Can we survive?

We have gained incredible power during all this time. We can split atoms, and we can alter the DNA of the beings. However, if we aren’t too careful about these things we might destroy ourselves.There are various prophets who say that the end is inevitable, and that no matter what we do, we will not be able to survive. Many experts contradict the prophets, saying that survival is a certainty, but that it depends on various factors. First of all, in order for the people to be able to survive they would have to understand that their survival depends a lot on their actions.

They would have to understand what those things are and they would have to learn how to manage them better. Benny Peiser, a social anthropologist and director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation in London, England, said that the humanity is in a bigger danger than before because we as humans now have more powers than we had in the past. We have the possibility of controlling the nature and of manipulating it. According to him, that is a bad thing to mess with, and it would be advisable not to try it. According to him, the technology we now have access to, has given us more possibilities of surviving than before. However he mentioned that is extremely important for use to know how to properly handle this technology, because a misuse might result in grim things for us.

One time when the humans faced real threat of destruction was during the Cold War. During that time the United States of America and the Soviet Union aimed hundred of nuclear bombs at each other. The chances for launching them were slim, but even so, the possibility for such a thing to happen was present. In case that this event would have happened the entire Earth would have been destroyed. The bombs would have not destroyed us, but their effects would have. Nowadays, the nuclear threat is not the only threat which could destroy the world. The technology is developing very fast, especially in the Asian countries.

Because of this, the world is in a bigger danger, as the people themselves have the power of this kind of destruction. Since the technology is evolving so fast, there are cases when we do not know its full potential and as a result, we might use it in a faulty manner. Peter Diamandis, chairman and CEO of the X Prize Foundation, who is also an entrepreneur, and innovator stated that in the future, every person will have the power and the possibility of changing the world. The technology will get very advanced, and as a result we will basically have the power in our own hands. Diamandis has supported both individual and collaborative solutions for many of the world’s greatest challenges through the X Prizes.

He stated that this power might not always be a bad thing. For example, the people might be able to develop medicine or to invent various useful things by themselves. Those things could certainly help the population. However the negative point of view is present. The terrorists and the people who have bad intentions might use the technology for destruction, for creating chaos, and so on. The lab equipments are getting cheaper and cheaper, and the humans have access to digital maps of DNA sequences. As a result, the individuals might be able to create new organisms which could change the medicine. They might also be able of developing new technologies which might develop a mean of using the green technology. However the technology could also allow those people to create new biological weapons, such as certain diseases, similar to the 1918 influenza virus which killed more than 50 million people.

According to Diamandis, the biotechnology will be the technology of the future, because it could be the answer for many of the questions which are currently unanswered. The nanotechnology and artificial intelligence is raising more and more interest, and people might start to use it more frequently in the future. The nanotechnology allows the manipulation of molecules, and as a result many people fear that these molecules will be able to shape themselves however they want. They are afraid that robots will be built, which will eventually develop a mind of their own. This scenario seems similar to the one in Terminator, and many experts believe that it is all a fantasy, and that those things will never happen. However many military personal are scared by this idea. There are many planes which can be operated from the distance, and which do not require a pilot in them. The problem is that these planes have weapons now, and a malfunction could lead to rocket being launched, which then could lead to a disaster.

However, they are not scared of the Terminator-like scenarios, because so far the technology is far from being close to that stage. Some of the people are afraid that the robots will take over the world, but not through fighting, but with the aid of their skills. Robots might be used in order to replace the humans for various tasks. There might be robot doctors, firemen, and why not, even robot cops similar to the ones seen in the movie Robocop. Another possible threat might come from the outer space. Renowned scientists such as Dr. Hawkins believe that we are not alone in the universe, and that one day we might be contacted by those beings. They might be friendly but they might also be hostile. Who knows what will happen?11