Humanities extinction.?
487630
ok there are solar flares that reach us but earth's magnetic field sort of protects us.\nso what we need is a combo of some sort\nso how about we go for\nEarth's magnetic pole flipping\nSolar flare(big) or solar increase\nMeteor\nComet\nput them all in the blender and mix\n\nso at the same time the magnetic pole flips\nthe field will drop to zero(not sure on how long)\nat this time a solar flare hits us making the entire sky look like the northern lights(very beautiful at sun set)\nbecause the atmosphere starts to ionize.\nand on the night side a comet heading straight for earth\nbut the comet is over taken by a large meteor that smashes the comet creating a lot of small comets of ice and rock and one mostly untouched meteor about 150-200km or larger in diameter. the meteor can crash in the middle of the pacific right on top of hawaii taking it out and creating a large tsunami that kills most of the people in the costal areas. then the ice covered meteors from the comet will at some time over the next 48 hours end up taking out most of the major urban centers of the world and the farms as well.\nalso the ensuing earthquakes can completely teraform the landscape in to a more mountainous terrain.\nand the electro magnetic serge caused by the solar flare launches all of the armaments across the globe at random GPS co-ordinates.(nuklear, chemical, biological, ETC...)\n\nhows that for a disaster waiting to happen.
247789
Maybe. Ok folks, this is always a touchy matter and I don't want to step on anyone's sensitivities. If I do, I appologize.\n \nFasten your seatbelt and prepare for trippin'. This is a theory I've developed and been toying arond with based on my little knowlege of social biology and Discovery Channel watching (specially the altruistic acts of some rodents that commit mass suicide).\n \nImagine a fish tank that can support a population of 100 adult fishes and you put a couple in it.\n \nTo predict its population, you could borrow from physics, the Simple Harmonic Motion model (damped, critically damped or overdamped). But sometimes, the system might assume a chaotic behavior. This is described in a book by James Gleick about the history of the chaos theory and its development.\n \nWell, according to this, the tanks population can reach well over 100 fast and then, almost all fishes would die and the population would reach zero or nearly zero. Only to grow again and restart the whole process. So instead of reaching 100 in a well behaved manner, it would become a chaotic system and risk extinction of that population, since everytime it drops drastically, it could easily be wiped out by mere chance that the few fishes get killed by other causes than over population.\n  \nOkay, that was the math part. Now imagine that nature equips species with a dampning mechanism that could be switched on and off as populational pressure increases. As the population increases and approaches 100, more and more fishes would become gay as a mean of birth control. In the event that that population be drasticaly reduced (by a plague for example) some of the gay fish could reverse back to straight and assure the survival of the species. You could say that gayness is the fertility stocked.\n \nIt would be interesting to observe if gay people have reverted back to staight after huge populational drops (and after the cause has gone away). For example, after the tsunami's wake has diminished and routine is somewhat restored, some local populations will still be very smaller than before the tradegy. Some might be endangered of extinction. It will be interesting to observe if there will be a reversal as my little theory predicts. \n \nThere's more social biology than math in this, but it only works with the chaotic process in mind.\n \n \n____________________\nAnswer to Emilyrose's edit:\nEmily, I picked-up the population-conditional behavior idea from some documentary I've seen some 20 or 25 yrs ago (yeah, I'm old) which, unfortunatly I really can't remember or vouch for. What I remember was a segment with lab rats, in which they observed the exact same thing I'm using: they start out with a cage with a small population that can easily survive in its space and food and rations available. The rats displayed heterosexual behavior. After the population is drastically increased, they all become homosexual (your observation of a would be binary transition is not addressed here). It did not discuss the possibility of reversion, either. \n \nThe trasition can be considered reasonable if you make an analogy to your fruit fly example: not all fruit flies change sex at once. Something simillar happens with guppies, if there are no males, one or two females change sex. But I don't think the go back afterwards.\n \nFinnaly, as to you're last observation, that if an individual with homosexual tendencies would not pass it on, that doesn't matter if you consider a social biology framework. (I know it's frowned upon and even it's proponent backed out, but that's only b/c they cut off his grants.) Suppose (for the sake of it) that the gay behavior is controlled by one or more genes that can switch on and off. My theory, is that a gene pool that had these set of genes would be in advantage in comparison to one that didn't.\n \nOne more thing, so that ppl won't think I'm advocating anything: my swi
1105627
I would say morality is taking a backseat to technology.  I don't agree that a decline in morality is due to technological innovation, but you hit the nail on the head with the Rome comparison.  History tells us that society as a whole reaches a plateau, then starts to decline.  \nGood question.
938998
Well there are lost worlds and lost civilizations. \nOur civilization now will extinct someday too, not to mention possibilities of meteors attacking earth.\nSomeday another person will ask the same question and get the same answer.
1008793
Regardless of whether or not there is a chance of an extinction event, I think we need to establish colonies on Mars and the moon. \n\nWe need to exapnd and explore. It is in our nature and if we want to maintain our edge in science, it serves us to develop our space capabilities.
1118990
We are used to distinguish intellectual activity in two groups: sciences and humanities. Most people tend to give a higher value to sciences because it easily  translates into technology (though that is not it's only aim).\nHumanities gather a wide array of intellectual activities that go from arts to philosophy. Some disputed activities are Law and History which could be in any of the two groups for different reasons.\nWhat is the importance of humanities? The answer can hardly come from a utilitarian approach since it is hard to demonstrate that we "need" the beauty of a painting or the soothing feeling of music or the flimsy life of a poem (though it is true) but looked at from humanities themselves, I would say: is it possible to keep calling ourselves "human" if we can only appreciate technology? Is asking yourself for the meaning of life a waste of time? What will happen when nobody takes their time to think about ethics? Isn't that what is happening to us, that we are convinced that morality is relative so there is nothing to do about it? Is math the only source of values we can think of?\nModern day violence can be explained through genetic theories, but without a place for moral explanations, we will never have the whole picture and we will never fully solve the problem.
1033469
Since you are severely limiting the "domination", my answer is no. First, you are saying this species "will become", which I understand as evolving from one of the existing species in this planet. Second, you say "homo sapiens", which means the time span is not long enough for us to evolve into a different species (not necessarily smarter). At last, you also say "intelligent", which rules out the "domination" by virus, bacteria or insects, which, at the moment, seems to be the biggest threat.
198884
In Yahoo Answers, you could try:\nArts & Humanities/Philosophy \nSociety & Culture/Religion & Spirituality
502020
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, lets see genius - they are being slaughtered by their own peace loving, kind hearted, and moral brethren.  Pretty smart, heh.  \n\nWhat again is that regions claim to fame besides dirt?  Oh yeah, a few million years ago some plants and dinosaurs died there.
805656
Secular Humanism.  That or Flying Spaghetti Monsterism *aka* Pastafarianism.
1100280
by eliminating mankind.
387129
if they stop the research then they'll be kicking themselves when they get an incurabe disease.\npeople will evolve regardless let the nutjobs be nutty
987511
There are lots.  I can't name any specific ones right now.\nOne group in general that is facing decline are frogs.  Many of the worlds frogs are going extinct, as frogs are very sensitive to changes in their environment.\n\nhttp://www.globalamphibians.org/
875349
David, all the secular humanists that have not been booted off this site by religious fanatics seem to be asleep at the moment, so I will deputize for them. You ask a big question, and you may find this wiki article an interesting introduction, as I did. It will also lead you on to other sources should you wish to get more detail.\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanism
706894
The American education system is basically censored to ensure that you are taught ONLY what mainstream academia thinks you should be learning. This is a nonsense. There are possibly 100+ alternatives in every discipline which are entitled to a legitimate platform in the halls of learning. Topics of value which are being  suppressed. especially regarding History and Physics. American students will eventually become intellectually irrelevant the way the system is currently grooming them. It`s absurd for the education overlords to believe this can continue. A nation of closed minded robots is not the way foreward.
932595
Propaganda was a good weapon in the past.  I think in 100 years there will be genetic weapons that a leader will be able to wipe out a whole race of people.  Scary.
780314
Whether a  dish or a world eventually all organisms die in their own waste.  The only way man can escape this, is, into space.  Nice thought though wish it could work but all organisms die in their own waste unless acted upon by an outside force.  In humanities case we must be our own outside force.