How long will the earth exist?
How long will the human race exist?
will humans be a cause of the destruction of the planet?
It is absolutely irrelevant whether or not humans cause the destruction of earth. We will not let our species go extinct. I firmly believe if earth is destroyed by humans, we will have found a way to live off of this planet. If earth is not destroyed by humans we will also eventually be existing off of planet earth. Humans are the most adaptive and innovative species in the known world, and I find it hard to believe that the existence of such a species will not survive the fall of a planet. However when this occurs we should spread ourselves in as many separate places as possible. This is so we do not enter an environment to which we can not adapt to the changes. The implications this may have on the human species may be drastic. Hundreds of generations in distinctly separate environments will continue the currently stunted evolution of our species. I can only make a guess how long earth will exist, but I can not see the human race going entirely extinct in a time period that we can conceive.
hum
i have yet to see any real idea about leaving earth with 7 billion people
imho, we’re not getting out of here for a lot of centuries
not to mention earth is the only place with so much potential for us in say… the known universe
you shouldn’t think so little of our planet, Alfred
for your life, mine and many generations to come, this is it, this is all we got, except maybe for some small excursions to nearby rocks
because of my studies i realise that humans are capable of a great great many things, but i also realise we’re far from almighty
earth has so far provided us with everything we need
don’t kid yourself, we can’t exist away from earth… not anytime soon anyway
we’re so deeply attached to it, so strongly rooted in this thin layer of comfort between space and what’s below… we’re a part of it, plugged into it like neo into the matrix…
just think of our symbiotic relations, our needs of energy, food, protection (from radiation, etc.) not to mention our psychological needs for open air, life around us…
we might wanna hold on to our big blue space ship for a while
sturdt:
How long will the earth exist? - 4,5 billion years, give or take
How long will the human race exist? - pure speculation 
, but i’m hopeful that it’s long
will humans be a cause of the destruction of the planet?
- no, we might cause great damage to it’s biosphere though
there’s a mass-extinction going on as we speak… for reference, there were maybe three or four in the entire history of life
nevertheless, we probably can’t wipe out all life if we wanted
not even if we kill ourselves in the process (which is more likely, but again, i’m hopeful 
)
life is remarkably durable… there are bacteria living under circumstances that are so extreme… you’d think it’s a matter of seconds before the blow apart
anyway, earth will always be here, it’s a matter of how do we want it to be for ourselves
Now do we really need to save 7 billion people to continue the existence of the human race. I am pretty sure 100 would do. I would agree that we have a long time till we have to worry about it, but as soon as we start worrying about it, getting off the planet will be our maine focus. Technology in an area can make huge strides especially when it is the sole focus, think of the cold war. Anyways I agree with you and am appreciative of our earth, but just like our earth does not need us, we will reach a time within the next few centuries where we do not need it.
sorry if i sounded a tad bit harsh alfred… it’s close to my heart ya know
anyway, i have to tell you, a hundred probably wouldn’t do
we need a minimum of genetic diversity to ensure our existance,
otherwise we’re likely to go extinct from inbreeding and genetic drift (big biodiversity issue btw )
say a hundred thousand… or a million or so… depending on how safe you wanna be
What about natural causes of the destruction of earth? What about causes we didnt created. what if Earth has its own story, one we didnt figure out yet.
a natural destruction of eart?
i’m wondering what you really mean sturdt
the destruction of earth as a planet? or the life that is on it?
because that’s one huge difference
to the first i would answer:
earth will get caught in the explosion of the sun when the old lady’s life ends
… in some 4,5 billion years
at this point, this is the only realistic event that would actually destroy the planet
to the latter, it may be possible that all life is wiped out at a certain point, bye catastrofic meteor impacts, volcano eruptions, mass intoxication of earth etc…
but it’s very unlikely, given the terrible events that occured in the past and behold… we’re still here