Is humanity a failed experiment?

[nobspeople]

Initially, humanity seemed to be in harmony with nature (rather you choose to believe in the Genesis 'story' or otherwise). Humanity gave back what it took.

Now, humanity is destroying life on this planet. Pollution (be it leaking nuclear material from Japan, to literal tons of plastic in the ocean, to trash in the woods, to dirty water, contributing to climate change, acidification of the oceans, refusal to help stop this destruction in light of data), the list is rather lengthy.
Even if you foolishly disregard all this and adhere only to biblical interpretations, humanity is still jacking things up: original sin causing the collapse of God's great and perfect creation, Christians acting out and turning away potential converts, the RCC protecting pedophiles and on and on.

This is not to say that there aren't 'bright spots' within humanity. People helping others, working to clean up and save the environment, respectable believers setting good examples of their faith.... but proportionately, it seems these 'bright spots' aren't enough to overcome the negativity in which humanity is plaguing the planet.

Looking at all of this, is it possible to claim, legitimately, that humanity (what it is today, how it's acting today, what it's doing today, etc) is a failed experiment? Has humanity passed the point of no return?

[DrNoGods]

[Replying to nobspeople in post #1]

Looking at all of this, is it possible to claim, legitimately, that humanity (what it is today, how it's acting today, what it's doing today, etc) is a failed experiment? Has humanity passed the point of no return?

'Humanity", even if you go back to Homo erectus a couple of million years ago, has only been on this planet a tiny fraction of the entire period of life on the planet. We evolved a highly capable brain which has allowed us to populate the planet and develop technology that is sufficient to change the atmosphere and environment in negative ways, while allowing us to expand the population exponentially which can't continue forever. Mother nature will take care of the overpopulation problem one way or another if we don't figure it out for ourselves. There simply aren't enough resources (food, water, space, etc.) to support an infinite population of anything, including humans.

So we may fail ourselves if we don't get population growth under control, or we may succumb to the next mass extinction event and life will recover possibly without humans and Earth would be right back to where she was before we arrived in the first place. Homo sapiens are only some 300,000 years old or so (oldest fossils found so far ... in Morocco) and we are the only members of Homo left:

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/06 ... nd-morocco

So if we die off due to our own mistakes or some external event (eg. asteroid impact) within the next million years or so, Earth should carry on just fine without us and we'd just be a passing species around only for a very short time in the scheme of things. Perhaps a failed evolutionary experiment compared to, for example, the 165 million years of dinosaurs, but we do have the brain power to prevent ruining Earth for ourselves if we can find the will power and get population growth under better control (among other things).

[1213]

...
This is not to say that there aren't 'bright spots' within humanity. People helping others, working to clean up and save the environment, respectable believers setting good examples of their faith.... but proportionately, it seems these 'bright spots' aren't enough to overcome the negativity in which humanity is plaguing the planet....

As long as there are few bright spots I wouldn’t call this failed, at least in Biblical world view.

[Diagoras]

As long as there are few bright spots I wouldn’t call this failed, at least in Biblical world view.

As long as there are bright spots I wouldn’t call this failed, either.

It’s human nature to look around and see things in and about the world that make you angry, sad or despondent and angry about the future. We’re all in search of a ‘better place’, and as long as there’s a willingness to tackle those problems together rather than fighting over increasingly scarce resources, then there’s no reason why a resilient, innovative and adaptive species like homo sapiens can’t find solutions.

[benchwarmer]

So we may fail ourselves if we don't get population growth under control, or we may succumb to the next mass extinction event and life will recover possibly without humans and Earth would be right back to where she was before we arrived in the first place.

Imagine the museum displays of a possible intelligent species that arises after humans are wiped out. A few skeletons of humans posed looking like idiots for killing themselves off. Maybe a plaque next to the display asking visitors what they think the strange rectangle things are found with many humans with an apple shape embossed on the back.

[Miles]

Initially, humanity seemed to be in harmony with nature (rather you choose to believe in the Genesis 'story' or otherwise). Humanity gave back what it took.

Now, humanity is destroying life on this planet. Pollution (be it leaking nuclear material from Japan, to literal tons of plastic in the ocean, to trash in the woods, to dirty water, contributing to climate change, acidification of the oceans, refusal to help stop this destruction in light of data), the list is rather lengthy.
Even if you foolishly disregard all this and adhere only to biblical interpretations, humanity is still jacking things up: original sin causing the collapse of God's great and perfect creation, Christians acting out and turning away potential converts, the RCC protecting pedophiles and on and on.

This is not to say that there aren't 'bright spots' within humanity. People helping others, working to clean up and save the environment, respectable believers setting good examples of their faith.... but proportionately, it seems these 'bright spots' aren't enough to overcome the negativity in which humanity is plaguing the planet.

Looking at all of this, is it possible to claim, legitimately, that humanity (what it is today, how it's acting today, what it's doing today, etc) is a failed experiment? Has humanity passed the point of no return?

A couple of questionable presumptions here.

1. That humanity is any kind of experiment. Lacking reasonable evidence, as it stands it's a baseless presumption.

2. That humanity is destroying life on this planet. (I take this to mean that humanity is eradicating it, which may be the case.) As for humans in particular, during the last 70 years there has been a steady increase in population every year, which ranges from 2.09% to 1.05%.

That said, I have to agree that we certainly haven't been much of a friend to the environment. On the whole, more an enemy.




.

[nobspeople]

Initially, humanity seemed to be in harmony with nature (rather you choose to believe in the Genesis 'story' or otherwise). Humanity gave back what it took.

Now, humanity is destroying life on this planet. Pollution (be it leaking nuclear material from Japan, to literal tons of plastic in the ocean, to trash in the woods, to dirty water, contributing to climate change, acidification of the oceans, refusal to help stop this destruction in light of data), the list is rather lengthy.
Even if you foolishly disregard all this and adhere only to biblical interpretations, humanity is still jacking things up: original sin causing the collapse of God's great and perfect creation, Christians acting out and turning away potential converts, the RCC protecting pedophiles and on and on.

This is not to say that there aren't 'bright spots' within humanity. People helping others, working to clean up and save the environment, respectable believers setting good examples of their faith.... but proportionately, it seems these 'bright spots' aren't enough to overcome the negativity in which humanity is plaguing the planet.

Looking at all of this, is it possible to claim, legitimately, that humanity (what it is today, how it's acting today, what it's doing today, etc) is a failed experiment? Has humanity passed the point of no return?

A couple of questionable presumptions here.

1. That humanity is any kind of experiment. Lacking reasonable evidence, as it stands it's a baseless presumption.

2. That humanity is destroying life on this planet. (I take this to mean that humanity is eradicating it, which may be the case.) As for humans in particular, during the last 70 years there has been a steady increase in population every year, which ranges from 2.09% to 1.05%.

That said, I have to agree that we certainly haven't been much of a friend to the environment. On the whole, more an enemy.




.

1) Very true
2) Outside of blowing up the planet, humans can't 'destroy all life' as life will, eventually, make a come back. And, as a whole, definitely not a friend to the environment. Which, in today's world, I find odd. Surely humanity as evolved enough to understand this is our only planet?
Maybe not.

[nobspeople]

...
This is not to say that there aren't 'bright spots' within humanity. People helping others, working to clean up and save the environment, respectable believers setting good examples of their faith.... but proportionately, it seems these 'bright spots' aren't enough to overcome the negativity in which humanity is plaguing the planet....

As long as there are few bright spots I wouldn’t call this failed, at least in Biblical world view.

So long as humanity isn't given back as much as they're taking, it's very much a 'fail'; a few 'bright spots' aren't doing enough to hamper the opposite aspect of the species. Especially considering from where humanity originated.

[1213]

...
So long as humanity isn't given back as much as they're taking, it's very much a 'fail'; a few 'bright spots' aren't doing enough to hamper the opposite aspect of the species. Especially considering from where humanity originated.

I think it is funny idea that humans don’t give back anything. As long as people don’t send material to space, everything still remains on earth. Humans may be utterly evil, but everything they do and they themselves also die, erode and go back to the natures cycle. No human can really resist that. But, obviously it would be good to take care of environment. I just think it should not be done on the expense of human rights.

[JoeyKnothead]

From the OP:

Is humanity a failed experiment?

Pends on what folks consider as faulure, and what experiment is being conducted.

Now, humanity is destroying life on this planet. Pollution (be it leaking nuclear material from Japan, to literal tons of plastic in the ocean, to trash in the woods, to dirty water, contributing to climate change, acidification of the oceans, refusal to help stop this destruction in light of data), the list is rather lengthy.
Even if you foolishly disregard all this and adhere only to biblical interpretations, humanity is still jacking things up: original sin causing the collapse of God's great and perfect creation, Christians acting out and turning away potential converts, the RCC protecting pedophiles and on and on.

It is a shame the fireflies ain't em near plentiful as they used to be. Used to be ya could drop a couple hits of vitamin a and wonder at em all night. Now ya just can't trust they'll be there with ya.

I do fret the destruction mankind has wrought on the planet, but per the OP, I still can't conclude this is a failed experiment. What if the experiment is to see if humans can wreak ecological destruction?

This is not to say that there aren't 'bright spots' within humanity. People helping others, working to clean up and save the environment, respectable believers setting good examples of their faith.... but proportionately, it seems these 'bright spots' aren't enough to overcome the negativity in which humanity is plaguing the planet.

If for the pretty wimmins alone, I'd say the experiment is coming along nicely

Looking at all of this, is it possible to claim, legitimately, that humanity (what it is today, how it's acting today, what it's doing today, etc) is a failed experiment?

No. For reasons stated abovely.

Has humanity passed the point of no return?

It does seem as if through mankind's doings, the global warming'll cook us all up like jello in a microwave.