J.R. Part II.

This is coolbert:

Extracts taken from the original article of J.R. found here.

With regard to the danger that the human race poses to itself:

"As our technologies advance, the risk that war will drive humanity itself to extinction may rise exponentially

From everything we know as of early 2003, it appears that most (perhaps all) the technological civilizations which ever developed in our galaxy before us suffered extinction or irrevocable collapse not long after their equivalent of our own 1900 AD.

If we are to have any chance to survive the coming decades, we will have to radically reform our behavior-- and in ways we've never been able to do in the past.

According to the silence in the heavens, we probably won't do it."

There is supposed to be a period of say six hundred years [this period for the earth may have begun in 1900] where the human species may be in danger of extinction because of it's own efforts. This danger is posed from the technological challenges and advancement, and the inability of mankind to control it's most dangerous impulses. The sources of danger comes from such factors as global nuclear war, biological warfare experimentation gone awry, pollution, etc. We CAN destroy ourselves if we are not careful.

It should be noted, however, that the greatest threats to mankind in the past have been NATURAL CAUSES. Volcanoes, comet and asteroid impacts, and associated phenomenon are probably a MUCH greater danger to the human species than destruction from warfare. The volcano Toba, on the island of Sumatra, 70,000 years ago, nearly wiped out mankind!! Of 1 million humans alive prior to the eruption of Toba, only 10,000 are estimated to have been alive 1000 years later!!! As for comets or asteroids impacts, well, the consensus is that if the impact is just days away, don't bother to tell anyone!! And you cannot preclude the possibility of some sort of natural occurring disease appearing out of no where and wiping out a goodly portion of humanity!!

In addition, nuclear weapon arsenals ARE being drastically dismantled. The U.S. alone is going to put into mothballs or do away with completely about 95 % of it's atomic arsenal. It is felt that around 1000 nuclear weapons will suffice for any contingency in the future. The Russians are also acting in a similar. While it can be argued that these measures for dismantling are NOT being done for altruistic reasons, nonetheless, the atomic bomb arsenals of what was the two major world military powers IS being drastically reduced. This can be ONLY seen as a positive step!!

I have blogged on SETI [Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence]. How perhaps the only broadcast transmissions of man that can be detected by other alien species are the powerful military radars used to detect the launch of ballistic missiles carrying the weaponry of world-wide Armageddon. How ironic!!

And let us also not forget one of J.R.'s own favorites, the gamma ray burster!! A gamma ray burster occurs when a star, of enormous mass, goes hyper-nova [beyond the scale of a super-nova]. Such a star, when going hyper, gives off gamma ray emission of such intensity that it can sterilize an ENTIRE GALAXY all at once. All higher life forms go extinct all at once. There is evidence that possibly this has occurred on earth at some time in the far distant past.

The greatest danger to human beings survival in the long run may very well be from NATURAL disaster over which man has NO control. That is not to minimize the danger from man-made extinction. This DOES need to be considered and seriously so. But DO NOT overly-stress where not warranted.

coolbert.