The Future of Humanity

Richard McConnell

December 12, 2012

The human race faces a bleak future at present. The World's population has increased from around 2 billion to over 7 billion in my own lifetime (I am 70) There is no way this rate of growth can be sustained. Global warming (apparently denied by many Americans in particular), overpopulation and mass extinctions (we are currently going through one of the Earth's 'six' great extinction events) mean that the world will become almost uninhabitable in the next century or so. PARAGRAPH In the view of James Lovelock (the Gaia hypothesis) the human race may soon be limited to a few settlements around the shores of a warmed Arctic Ocean, living off the few resources remaining. This is perhaps an extreme view, but seems entirely probable with present trends in human society. Space Exploration is one of the few release valves available, though not in itself a solution.