XPost: talk.atheism, alt.atheism, alt.agnosticism   
   From: prohumanist@gr8mail.com   
      
   - - -   
      
   Millions of Years Ago* ... Time Since Last Major Extinction   
      
   505 ..................................   
   438 .................................. 67 million years   
   408 .................................. 30 million years   
   360 .................................. 48 million years   
   320 .................................. 40 million years   
   286 .................................. 34 million years   
   250 .................................. 36 million years   
   208 .................................. 42 million years   
   144 .................................. 64 million years   
     65 .................................. 79 million years   
   ??? .................................. ???   
      
   * approximate, estimates vary   
      
   The good news? At ~65 million years   
   since the last major extinction event,   
   we're far short of the longest time   
   without a major extinction (~79 million   
   years, the major extinction prior to the   
   last one, the last one, of course, being   
   the dinosaur-terminator asteroid or   
   comet impacting in what eventually   
   became present-day Mexico).   
      
   The bad news? At ~65 million years,   
   earth has gone longer without a major   
   extinction event than it has for almost   
   the entire history since complex life   
   developed on earth, increasing the   
   risk that a major extinction event is   
   due (as it's just a matter of time).   
      
   In other words, the odds are *not* in   
   our favor, especially considering that   
   now, humans are prime instruments   
   of causality in major extinctions, what   
   with nuclear weapons, biological   
   weapons, and whatever else the   
   combination of science & the military   
   will come up with in the coming years,   
   not to mention the impact of humans   
   on other life, and on earth as a whole,   
   with global warming the hottest issue   
   at the current time.   
      
   Of course, there is little hope that   
   major extinctions caused by nature   
   are any less likely now than they were   
   throughout the history of complex life   
   on earth.   
      
   On the other hand, -if- an asteroid is   
   detected in time to deflect it, it's quite   
   likely humans will succeed in avoiding   
   that major extinction event. Others, like   
   comets (very little warning time), and   
   major super-volcanic eruptions, most   
   if not all humans (and most if not all   
   complex life) are at risk of extinction   
   if either of those occur at a major   
   extinction event level (again).   
      
   - - -   
      
   A look back   
      
   So, for hundreds of millions of years,   
   to the best of our knowledge, no life   
   on earth was capable of written language   
   or exploration of the solar system or   
   anything other than survival, reproduc-   
   tion, staying alive, eating, sleeping,   
   breathing, having fun (in an extremely   
   risky environment, in  between major   
   extinction events).   
      
   Of course, prior to the period of time   
   referenced above, simple life existed   
   on earth for somewhere in the neighbor-   
   hood of 3 billion years or so.   
      
   And the particular planet we happen to   
   live on formed about 1 billion years prior   
   to that.   
      
   And the precursor of the particular planet   
   we happen to exist on, the expansion of   
   the particular space-time continuum we   
   happen to exist within, that occurred   
   roughly 9 billion years prior to that.   
      
   - - -   
      
   Feeling small and unimportant yet?   
      
   Oh well, whatever, each of us can only   
   play whatever role we can, hopefully a   
   pro-human one. As for having fun, would   
   that humankind succeed in maximizing   
   that for birthed life, human and non-human   
   we identify with, for as long as pleasantly   
   possible, in reality rather than merely in   
   myth / make believe ...   
      
   - - -   
      
   ¤ - ¤ - ¤ - ¤ - ¤ - ¤ - ¤ - ¤ - ¤ - ¤ - ¤ - ¤   
      
   ~~~   
   Pro-Humanist FREELOVER   
     http://fire.prohosting.com/prohuman   
   Freethinking Realist Exploring   
   Expressive Liberty, Openness,   
   Verity, Enlightenment, & Rationality   
   ~~~   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)