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posted by martyb on Wednesday June 14 2017, @02:25AM   Printer-friendly
from the make-backups...-and-test-them dept.

Earth has been hit by objects in the past, with devastating effects. Scientists largely agree that it was an asteroid or comet impact that started the chain of events that wiped out the dinosaurs around 60 million years ago.

[...] impacts from objects in space are just one of several ways that humanity and most of life on Earth could suddenly disappear.

We are already observing that extinctions are happening now at an unprecedented rate. In 2014 it was estimated that the extinction rate is now 1,000 times greater than before humans were on the Earth. The estimated number of extinctions ranges from 200 to 2,000 species per year.

From all of this very worrying data, it would not be a stretch to say that we are currently within a doomsday scenario. Of course, the “day” is longer than 24 hours but may be instead in the order of a century or two.

So what can we do about this potential prospect of impending doom?

[...] But the threats we face are so unpredictable that we need to have a backup plan. We need to plan for the time after our doomsday and think about how a post-apocalyptic Earth may recover and humanity will flourish again.

How to backup life on Earth

As computer experts, you are familiar with backup plans. What should we do to backup human survival ?


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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by tftp on Wednesday June 14 2017, @02:35AM (4 children)

    by tftp (806) on Wednesday June 14 2017, @02:35AM (#525227) Homepage

    What should we do to backup human survival ?

    Nothing will work, outside of having independent colonies off-world. But we are centuries away from that, simply lacking the necessary technologies. (I'm not even offering the possibility of escape to an adjacent parallel world.)

    I would recommend to do nothing and meanwhile work on the science. Once we know how to create self-sustaining colonies on other planets (a task that today we cannot guarantee everywhere on Earth, for example), we can think about how to send them there. I'm sure the political situation on Earth will be so toxic by then, there will be plenty of colonists anxious to get away from this planet and start a new life. Historically, that works pretty well for a while.

    In any case, if the doomsday happens, most of the population on the affected planet will die. Not sure how happy they, those who die, will be about the fact that someone else, somewhere far, far away, will continue living happily. This might create the most serious opposition to the doomsday planning - you have to select a very small group of people who will survive. That alone might prompt a doomsday of humanity's own making.

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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday June 14 2017, @05:23AM (3 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday June 14 2017, @05:23AM (#525277) Journal

    In any case, if the doomsday happens, most of the population on the affected planet will die. Not sure how happy they, those who die, will be about the fact that someone else, somewhere far, far away, will continue living happily. This might create the most serious opposition to the doomsday planning - you have to select a very small group of people who will survive. That alone might prompt a doomsday of humanity's own making.

    By who? Anyone with the capability to cause a doomsday would also be able to plan for it. Meanwhile the people most affected by say a near-doomsday event, those who live in urban areas are already notoriously blase about end of the world situations.

    • (Score: 1) by tftp on Wednesday June 14 2017, @06:16AM (2 children)

      by tftp (806) on Wednesday June 14 2017, @06:16AM (#525303) Homepage

      Anyone with the capability to cause a doomsday would also be able to plan for it.

      A virus can cause a doomsday. However that virus cannot plan for anything. Q.E.D.

      In the situation at the GP post, crazied human masses will act as a mindless sea of people who will tear down the governments unless they personally, and all their families, are saved. Clearly, that's impossible - and that's why nobody will survive. People don't like to die so that someone else, a complete stranger to them, may live. Sure, there are philosophers among humans... about 0.01% of the population. The rest will kill their neighbor and the neighbor's family for the chance of saving at least own children. They are all facing death anyway... there won't be any human laws left at that point, just the natural law of force.

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday June 14 2017, @06:32AM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday June 14 2017, @06:32AM (#525308) Journal

        A virus can cause a doomsday. However that virus cannot plan for anything. Q.E.D.

        A virus's behavior isn't going to change even a little just because there is someone living off the planet or otherwise unavailable to be infected. And last I checked, viruses didn't have feelings about being left behind on Earth.

        In the situation at the GP post, crazied human masses will act as a mindless sea of people who will tear down the governments unless they personally, and all their families, are saved.

        There are several things to note here. Governments aren't necessary to move off world. Rockets or similar transportation infrastructure is. As long as you control the infrastructure, you can get off world. Second, billions of people can be fended off, for example, with very liberal applications of WMD (particularly nukes and biological weapons) or vast numbers of bullets. And the logistics support for mindless seas of people are lousy. It is possible for them to starve to death before they can get in the way (or even learn where you are in order to get in the way).

        Further, such things can be anticipated just like the end of the world. Just get off world (or into your bomb shelter, etc) before the cannibalism starts. And currently, we already have people prepping for the end of the world. That hasn't kicked off the end of the world.

      • (Score: 2) by art guerrilla on Wednesday June 14 2017, @06:17PM

        by art guerrilla (3082) on Wednesday June 14 2017, @06:17PM (#525565)

        "The rest will kill their neighbor and the neighbor's family for the cahnce of saving at least own children."
        .
        yea-a-a-h, well, fuck the yardapes: they are the first to go, young and tender and can't resist too much...
        .
        exactly why i have my survival spork attached to my keyring: zombie apocalypse goes down, i am ready to scrape me some brainzzzzzz ! ! !
        the rest of you fuckers ineffectually gnawing on skulls, while i am scooping out a nice helping of kuru with my metal spork, bitchez ! ! !
        8^)