Future survival of a civilization

[calicoco]

Hey, sorry I've been asking these hypothetical questions about future advanced civilizations, but I have another question. It's a bit nebulous, and I apologize for that. <br /><br />Can a civilization last forever? And I mean truly forever.<br />Or would something happen, sooner or later, to wipe it out (i.e. running out of resources, cataclysmic war, black hole, etc)?<br /><br />Thanks.

 

[rule303]

No. Earth will eventually be cooked by the Sun, or everything will be either ripped to shreds through the "Big Rip" or squashed back to singularity by the "Big Crunch" or we may be taxed to death before any of that happens. Either way, neither scenario will be a pleasant experience.

 

[dragon04]

Forever is a very long time. However, barring sudden cataclysm, it's not unrealistic to see a civilization survive and evolve over billions of years. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>

 

[weeman]

A civilization may be able to last for a long, long time if they get along, and don't kill each other off by massive wars. <br /><br />However, Mother Nature has a tendency to kill off the majority of life on the planet every so often. Massive extinctions have taken place several times in Earth's past. The KT boundry (the extinction of the dinosaurs) is one of the largest in recent Earth history. That is, If you want to call 65 million years ago recent <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />Fossil records suggest that as many as five major extinctions have taken place within the last 500 million years. <br /><br />At the end of the Permian period (about 245 million years ago) Trilobites went extinct. 50% of all animal families, 95% of all marine species, and many trees die out.<br /><br />The late Ordovician period (about 438 million years ago) where 100 families go extinct, and more than half of the bryozoan and brachiopod species extinct.<br /><br />So, this may be proof that every so often, Earth wipes out families of species, and brings in new ones! Past extinctions should be strong proof that no species can last forever on Earth. <br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><strong><font color="#ff0000">Techies: We do it in the dark. </font></strong></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>"Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.</strong><strong>" -Albert Einstein </strong></font></p> </div>

 

[cp28]

Don't see why a civilization could not last for millions and billions of years. They would have evolved way beyond anything they started as most likely though and probably be considered a separate civilization.<br /><br />A civilization that goes intergalactic and colonizes many worlds could surely overcome something as minor as their homeworld becoming a burning cinder when the star goes nova <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" />.<br /><br />The key for the civilization would probably be to keep evolving and expanding so no one cataclysm could wipe them out. Stagnating and becoming complacent would likely be a killer.<br /><br />

 

[vandivx]

as weeman says, its not just civilization but bare even uncivilized survival, history of species doesn't bode well for any living creatures<br /><br />it is not all that sure about some collision with asteroid or whatever killing off dinosaurs, after all many different species went extinct and how likely it is all were due to collisions? and if some other mechanism was responsible it might have worked in the case of those dinosaurs too<br /><br />I suspect something done those species in along genetical lines, like if every individual creature dies when it gets old, couldn't a whole species also have a lifetime of its own? based on evolution which reaches an end at some point and species dies out through some inner genetic fault?<br /><br />of course then some star hoping wouldn't help much<br /><br />vanDivX <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[qso1]

Hypothetically speaking...I'd say a civilization can last forever if it so desires and is very careful about it and has the necessary intelligence and tech to deal with outside threats by rogue bodies such as asteroids. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[qso1]

My reply is based mainly on the idea that humanity can survive. You see so many negative comments about humanity is going to destroy itself etc. It might, but then again, it might not which is the angle I was coming from.<br /><br />Not much in the intellectual department but what can I say.<br /><br />Survival for eternity is a whole nother matter. I won't even attempt that or attempt to agree or dispute cosmological theories. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[bearack]

Interesting question, but, I would need to understand what you are referring to as a civilization or are you referring to a species i.e. humans?<br /><br />I'm sure that Earth's civilizations will eventually be destroyed by either a catastrophic event such as an impact of great proportion or when the sun finally sings it's last song but, I'm sure that our DNA most likely will last forever in some form, creating new life in a more, hospitable environment.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><br /><img id="06322a8d-f18d-4ab1-8ea7-150275a4cb53" src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/6/14/06322a8d-f18d-4ab1-8ea7-150275a4cb53.Large.jpg" alt="blog post photo" /></p> </div>

 

[MannyPim]

Your question comes down to this:<br /><br />Can civilization exist outside of the known Universe ?<br /><br />We know that the Earth will exist for another 4 billion years or so.<br />We have a good chance at developing technology to help us mitigate the NEO threat in time to avoid the extinction of humanity.<br />We can begin colonizing other bodies this century: the Moon, Mars, Asteroids, Artificial Free Flying self sufficient habitats like Bernal Spheres and so on.<br /><br />So , we CAN survive another couple of thousand years and we can continue to develop technologically so that we can be reasonably sure that in 5,000 to 10,000 years we can begin colonizing other star systems.<br /><br />And in a few million years, we will become an unimaginably advanced and powerful civilization.<br /><br />However, we will be dependent on the Universe for a very ling time. For energy and materials.<br />But the Universe will not last forever. It will last for a very long time, but not forever. It will either end in a Big Crunch or continue to expand indefnitely and dissipate it's mass and energy to near absolute zero vacuum. There is even the possibility that protons and other subatomic particles may not be stable over very long periods of time (like trillions of years).<br /><br />So, the Universe will essentially become uninhabitable by creatures that need energy or matter to maitain their existence.<br /><br />The challenge for a potentially eternal civilization then is to figure out how to exist without the Universe.<br />Is it possible that we will discover a tunnel to a higher or different dimension that exists outside of the Universe we know? If not, then we are doomed to eventual extinction. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="2" color="#0000ff"><em>The only way to know what is possible is to attempt the impossible.</em></font> </div>

 

[alokmohan]

There should not be many Narlikars.

 

[qso1]

Refresh my memory, who is Narlikar? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[thebigcat]

I always though an Olds 442 was a narlikar. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[Swampcat]

From Wikipedia...Jayant Narlikar<br /><br />Professor Jayant Vishnu Narlikar (born July 19,1938) (Marathi: पà¥à¤°à¤¾. जयंत विषà¥à¤£à¥‚ नारळीकर) is an eminent Indian astrophysicist. Narlikar is considered a leading expert and defender of the steady state cosmology. His work on conformal gravity theory with Sir Fred Hoyle, called Hoyle-Narlikar theory, demonstrated a synthesis can be achieved between Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity and Mach's principle. India’s second highest civilian honour, Padma Vibhushan, was awarded to him for his work. Prof. Narlikar is the founder director of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) at Pune, India.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="3" color="#ff9900"><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>------------------------------------------------------------------- </em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."</em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong>Thomas Jefferson</strong></font></p></font> </div>

 

[qso1]

Thanks, I should have googled it but I didn't realize it was the name of a person. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>