UImmm DOOM?

Question

Are we as a civilization, as mankind, have we officially screwed ourselves, and our children over? In short, are we all F*cked?

Answer 1

Hard to say.

There is a number of ways that certainly look as if we are. We have caused the heating of the planet that threatens to flood some most developed and populated areas  as well as some most suitable for agriculture. On the other hand, caused by the same cause, the deserts are spreading eating other parts of good fertilel soil away.

As a civilisation, we are dependent on a source of energy that is nnot renewable and must some day run out. When that happens, we may find ourselves back to stone age on a planet that will no longer be rich and fertile, but scavenged out and overpolluted.

But on the other hand, some brilliant discoveries may turn this around and cause a new blossoming of civilisation unimaginable at this moment. There is always a problem with prediciting future. Any prediction is based on an extrapolation of trends already known or aat least the ones we can imagine. Only one that we haven't imagined can throw all our predictions untrue.

There is only one thing that I believe can be said with certain level of accuracy. We are on the treshold of tackling directly with the genetic material. This means we are technically capable of creating life forms that are not the product of evolution.

Now, evolution is a product of a long era of establishing finely tuned balances. There is nothing in the nature that is not perfect. What was not perfect was extinguished by the proces itself. The manifold balances that are the engine of evolution are far too complex and far too many to be understood by human mind which tends to be reductive and goal-driven. We are already affecting these balances by agriculture, industry, pollution and climate change. To add genetic engineering to this may be a step too far. And if, in our vanity we even start "repairing" our own genetiic code, this may be two steps too far, that far that even nature's surprising ability to repair all sorts of damage may not be enough.