Coming to terms with a sense of futility and doom

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Bob Gander's picture
Coming to terms with a sense of futility and doom

Ultimately we are just a tiny speck in the infinity of time and space as an individual, and somehow I can wrap my head around that and accept it better than the realization that humanity as whole is also ultimately doomed in the end. Unless we can somehow find a way to travel safely to distant planets and colonize them, our species or whatever our species evolves into is ultimately doomed when our sun dies out and all life on earth is extinguished.

I realize countless species have been on this planet and have gone extinct before us, and it would literally be illogical to think that ours would not go extinct at some point, probably long before our sun dies.

I also realize I will be long dead before either event ever occurs, so I shouldn't really care about it because once I'm dead it won't matter to me anymore.

But yet, I do still care.

The thought of everything humans have achieved just being wiped out by a dying sun troubles me.

I am hopeful that future generations will finally figure out how to travel to distant planets and colonize them,and yes I am a Trekkie, but I also realize how far fetched it is. The distances themselves make it nearly impossible, and the odds of finding a suitable planet capable of supporting human life is highly improbable. Not to mention the various pathogens and predators we might encounter there which would quickly kill off our explorers before they got a chance to set up a colony at all.

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arakish's picture
You should read "Last and

You should read "Last and First Men" by Olaf Stapledon. However, even in that one humanity is still doomed. Also read its successor "Star Maker" to be its sequel.

"I realize countless species have been on this planet and have gone extinct before us, and it would literally be illogical to think that ours would not go extinct at some point, probably long before our sun dies. I also realize I will be long dead before either event ever occurs, so I shouldn't really care about it because once I'm dead it won't matter to me anymore. But yet, I do still care."

It can be difficult to not care about one's descendants. I use to be the same as you. However, as you said, since I shall be long gone, I do not care anymore. Life is life. Whatever happens, happens.

However, I do believe that the human species will finally figure it out.

rmfr

David Killens's picture
We do not know what the

We do not know what the future will bring. But let us examine what we do know.

What was science fiction is becoming reality. Today's cellphones bear a resemblance to Star Trek's communicators. Where once Jules Verne wrote a book about going to the moon we have been there.

And we will return, this time not just for a short visit, but to stay. And that also applies to Mars where Elon Musk has ambitious plans to colonize Mars with a million people. He is not thinking of just a small outpost, he is thinking in terms of a permanent human habitation.

In old science fiction books and movies there were rich entrepreneurs who funded rocket ships and space exploration. And those prophecies by science fiction are coming true. Rich billionaires have stepped up to the plate and are planning grand visions. Not only are they planning to move humanity permanently into space, they are making it happen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSv0Y7qrzQM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NPdHTGzVdw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM4MjFusCDw

algebe's picture
In some senses our legacy is

In some senses our legacy is already secured. Lassie, I Love Lucy, and Gilligan's Island are already about 60 light years into their cosmic journey. The Voyager spacecraft are also carrying samples of our culture.

I suggest you read "Macroscope" by Piers Anthony. One of its themes is the desire of intelligent species to share their achievements and knowledge. He describes a kind of galactic internet carried by gravity waves. It's doubly remarkable, because the book was written long before the Internet was even thought of.

Cognostic's picture
So you are a real "Cup is

So you are a real "Cup is half empty" sort of guy. Too bad for you. Out of the entire universe, all the stars and galaxies I see in the night sky, all the possibilities, I am here now. FUCKING AMAZING.

You remind me of the story of the Duck-billed Platypus. He just sat on a rock day after day watching the little ducks play in the water. Every time he looked at himself he would notice how ugly he was and how he did not fit in. The little ducklings would swim by yammering with their little yellow bodies shining in the sun, But the platypus just sat there and cried. As fate would have it, one day he cried so hard that the rock he was sitting on got wet. He moved a foot and slipped and fell into the water. The water was cool and refreshing so he began to swim about. He noticed how easily he could move through the water and soon began jumping and spinning. Things are the way they are and most of them are completely beyond your control whether you worry about them or not. Spend your time worrying or spend your time doing something else. It's your time to do with as you please.

David Killens's picture
A voice recording of Stephen

A voice recording of Stephen Hawking was transmitted by a radio dish towards a black hole 3,500 lights years away. Due to the nature of a black hole event horizon, the information is "stored" at the surface, for a VERY long time. If we had the means,we could retrieve his voice many billions of years in the future,because that message is stored there.

Who knows what the future will bring, who knows what will be possible in a far future. If you told someone two thousand years ago that we would walk on the moon, they would state emphatically that it was absolutely impossible. And for the very same reason, we cannot state that mankind will perish, or that mankind will find a way to evade the heat death of this known universe.

Cheer up Bob, your sadness is not based on reality, it is just pessimism.

Cognostic's picture
This guy reminds me of the

This guy reminds me of the brainy robot in "Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy" "Don't Panic!"

Sky Pilot's picture
Humans will be extinct

Humans will be extinct billions of years before the Sun craps out.

Tin-Man's picture
@Dio Re: "Humans will be

@Dio Re: "Humans will be extinct billions of years before the Sun craps out."

Yeah.... Too bad, though. Would that be an awesome thing to see, or what?!? *chuckle* (Hey, don't judge me. So I have a really warped sense of humor and intrigue. Not my fault.)

@Bob

Fret not, dear fellow human. Whether it is due to old age, a heart attack, a car wreck, a shotgun blast to the face, choking on a spoonful of expensive caviar, a giant meteor impacting the Earth, or the sun going full-blown supernova, NOBODY gets out of this game alive. Here's a question for you real quick: How much do you worry and feel depressed and sad about your ancestors who died hundreds or thousands of years ago? And before you were ever born, how much did you worry about your future or about all those who died before you? Bottom line is, you are HERE NOW. Enjoy it while you can, dude. You were not here when Mankind first developed, and it is HIGHLY unlikely you will be here when Mankind finally goes extinct. And guess what.... There is NOTHING you can do about either of those things. You want to do your ancestors justice? Then live your life to its fullest the best way you can. You want to leave something behind to maybe help future generations? Then find your own personal way of doing so. But sitting around all day being all down and depressed over matters that are TOTALLY out of your control (i.e. World ending, Mankind becoming extinct, etc...) is doing nothing but wasting precious time that could be spent doing something fun and/or constructive. The choice is yours, but personally I would opt for having fun.

Cognostic's picture
Meet me at the restaurant at

Meet me at the restaurant at the end of the universe. First round of Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters are on me. It's only money and it will not matter in the next few seconds. |

Nyarlathotep's picture
I'll have to refuse your

I'll have to refuse your drink, because when I'm at Milliways, I'll be spending a year dead for tax purposes.

arakish's picture
yeah, I'd love to be kicked

yeah, I'd love to be kicked back on the now tropical moon Titan of Saturn to watch that show. It would be awesome.

rmfr

Cognostic's picture
arakish: Just join me and

arakish: Just join me and Tin at the restaurant at the end of the universe. Don't forget to bring a towel.

Tin-Man's picture
@Cog

@Cog

Towel schmowel... I'll air-dry!

arakish's picture
But if I am at the end of the

But if I am at the end of the universe, I'll miss our star going nova...

rmfr

Sapporo's picture
https://www.poets.org
alpha480v's picture
I understand and sympathize

I understand and sympathize with your concerns about the human species being wiped out by some cosmic event. There are many things that could happen to make humans extinct. But I have learned in my almost 57 years to not over worry about things out of my direct control. I am concerned about some things yes, but the average age of death of an American male is 78.74. All I can do is live my life to the fullest and enjoy the limited time that I have left.

Cognostic's picture
I seriously look at the

I seriously look at the situation this way. I came from the universe and all I am doing is returning to the universe. The stuff in me is all borrowed from the universe and it will all return some day. I and all the things around me are just part of the same thing.

Doug Kalmer's picture
If you are that worried about

If you are that worried about an event that far in the future, I suggest you not read up on climate science.

LogicFTW's picture
@sundug

@sundug

I think climate change will be bad, but I do not think it will wipe out the human race, unless nuclear war broke out and we baked our planet clean of life that can support even a few dozen humans.

Absent major technological advancements however, will mean billions of humans will die in the coming centuries due to climate change.

LogicFTW's picture
@orignal post by Bob

@orignal post by Bob

TL,DR: as long as humans get out of their own way and do not wipe themselves out, I think it is very likely we will one day travel the stars and colonize other planets/space

If you think about it, your life, and more so human life is rather blurry on the borders of what is living and what is dead. As long as we humans do not nuke ourselves into oblivion, I would say odds are fairly high that human race will be around in some sort of fashion for a long time. And I do think the human race traveling to distance stars that could support highly advanced human life is possible, it just will likely NOT happen in the way most science fiction fantasy stories depict it.

The tech to build a spaceship that can travel the vast distances required very slowly does seem possible. Freezing humans in a sort of stasis/cryosleep may be far fetched now, but freezing of sperm and eggs already occurs all the time. Creating a small spaceship to travel the 1000+ year journey across space at slow (compared to lightspeed) speeds to a habitable planet, that then has robots that can raise, protect and build for the newborn human babies all seems plausible in the near future, if not already doable. Given another 10 billion years or so, if we humans do not wipe out ourselves/planet first should be more then plenty enough time to figure out the last few hurdles of tech to allow for this. Especially if humans face extinction and we put our collective efforts and resources into solving the problem, I think we could have human life continue somewhere else, even with just today's technology.

Storage tech would allow us to compile nearly all of the useful human knowledge onto a single, small, lightweight storage medium. Creating redundancy would not be difficult eithir. We could send thousands of such ships, to many different possible habitable planets each carrying thousands of eggs.

I think if we humans can solve our more immediate problems, and survive the next hundred two hundred years or so, I think our odds of the human race and earth based life expanding beyond our own solar system is actually rather high. What would be hard? Is having you, or me, in your or my own body do the trip. But us, as a human race? A lot easier, doable.

 
 

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