Quote of the day: "Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome."- Isaac Asimov

     Personally, I don't much trouble myself with wonder about my own death. I will die, and I'm fine with that. I don't much care when it happens, either. What bothers me more, though, is the thought of the death of humanity, namely, human extinction. Though there are easily one million people I strongly dislike for each I care for, on the whole, I'd like humanity to go on.

     It will not, however, and here are  what I believe to be the most likely reasons why not.

     Disease: Two culprits in this category, pandemic and survival of the sickest. The pandemic will likely come in the form of an evolved virus or antibiotic-resistant bacteria, possibly genetically engineered. Our own medical proficiency dooms us to the inevitability of a super-bug wreaking havoc on humanity, as well as the theory of survival of the sickest. Basically our medical technology is keeping people alive that ordinarily would be trimmed from existence by nature, thus ensuring the continuation of weak genes, birth defects, and non-beneficial traits. If we even make it this far, it could result in the total destruction of mankind, in that we'll eventually be so weak as a species that not even our technology and medicine can keep us alive.

     Major Impact Event: At various points in Earth's magically delicious history, comets and asteroids of various sizes have struck with alarming devestation. Major impact events have been widely credited with a variety of results, such as the many impact craters on our planet and many others, the mass extinction of the dinosaurs, and even the creation of the moon. A major impact event could easily reach the magnitude of several million atomic bombs. The initial impact alone could kill billions, not to mention the immediate devestation that could occur to drinking water, the atmosphere, global climate... True, our technology could greatly reduce the damage of an impending impact disaster, but the technology is still emerging. Let's hope we don't get hit before we can defend ourselves, because make no mistake: we will be hit again.

     There are many scenarios that could theoretically lead to the extinction of the human race, but I think these are the only imminent threats. You may notice that I didn't include global warming, or global climate change, because I don't consider that a threat to humanity. I honestly believe that technological advances in environment management or even planetary colonization will far preclude a serious threat to humanity by global warming.

     WUTEV BORING. We'll probably evolve again anyway.