Earth is living on borrowed time

[Ozfactor]

http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/earth-is-living-on-borrowed-time-scientists-fear-killer-asteroids/story-fnjwlcze-1227144509323

Should we all start stocking up on water and tin food ?

[SolarPlexus]

Aint gonna happen

[Arbenol]

It's not the Earth that's living on borrowed time. It's us. If we don't get off this planet, we will go extinct.

On Earth, life is what happens between catastrophes.

It's happened many times before. That it will happen again is as close to a cast iron certainty as you can get. An asteroid is just one of the possibilities.

[Ozfactor]

Whether it is a World Financial Collapse or an asteroid or viral pandemic , it will happen . From my limited understanding, isn't the planet overdue for a catastrophic event ? .. Even if it is only the satellites wiped out, we will be back in the 'stone age' . I am not a 'prepper' , but I do have emergency supplies , I know how grow food, I know how to live in the bush and I know how to survive with no supermarket, phone, car or computer . But , I hope it happens after I am long gone , the suffering and the madness would be hopeless , can you imagine no Police Force, no Law ? .. Best to prepared , but it is something you can't dwell on , our life is temporary anyway, regardless of what happens .

[seaturtlehorsesnake]

It's not the Earth that's living on borrowed time. It's us. If we don't get off this planet, we will go extinct.

On Earth, life is what happens between catastrophes.

It's happened many times before. That it will happen again is as close to a cast iron certainty as you can get. An asteroid is just one of the possibilities.

exactly. we might be in trouble in the future, but the earth itself isn't going anywhere for a long time.

[Crabby Kitten]

Whether it is a World Financial Collapse or an asteroid or viral pandemic , it will happen . From my limited understanding, isn't the planet overdue for a catastrophic event ? ..

Not that I'm aware of. Who told you that?

[Ozfactor]

Not that I'm aware of. Who told you that?

My neighbour , Judy ! Edited December 4, 2014 by Ozfactor

[Ozfactor]

Judy , my neighbour , mentioned something about asteroids, climate change, solar flares, ebola, pig flu, bird flu , genetic modified food ..... not to mention we are in the beginning stages of the 6th greatest extinction in the planets history ..

[+Hammerclaw]

It's not the Earth that's living on borrowed time. It's us. If we don't get off this planet, we will go extinct.

On Earth, life is what happens between catastrophes.

It's happened many times before. That it will happen again is as close to a cast iron certainty as you can get. An asteroid is just one of the possibilities.

Curious, how you said that. We are the only species we know of that has ever evolved that can engineer itself off planet. Perhaps an "engineer" species, such as man, is an example of a planetary biome coming to "fruition".

[Ozfactor]

Curious, how you said that. We are the only species we know of that has ever evolved that can engineer itself off planet. Perhaps an "engineer" species, such as man, is an example of a planetary biome coming to "fruition".

Let's hope ( fingers crossed ) that we do manage to get 'off planet' before the resources disappear or a catestrophic event happens , we will never get off if the resources are scarce or if a devastating event occurs ......

[+Hammerclaw]

Let's hope ( fingers crossed ) that we do manage to get 'off planet' before the resources disappear or a catestrophic event happens , we will never get off if the resources are scarce or if a devastating event occurs ......

Well, if it's any consolation, life on Earth has proven itself remarkably resilient. It has existed for over four billion years, surviving horrific planetary catastrophes. Barring our star going nova, it should survive billions more. Plenty of time for man or a successor species to spred Earth's Biome throughout the Galaxy.

[taniwha]

Everyone that wants to abandon earth please do so but why be prompted by an asteroid to do so. The sooner everyone leaves the better. I plan to stay here, never did like the thought of living out of a suitcase. When the end comes i will step outside and take it like a man.

[Lilly]

Aint gonna happen

It's happened before and it could happen again.

[skookum]

Last extinction level event happened 65 million years ago but some seem to be paranoid it is going to happen every few years.

[Crabby Kitten]

Don't let Judy fill your head with frightening stories.

[Ozfactor]

Last extinction level event happened 65 million years ago but some seem to be paranoid it is going to happen every few years.

well, 65 million years ago is a long time and I would think it would be more probability then paranoia making people think it will happen again

[Sundew]

Ok, so it's possible, but highly improbable, that such an event will take place within say, the next 200 years. Sometimes it seems that our culture is being fed a steady diet of disaster and fear mongering: terrorism, global warming, pandemics, asteroid impact and so forth. How much validity any of these represent is often a matter of opinion, but hey, if it bleeds, it leads.

My advice is to buy copious amounts of stock in Xanax and Rolaids. With all the fear mongering, at least you can live well until the big rock clobbers the Earth.

[Ozfactor]

Yes, some will say highly improbable and some will say highly probable , I really hope the highly improbable's are right

[maximusnow]

It is so amazing that we live in a time that we can do something instead of just knowing when we will all die.

[karmakazi]

Ok, so it's possible, but highly improbable, that such an event will take place within say, the next 200 years. Sometimes it seems that our culture is being fed a steady diet of disaster and fear mongering: terrorism, global warming, pandemics, asteroid impact and so forth. How much validity any of these represent is often a matter of opinion, but hey, if it bleeds, it leads.

My advice is to buy copious amounts of stock in Xanax and Rolaids. With all the fear mongering, at least you can live well until the big rock clobbers the Earth.

Our culture clings to that disaster diet, zombies and all, and I think it's because of a deep rooted psychological desire. Society and civilization have obvious benefits that consciously we do not want to give up, but somewhere in the more instinctual parts of our brains it feels unnatural. I think that makes us subconsciously long for the destruction of society and a return to fewer humans living as nomadic hunter gatherers.

I don't think that people actually want the struggle and difficulty of such a scenario, but the simplicity of it, the lack of jobs, alarm clocks, traffic, taxes, electronics and so on.

As far as the big rock... meh.... if it comes it comes, if it doesn't it doesn't, I'm not going to live my life any differently just because the world might "end". I could die in a car accident a few hours from now, so what's the point of getting stressed over a meteor or volcano or etc?

[+Hammerclaw]

Yes, Karma, if we're all lucky we won't live to see such interesting times--but somebody will. As for myself, I am quite content to let today's worries be sufficient for the day.

[paperdyer]

Everyone that wants to abandon earth please do so but why be prompted by an asteroid to do so. The sooner everyone leaves the better. I plan to stay here, never did like the thought of living out of a suitcase. When the end comes i will step outside and take it like a man.

Can we send the lawyers and politicians first and then we go some place else? Hitchhiker's Guide had a great idea.

[Troublehalf]

Saying that it happened 65 million years ago and thus could happen again soon is the good ol' Gamblers Fallacy.

And, before you say it, I do know of the Fallacy Fallacy.

[theotherguy]

Seems to me like all of these predictions of impending destruction have a slight problem with their time scale. Sure, a major die-off occurs every few million years, but it's not like it occurs every 85,498,305.32 years or something so precise. On the scale of tens of millions of years, your prediction of the next mass extinction could be off by ten thousand years and still be incredibly accurate. Consider: "Major extinctions occur every 65 million years. The last one was 65 million years ago. The next one will happen tomorrow." It, in fact , happens in the year 12014. You were off by one one-hundredth of 1% of the 65 million year estimation, but anybody reading this will be long past caring. Technology will be unimaginably different, I expect humans will have established permanent bases on multiple planets, and who knows what else, but you can still claim 99.99% accuracy.

[Arbenol]

Curious, how you said that. We are the only species we know of that has ever evolved that can engineer itself off planet. Perhaps an "engineer" species, such as man, is an example of a planetary biome coming to "fruition".

Unfortunately, having the ability to do something and having the will to do it are different things.

There's always something better to spend money on than putting people into space. But when this planet starts to make life difficult for humans (however far in the future that may be) we're going to need more than half a dozen people in a tin can in orbit to ensure the continuance of the species.