Quote:
Originally Posted by smy_749
But I wouldn't call the plague, extinction of native species, and whatever other disasters humane,
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I'm going to go on a tangent for a moment.
While I agree that the Plague was not humane, the bottom line is that it was necessary. People became too overpopulated and were suffering from overcrowding, they didn't have enough food, etc, etc. Then the Plague came along and took out a percentage of the population. That left the survivors with lots of space, they had plenty of food and resources, and they flourished because of it. Most historians refer to the Black Death as something that occurred at the end of the Middle Ages. They don't make the connection. It did not just occur; it was the biological event that
ended the Middle Ages. When the survivors were left with everything they needed, human innovation and advancements in technology took off, and a period of prosperity ensued, and there was an economic boom, which culminated in the Renaissance.
Something very similar is going to happen soon, and anyone who is paying attention can see it coming. We are so overpopulated that as a species we are weakened, and the further we push into the rainforests, the more chance we have of coming into contact with a virus that could jump from one species into ours, and the more crowded we are, are the easier it will be to spread from one person to another. It's already started happening. The AIDS virus is sweeping the globe. Breakouts of pathogens such as Ebola or Lassa are becoming ever more frequent. The problem with these is that they don't do their job well enough. They either don't spread easily, or they kill their hosts before they have a chance to infect more people. Soon we'll run into something (or release something) that doesn't have those constraints. A strain of Ebola exists which is airborne, but it only infects monkeys. It is incredibly similar to a strain that is extremely lethal in humans, so much so that you can't easily tell the difference. One small mutation and we could have an airborne strain of Ebola sweeping through the human species. On the other hand, it could be something released from a lab. Imagine if a weaponized strain of smallpox were let loose. Even the natural strain would go on a massive burn through the human species. If a release was done in a large city, planes would carry it all over the planet in a matter of days, and everyone's immunity to it has long since worn off.
No matter how it starts, the human species is going to have a major die off soon, and ultimately it will be a good thing. There will be new advances in technology, and a new economic boom, and nature will have reestablished the balance... And there won't be a thing we can do about it. The only thing we could do would be to prevent it by keeping our population under control, which we know won't be done.. So there you have it. Sorry about that, LOL. I have to make a big long post every now and again..
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