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Our Final Century

Is this Our Final Century?

In 2004, Sir Martin Rees ( a highly respected Astronomer/Physicist--England's Astronomer's Royal) published a book titled "Our Final Hour: A Scientist's warning - How Terror, Error, and Environmental Disaster Threaten Humankind's Future in This Century — On Earth and Beyond".  Link found here:  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/185583.Our_Final_Hour

Description of "Our Final Hour":  "Bolstered by unassailable science and delivered in eloquent style, Our Final Hour's provocative argument that humanity has a mere 50/50 chance of surviving the next century has struck a chord with readers, reviewers, and opinion-makers everywhere. Rees's vision of our immediate future is both a work of stunning scientific originality and a humanistic clarion call on behalf of the future of life."  -goodreads.com

Book Reviews:  

A.  https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/jun/14/featuresreviews.guardianreview10

B.  https://www.universetoday.com/8694/book-review-our-final-hour-by-sir-martin-rees/

C.  https://reasonandmeaning.com/2014/04/08/a-review-of-martin-rees-our-final-hour/

D.  https://reasonandmeaning.com/2015/02/09/review-of-martin-rees-our-final-hour/

Videos:

A.  https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=our+final+hour+rees+review&&view=detail&mid=F8BBFA7D6E4B179C6A3FF8BBFA7D6E4B179C6A3F&FORM=VRDGAR

B.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMSU6k5-WXg  

C.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hPbzfV1XGE

Will we survive the 21st Century? 

BryanMullinsTh1

Of course we'll survive after the 21st century, It depends on your life expectancy. 

Fredsnephew

It could be argued that mankind has always had a 50/50 chance of surviving.

It's widely accepted that extinction events have occurred in the past.

And therefore, a logical assumption to assume that an extinction event will occur again.

As the centuries pass, the odds of an event occurring are inevitably getting shorter.


Nowadays we also have to add the human factor into the equation. Perhaps shortening the odds even further.

We should pay particular regard to the exponential rate of technological advancement, which might imply an even further shortening of the odds.

It's also fair to suggest that technological advancement, coupled with a growing awareness of environmental problems, might be the temporary salvation of mankind.

How one views these final two issues, probably depends on how much faith one has in human nature.


Is this our final century?.............It might be. Or there again, it might not.

MajoMILSdlGMGV

I'm not sure, I'm definitely going to read the book. With my present knowledge and in my opinion humans have an incredible ability to adapt. Considering all of today's knowledge and technology I would hope that, at least some of us, have the ability to adapt and survive in the event of a threat of human extinction. This is would be when only the strongest and most adaptable human beings would survive. 

Grenache

Well, it certainly could be.  

But
1) People have predicted the end of the world many times in each century, and yet we're still here. And
2) We really should only focus on the things we can change to survive and try to keep going on.  Because all the stuff beyond our control isn't going to change just by worrying about it or by throwing in the towel and declaring we're all wrapped up.  And
3) To quote Han Solo - "never tell me the odds!"