in 3000, might find this and read it, to see what we thought the future would be like. So, hello again- future people, and I hope you're ok!!x

I think we can probably get ourselves through things to do with climate change, I think that we will hopefully be able to make enough changes and allowances , to get through it, I hope we can.( I am aware it's a subject that I'm not as well informed about as my daughter is though, and I know it worries her quite a bit)

Nuclear weapons worry me more, but I think, hopefully at some point, hopefully soonish, we will actually realize that they are ridiculous, stupid things and get rid of them. I think an increasing number of women in politics, could be a factor that would be helpful to that. I also think that young people feeling more entitled to be listed to could help, and social media could , too.

If we don't blow our silly selves up, and I hope we don't! I've got a feeling that we will hopefully get to a point, where the world is more like, countries of a single continent are now. I think we might well still have countries-they're useful in an admin sort of way, and regional languages, dialects and customs-but I think hopefully we will be at a point where people have similar rights and standards , wherever they are. I also think it's possible we could get to a point where people manage to avoid having wars.I think this could come about, naturally, just though us talking to each other and educating ourselves and becoming more civilized.( in the same way, that we don't do certain things, that people did 500 years ago, for example,)

I suppose, basically, we might end up with a global society, that had the best of socialistic/'communist' type ideas-to do with fairness and equality, but also the best bits of democracy-such to do with choice and a reasonable amount of personal freedom.

I do think this is rather optimistic -but I do think it's do-able, with some thought, effort and communication,and some unselfishness, which I think is a teachable thing, to an extent.

I think we need to get to a point , as quickly as we can , where, its perfectly easy , to move from one part of the world to another. Of course where people live might change, but I do really think-that we should be aiming at global freedom of movement, being a safe, achievable thing, and that some places in the world shouldn't have really different standards of living-

If, in the future, we're a bit poorer and less comfortable, or doing well and more comfortable- then it should be roughly be equally the case, for everyone , wherever you're born or live.

We need to be careful and thoughtful about birth control and about preserving natural space for creatures-we need to stop tarmacking every thing!

We also need to be careful about 'scientific'advances , that could be a bad idea, (like nuclear weapons are/were). I think we need to be careful about stuff to do with a.i, genetics and any advanced tech generally, we need to make sure our ethics/ morals/ empathy etc -and laws, if necessary, keeps pace with technical advances. I also think we need to take much more care of insects, plants animals etc.

We need to get an understanding that just because we can do something (i.e know how) it doesn't mean we have to do it. Which is really a lesson we should have learnt from the first world war-when we saw what industrialized, affluent, mechanized warfare looked like. The price we paid , for not understanding that, properly, was nuclear weapons. It would be really nice, if we could actually mentally and emotionally register the fact that we can't have them, because they are too big, and get rid of them without actually using them .We are clever and imaginative creatures, so it is something we're theoretically capable of, so, I hope we can.

I do think hopefully , we will still be here though, but we will have to make a good effort, to keep the place nice. Culturally, I think we will have one or two common languages, which will be descended from languages we have now, as well as people probably speaking regional languages.
I also think at some point we might have some kind of non/ low polluting flying cars! I think that just because it would be fun and I think that people would like them.

My mum is interested family history and family tree research and I remember she once told me, if you just followed one line back in your family tree, for example, your mum, your maternal granny, her mum, etc, and went back , one person per generation-that about 30 people, would take you as far back as the Norman conquest. To picture it, that's about as many people in a largish school class, or a medium sized party. That's just, one woman , having a baby, the baby growing up having a baby-and that happening 30 or so times gets you back to the days of 1066. So, it's only that again, to get us to roughly the year 3000, I think if enough people make an effort to be nice and be careful and be fair, we actually have a reasonable chance of doing it.

So, I think hopefully, some one in 3000, could (maybe!) be reading this, and then go out for a nice a walk somewhere and still hopefully be able to look round and think how beautiful it is and that they were glad to be alive. I hope its like that:)

Butterfly98 · 12/05/2019 00:49

Great post @user1498581287

OP posts:
incogneto · 12/05/2019 00:52

Great thread

TinklyLittleLaugh · 12/05/2019 01:07

If I was a very powerful and ruthless person, I would sort out the planet by immunising a select few, maybe a couple of million people, then killing off the rest with a bio weapon. The survivors would then have a whole empty planet to sustain them.

I absolutely would not put it past certain world leaders to do this.

Rabbitmug · 12/05/2019 09:58

I'm sure there will be a pandemic at some point, nature is always experiencing population crashes.

ineedaknittedhat · 12/05/2019 10:39

No, a global catastrophe such as a worldwide nuclear war or the Yellowstone caldera erupting will result in mass extinctions and humans along with it. Plants, lower animals, sea creatures and bacteria/fungi will recover and life will start again.

I don't think humans will have the time to evolve again because our sun will die out anyway taking the planet with it.

icannotremember · 12/05/2019 10:54

would sort out the planet by immunising a select few, maybe a couple of million people, then killing off the rest with a bio weapon

That's the basis of quite a few novels already isn't it? A horrible thought. And the people who were immunised and survived would likely be people who were the biggest problem- I doubt those immunised would be the people in developing nations who don't consume and destroy in the way we do. The survivors would probably be the people most responsible for fucking things up in the first place. Far better to take action to change the way we live than decide we have the right to kill off most of the population, I think!

Butterfly98 · 12/05/2019 14:53

I've enjoyed reading all the posts on this thread. It really makes you think about what will happen to this precious planet of ours and all life that resides on it (not just mankind).

OP posts:
user1498581287 · 12/05/2019 20:38

It is a really interesting thread , it does make you think, thank-you for saying 'great post', Butterfly98 :)

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