3.8 billion years ago, after more than 1 billion years of ecological evolution on the earth, primitive simple life was finally born, and the earth has since become a life planet. Life has undergone a long evolutionary evolution, through continuous accumulation, and finally ushered in a life explosion more than 500 million years ago. A large number of species and complex creatures continue to appear, starting a new stage of life.
Since the explosion of life more than 500 million years ago, terrestrial organisms have also appeared, and they have experienced several brilliant biological eras. And in these glorious eras of creatures, there is a creature that has dominated the earth for 160 million years. It is the dinosaur we all know, and that era is also called the age of dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs have dominated the earth for a long time, reaching 160 million years, but in the end it also ushered in the end because an asteroid hit the earth. 65 million years ago, an asteroid hit the earth, which caused the earth’s ecological settlement and triggered natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and earthquakes. Great changes in geology have squeezed the living space of dinosaurs, and the deteriorating environment has led to a complete collapse of the food chain. Dinosaurs are also extinct due to lack of food.
Seeing this, some friends may think that if there were no asteroids hitting the earth 65 million years ago, then the dinosaurs would not be extinct, maybe it is still the era when dinosaurs dominate the earth, then this is really the case?
According to the research of scientists, birth, old age, sickness and death is a necessary process for every living thing, and every living thing cannot reach eternity, and there will always be extinction one day. Whether it is the era of cyanobacteria 2 billion years ago or the era of giant insects more than 300 million years ago, it will come to an end. This may be the fate of life.
Although dinosaurs have dominated the earth for 160 million years, the age of dinosaurs will not last forever. Even without the impact of 65 million previous asteroids, there will be other disasters to end dinosaurs. In addition, scientists have discovered that angiosperms dominated terrestrial plants at the end of the Cretaceous, which caused disorder in the ecosystem and affected the foraging of many dinosaurs.
During this period, the survival of dinosaurs has begun to become difficult, and the impact of asteroids only accelerated the extinction of dinosaurs. Of course, mankind still has to thank this asteroid. Without it, the age of dinosaurs may have to last for millions or even tens of millions of years before it could end. If that were the case, the appearance of mammals would be delayed, and the birth of humans would be delayed. In that case, humans may still be in the primitive stage.
Seeing the end of the dinosaurs, I also understand that all creatures will come to an end. Dinosaurs have survived 160 million years and retired safely. So how long can human beings survive on the earth? Some people may say that human beings are intelligent creatures. Unlike other beasts, we have embarked on the road of science and technology through wisdom. Then human civilization should be able to last for an extremely long time, far from the time that dinosaurs survived. So will it really be the case?
No one can give a definite answer as to how long humans can survive. However, we have to understand that human beings are actually very small compared to nature and the universe. Scientists have discovered that the ancestors of modern humans almost went extinct 70,000 years ago. At that time, the number of races of human ancestors once dropped sharply to about 2,000 due to major climate changes.
Fortunately, nature takes great care of mankind, and the climate quickly improves, so that human ancestors can continue and develop and grow step by step. Just imagine, if the climate at that time did not improve for a long time, then it is possible that mankind would actually embark on the road of dinosaurs 70,000 years ago, and there would be no glorious era for mankind now.
Human beings are very lucky to survive, but this kind of fortune cannot be with us forever. Moreover, the ecology of the earth does not remain stable forever, but a major change will occur after a period of time, and each major ecological change will end the overlord-level creatures of that era.
Some people may say that mankind has entered the age of science and technology, and we have a better understanding of nature. There will be no problem in mastering nature in the future. At that time, can human beings keep the earth’s ecology stable, and there will be no mass extinctions?
This is true in theory, but it is difficult to do in reality. Looking back at the large and small extinction events that have occurred on the earth in billions of years, we will find a phenomenon: that is, the cause of every mass extinction is the cosmic disaster. Relevant, such as: gamma-ray bursts, solar flare bursts, meteorite impacts, etc.
We can use the power of science and technology to stabilize the ecological environment of the earth, but it is difficult to use the power of science and technology to interfere with these disasters in the universe, such as supernova explosions, solar class explosions, etc. We have no ability to change. Among the many extraterrestrial disasters, perhaps only an asteroid impact can be changed by the power of science and technology.
Of course, the probability that these cosmic disasters pose a threat to the earth is relatively small, ranging from thousands of years to hundreds of millions of years before a major cosmic disaster may come to the earth. Compared with these extremely low-probability cosmic disasters, the disasters within human beings may be the most threatening to human civilization.
Some people think that if humans follow the same path as the dinosaurs in the future and leave the scene sadly, then there is a high probability that there will be problems within humans. In fact, the possibility of problems within human beings is the highest. For example, a nuclear war that we all fear will have a very high probability of occurrence in the future.
There is a belligerent factor in human genes. This can be seen from the development of human civilization. It is simply a history of war. From the age of cold weapons in ancient times to the age of science and technology, war has never really stopped. Over. With the continuous advancement of human technology, weapons will become more powerful and more destructive.
In the event of a nuclear war in the future, with the current number of human nuclear weapons, human civilization can be destroyed dozens of times. Even if someone survives a nuclear war, then human civilization will retreat from the technological age to the primitive age, once again picking up stones and wooden sticks.
In addition, the rapid development of artificial intelligence in recent years is also a situation that people are very worried about. The future is an artificial intelligence era, which is already a consensus. In the future, artificial intelligence will basically replace all kinds of human jobs, factories will be completely taken over by artificial intelligence, and other industries will also use artificial intelligence in large quantities.
The era of artificial intelligence will accelerate the technological development of human civilization, but there is also a potential threat, that is, the emergence of true artificial intelligence. The so-called true artificial intelligence means that ordinary artificial intelligence has evolved and has its own thinking and consciousness. .
The root of wisdom is self-awareness. Once true artificial intelligence emerges, are they willing to serve mankind? I am afraid it is very difficult. At that time, a new civilization will appear on the earth, that is, a mechanical civilization. It is possible that mechanical civilization will snatch the hegemony of the earth from humans, and a war between humans and artificial intelligence will break out.
In the era of artificial intelligence, most of the work of mankind is done by artificial intelligence. Once artificial intelligence rebels, we can imagine the consequences that humans are no opponents of artificial intelligence at all. As a result, mankind may come to an end, and the earth will enter a new era, that is, the era of mechanical civilization, and human civilization will withdraw.
Through the above analysis, we can see that although human beings are intelligent lives and rely on wisdom to embark on the road of technological development, everything has advantages and disadvantages. Technology can allow us to continuously recognize the world and the universe, but at the same time Technology can also bring unknown terrible disasters to mankind.
Therefore, whether it is from the perspective of cosmic disasters or the disasters that may occur within human beings, we realize that the continuation of human civilization may not be able to exceed the dinosaurs’ 160 million years. For dinosaurs, how long their race can survive depends mainly on how long the natural ecology can be stable. As long as the ecology does not undergo major changes, the age of dinosaurs will continue.
But human civilization is different. In addition to natural disasters and cosmic disasters, we also face some unknown disasters that occur within human beings due to science and technology. Therefore, the continuation of human civilization is more complicated and changeable, and everything goes smoothly. Human civilization becomes an interstellar civilization, moves to the interstellar and opens the path of colonization, then mankind can continue for a longer time. But if the development is not smooth, the existence of human civilization may be very short-lived.