The human race can be seen as a greedy cancer upon the single planet we reside upon.  So what happens when that planet can no longer take it?  In the opinions of those here, should the human race die with it?  Or should we be allowed to leave the planet to likely repeat the process somewhere else?

Oh i think the planet can more than take it. It may in fact out evolve us if we are not careful.

At this point in the earths history humans are equivalent to the 'jism' or seminal fluid carrying the earths precious and complete DNA.
It is via humans that the earth will shoot its seed out into space to fertilize other planets with its DNA life forms.
Chances are the 'jism' will be around for quite a while.
Eventually any earth fertilised 'other' planet will come of age and produce its own 'jism'.
So just by watching natural cycles of life on a small scale i say humans will seed themselves all over the universe.

[rave phillaphia]

I agree with Bill on this one. The earth will substain itself and organisms will evolve and go extinct. It is how the earth goes. Humans will probably eventually die due to natural causes or unnatural ones by trying to manipulate universal processes or we will evolve. Hopefully our evolution would evolve for the better and not for the worse (greed would die out is what I mean). But I guess that is what makes us human is that we desire to make things better and end suffering but it is part of living.

[Anchitiquia]

I have to agree with Lord Pisces, the majority of human kind is so wraped up in taking care of itself and its loved ones it eliminates its suffering by creating suffering for other creatures.

The greed of humans, if it continues on its course at the same speed as it has been, far exceeds the speed of evolution.

My point is the kind of "whoops my bad" mistakes we make now days is on an epidemic level that can potientially kill us off from a domino effect.

Just like that oil spill i'm sick of hearing about. Instead of saying OMG we should do something. The media is too busy OMG who needs to take the blame, make them clean it up.

Our planet being majority water, around 70% if i remember right (been awhile), the earth is damaged more from accidents like this than the ones we have on land.

Based off what i say, yes, i do sound like a doom sayer. Although  I believe humans will kill themselves before they are allowed to evolve or take flight to another planet (with enough resources to begin anew and actually live till civilization can again be recognized). Through history what has been "needed" to dim down human life seems to increase dramatically, when will it reach a climax, who can tell?

Agaisnt what i've already said, however, Humans have lived through the dark ages, the black plauge, great depression, and swine flu. Mabe its not so impossible after all......  -giggles-   

[matthew321]

Once humans learn what will make them happy and the meaning of life. When that happens then they will learn to be human. When that happens humanity has hope. But there are too many different opinions that is caused by too many people being here. So that means humanity is going to require a massive cataclysm if it is ever going to rebuild itself to the right path. I am saying rebuild not redirect. I do not see the current path leading to any prosperity of the human race. All I see is more ways to prevent that prosperity. (nuclear weapons especially)

Once humanity decreases in number then that few can hopefully put humanity on the right path. If they fail then it is only a matter of time before humanity destroys itself entirely. But we don't even know what the right path is, so that makes it more difficult.

I think the answer to this paradox is out of man's hands. However not destroying itself is man's responsibility.

[Dark Chasm]

The fact that we humans actually think we could kill the planet shows just how important we think we are. Trust me. Nature is isn't as delicate as we all think. It's tough. And it's been through a hell of a lot worse than us. In my opinion, one of three things will happen if we humans ever become a threat to nature (which I don't personally believe will happen anytime soon). One, us humans will adapt to the point where we don't hurt nature anymore. Two, nature will adapt so that it can thrive in the world of humans. And three, nature will somehow kill us all off, which I hope never happens. But nature can do that and will if it ever needs to. Not only is nature tough, but it can be cruel.

I do, however, believe we should be working harder than we currently are to live in harmony with nature. We do have the power to do that, but instead we just sit around and say, "Something should be done," instead of actually doing something. Doing nothing at all can be just as bad as doing something wrong.

And just because nature can take a punch doesn't give us the right to punch it. It's like saying we have the power to go out and punch some random person on the street, and they can take it, so we should do it. But we shouldn't really, just like we shouldn't be careless with nature. We should be going out of our way to live in harmony with nature, because nature is what allows us to live.

[MrMystery]

Dark Chasm. I agree with you. Anyway, we should try to survive till the End.

I do, however, believe we should be working harder than we currently are to live in harmony with nature. We do have the power to do that, but instead we just sit around and say, "Something should be done," instead of actually doing something. Doing nothing at all can be just as bad as doing something wrong.

And just because nature can take a punch doesn't give us the right to punch it. It's like saying we have the power to go out and punch some random person on the street, and they can take it, so we should do it. But we shouldn't really, just like we shouldn't be careless with nature. We should be going out of our way to live in harmony with nature, because nature is what allows us to live.

I wish people were more pro-active towards environmental issues.
Unfortunately, we do plenty wrong. We cause oil spills, spray stuff in rivers and thousands of fish die, Bulldoze down tropical rain forests and permanently change the ecosystem, etc. Due to the greed of manufacturers, solar panels for the everyday person is too expensive. Organic foods are available but again they are too expensive.
I think the greed of the human race will be it's downfall. Our path  seems to destroy nature which in turn will destroy mankind.

I agree with Bill on this one. The earth will substain itself and organisms will evolve and go extinct. It is how the earth goes. Humans will probably eventually die due to natural causes or unnatural ones by trying to manipulate universal processes or we will evolve. Hopefully our evolution would evolve for the better and not for the worse (greed would die out is what I mean). But I guess that is what makes us human is that we desire to make things better and end suffering but it is part of living.

From this I imagine H.G. Wells's The Time Machine - human evolution... *cringes* Not that the human race would be any worse than it is today...

There are views that the earth was a rather harsh mother and that we don't really owe her many favors.

[rave phillaphia]

I am not saying that we can't destroy on this Earth but overall the earth itself is much more powerful then we are. The Earth is the ever changing fishbowl that we live in. Yes we could potentially kill every living thing on the planet but trying to blow up Earth is nearly, if not, impossible for us to really do. We can't stop processes such as volcanos, earthquakes, tornados, any natural phenomenon, but we can kill living creatures or transform some things to speed up processes, such as destroying the environment creates faster eriosion which leads to landslides, greater floods, and increase in greenhouse gas emissions so ultimately climate change. We can speed things up but Earth will bring it back down after it has happened.