Will humanity’s extinction be abrupt, or will it slow after a long decadence?
[ 19/April/21 ]
It seems to me that there are finite probabilities associated with various sorts of extinctions (some rapid, some slower) that together sum to about .4, and it seems more probable to me (about .6) that humanity will actually survive for the balance of eternity, though that is only likely if the vast majority of people are acting responsibly, and do in fact recognize that there are some limits on freedom that are necessary for survival, and that such limits can change significantly with rather small changes in context.
That requires each of us to work on finding reasonable and appropriate balances between the needs of all the various levels of structure present in our particular contexts (ecological, social, political, technological, and personal).
So it seems reasonably likely that humanity’s extinction will be non-existent (which is certainly the outcome I am working towards) – and it is a sufficiently significant risk that it is worth all of us making the time to take such actions as we reasonably can to avoid it. That basically corresponds to working cooperatively, being willing to take on any level of cheating, accepting and respecting diversity, considering the long term ecological consequences of actions, etc.
Ted Howard NZ's Blog 