Why are we as humans obsessed with mass-extinction of our species?

I was having a conversation with my friend about this. We were discussing AI and she believes AI will destroy all of humanity just like so many others. I personally don’t believe that. I’m aware of all the theories and the multitude of ways that it could happen and I understand that with AI, in theory we wouldn’t understand its goals so we wouldn’t know how it would destroy us but again, that’s just a theory.

There’s also the constant fear of massive nuclear holocaust with WWIII but I also don’t believe that we’d realistically get to a point where we’d use Nukes on each other knowing the implications of what would happen. But it made me realize that we’re constantly fearful of mass extinction. To the point where some people fight tooth and nail and will not try to look at things from a more positive or optimistic perspective. It’s all death or you’re wrong.

Please help me understand this. I’m here with open ears.

sock,

if someone says “AI is gonna…” zone out and just nod its not worth hearing what they have to say.

RememberTheApollo_,

Because you can turn on the TV and air conditioning and it’s like nothing bad is happening.

Iam,

Because you live in a society shaped by a Millennial Doomsday Cult. The world is ending.

(no, not ‘the’ millennials, like the generation thing)

BestBouclettes,

It’s pretty ironic that the actual mass extinction that’s currently happening is not really acknowledged by most people.

intensely_human,

You mean the fact that in 100 years we’ll all be dead and all the people from 100 years ago are already dead?

BestBouclettes,

Nope, I’m talking about the sixth mass extinction. The Holocene extinction , caused by human activity.

redballooon,

Fear of karma or other sorts of retributions.

We are aware that we do mass exterminate a ton of other species and wonder what could do that to us.

Shard,
  1. It grabs attention. Tell everyone the world is getting better daily, the long term trend of violent crime and war is actually trending downwards. We are making progress towards elimination of diseases, hunger and poverty. No one bats an eyelid. Say the world is verging toward WW3 and imminent destruction is here and everyone pays attention to you.
  2. Its easy to be in a fatalistic mindset. Its easy to say its all going to shit, What’s the point? It’s difficult to be positive. Its difficult to take action. No matter how small. Its difficult to see the ultimate impact of small positive acts. But every small act can and does make a difference. At least to the person it benefits. Its even more difficult to face the fact that all the positive can be easily undone by one guy pressing a button. Its difficult to keep trying despite that fact.
TheInsane42,
@TheInsane42@lemmy.world avatar

No clue why we need AI for that, we can arrange our mass extinction perfectly by ourselves by just continuing on this road. 🤭

At this moment, I think the main issue is that we as a species don’t think enough of our mass extinction. For some strange reason, most people (at least in ‘the west’) think they’ll survive whatever happens, nuclear war, climate change,…

However, no matter the method of our extinction, I guess most people thinking about it think it would be bad. From nature’s point of view we’re just “a species” and when evolution in this direction proves to be a bad route, no big loss.

qyron,

Unless in possession of a crystal ball, nobody can say what is bound to happen to our species as climate changes take place.

Like any other species we are vulnerable to extinction but as many physicist have underlined, the highest risk for a civilization is its start. After a certain point is achieved, a civilization can become technically immortal.

Cosmicomical,

Yes maybe humanity will adapt and survive, but adapting in this case will mean witnessing billions of deaths and a very poor quality of life and much shorter life expectancy for the survivors. Imagine entire nations having to relocate because their homelands are now unsuitable for human life. That will not be a pleasurable experience for anybody and will lead to wars and genocide.

intensely_human,

What qualifies a physicist to discuss the immortality of a civilization?

qyron,

Here, indulge.

An per your question: the same that qualifies you or me, which is being alive and capable of observe and extrapolate possible outcomes through thinking.

TheActualDevil,

Then why are we taking their opinion over our own?

Typically, when people cite something like that, they defer to an expert in that field. In this case, maybe an anthropologist? There’s nothing in the training to be a physicist that prepares them to understand the early stages of civilizations forming, let alone is longevity.

qyron,

Have you read the article?

HerbalGamer,

which is being alive and capable of observe and extrapolate possible outcomes through thinking.

You’d be surprised by most people’s ability to do so.

qyron,

It’s sad how stupid people are full of certainty while the intelligent are always full of doubt.

That is the biggest concern we should have.

Karlos_Cantana,
@Karlos_Cantana@sopuli.xyz avatar

I don’t know anyone who even thinks about it, much less is obsessed with it.

redballooon,

Redditors, mostly

themurphy,

When I think about these things, I like to think about COVID as a reminder what the world could accomplish when banding together - and that we will do it again, if shit hits the fan.

We would do the same to other threats if they get serious enough.

jantin,

We will not. If anything COVID taught me people will actively fight against anything that minimally hurts their comfort and entrenched vision of reality.

This time we were taken by surprise and governments were surprisingly quick to act and impose things and we were lucky to have a 90%ready tech developed precisely for this kind of event (mRNA vaccines were in late stage of development in 2020, they just speeded up finishing touches, trials and roll-out).

In 2023 the general vibe is " we know that lockdowns, mask mandates, travel bans were the right thing to do, but we also know we won’t let them happen again". So it’s better to stay quiet, do nothing and act surprised when the next pandemic hits. Except this time those in power will know that mitigation won’t float and societies will happily sacrifice the old and the weak on the altar of economy.

On an unrelated note, “climate mitigation” will probably never happen.

leraje,
@leraje@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Historically, we’ve always been pretty awful to each other. A lot of our cutting edge science has revolved around ways to hurt and kill each other since the first human realised it was easier to kill the person pissing him off with a rock than their hands.

In the last 100 years or so however, those weapons have become powerful enough to end us as a species and I think you’d be hard pressed to find a type of weaponry that, once invented, hasn’t been used and I’m not sure we’ve evolved enough empathy to prioritise not killing all of us over not killing the country/group who are currently annoying us.

It’s pretty understandable therefore to have a realistic fear that there’s a very good chance we’ll bring about our own end.

trustnoone,

Eh I don’t think we’re obsessed with it, it’s more just like the likely outcome due to human nature. Largely pushed by:

  • greed
  • differences
  • And only asking “could we” and not “should we”
intensely_human,

I’m sorry human nature? As in humans’ tendency to stop existing? To all just die out and not proliferate everywhere and master new levels of reality at an accelerating rate?

What about human nature indicates a lack of survival?

angstylittlecatboy,

It’s spectacle. Unfathomable situations are inherently interesting.

ryven,
@ryven@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

We have only recently (in terms of the length of history) entered an era where we can produce weapons capable of eliminating our own entire species. Wouldn’t it be weird if we weren’t thinking about that?

intensely_human,

Because when the world is about to end it’s an excuse to not try at life.

Cryophilia,

"I’m not gonna save for retirement because I’m not gonna live past the age of 30 lol"

  • every 22 year old

…

"Fuck."

  • every 31 year old
deegeese,

The end of the world has been a recurring theme in many human cultures across millennia.

AI and nuclear holocaust are just modern takes on an ancient tale.

Cryophilia,

Except the nuclear holocaust one is actually quite possible and almost happened a couple of times. That’s what makes this a unique time in history.

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