A QUESTION I GET ASKED A LOT BY SKEPTICS IS "WELL WHAT HAPPENED TO THE (INSERT ELVES, VAMPIRES, GIANTS, WHATEVER) THEN?"

YEAH, THERE'S A REASON HUMAN HISTORY SEEMS TO HAVE THIS MASSIVE, GAPING HOLE IN IT. HUMANS ARE THE BINDER BY WHICH ALL RACES PRESERVED THEIR STANDING ON THIS PLANET. DID THE ELVES SAIL OFF INTO THE ETERNAL LIGHT? WERE VAMPIRES HUNTED INTO EXTINCTION? MAYBE. BUT ONE THINGS AS CLEAR AS CRYSTAL, THEY DIDN'T LEAVE THE PLANET. NOT REALLY.

FOR MORE INFO READ MY ARTICLE YOU ARE NOT HUMAN http://www.creepyhollows.com/phpBB3/vie ... 88&t=40928

PEOPLE SAY THERE WERE SEVERAL TYPES OF HUMANS ON THE PLANET. WELL, I GUESS YOU COULD SAY THAT. SEVERAL DIFFERENT MEDIUMS & ONE MEDIUM PROVED BETTER THAN THEM ALL. THE STRUCTURE YOU'RE WALKING AROUND IN TODAY.

MATING WITH THIS MEDIUM PROVED A WELCOME HOST FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF GENETIC CODES. THERE'S OBVIOUSLY NO FLAWLESS SYSTEM BECAUSE THE MEDIUM WAS NOT DIVINE. BUT, IT WAS THE HUMAN BINDER THAT COULD TAKE THE VARIATIONS IN GENETIC PROFILES & MAKE A NEW STRAIN OF DNA.

THE POWER OF THE HUMAN FOUNDATION, THE HUMAN MEDIUM, BECAME THE SAVING GRACE THROUGH WHICH ALL SPECIES COULD LEAVE A LONGER-LASTING FINGERPRINT ON LIFE. I DON'T SAY AN "ETERNAL" FINGERPRINT BECAUSE LET'S BE HONEST, EVERY SPECIES KNOWN TO HAVE EVER WALKED, SWAM, OR FLOWN ON THIS PLANET HAS COME TO AN END, & HUMANS WILL TOO.

IT'S INTERESTING IN THE 21ST CENTURY THAT DESPITE ALL EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY, SCIENCE STILL TRIES TO FIT EVERYTHING IN THIS POST-SPIRITUAL, LOGICAL BOX. SOME PEOPLE SAY MAGICK IS SIMPLY A SCIENTIFIC PHENOMENA NOT EXPLAINED. HOWEVER, IT'S QUITE THE OPPOSITE; SCIENCE ONLY EXPLAINS WHAT MAGICK IS. IF THEY WOULD EXPAND THEIR MINDS A LITTLE & LOOK BACK INTO HISTORY, & MORE IMPORTANTLY, LOOK BACK INTO THE GIANT VOIDS OF HUMANITY IN THE MILLIONS OF YEARS OF HISTORY, THEY MIGHT SCRATCH THE SURFACE OF SOMETHING REALLY INTERESTING - WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THE SPECIES BEFORE HUMANITY TOOK OVER.

True. Humans can't have a shot at physically outlasting Earth and the Sun, unless we perfect space travel and, perhaps, colonize at least one other planet or other space structure. At some point, the Sun is going to run out of fuel and go bye-bye (starting with a sudden expansion in size that's likely to engulf the first three or four planets). That'll happen long after everyone currently breathing has shuffled off this mortal coil, but it's still something that can't be avoided.

So, if we want human life in any form to continue, in the physical realm, then we are going to have to populate other planets or places in space that don't rely on the Sun to keep life going. Our current tech isn't sufficient to provide that, but I trust that there are trained minds trying to sort out the process that'd make such things possible.

Read a story in the news recently that said warp drive may very well be a possibility in our lifetimes

I would guess scientists believe we will outlast the sun, but the evidence is there that it will one day become another supernova, then a black hole. In order to continue the human race, we must perfect space travel and fix another planet to become habitable. It won't do it on it's own.

Huffette wrote:I would guess scientists believe we will outlast the sun, but the evidence is there that it will one day become another supernova, then a black hole. In order to continue the human race, we must perfect space travel and fix another planet to become habitable. It won't do it on it's own.

The Sun is a yellow dwarf, so it isn't big enough to result in a supernova or a black hole. Eventually the Sun will turn into a red giant, engulfing the inner solar system in the process. After that, it will go on for a while longer, until it sheds its outer layers into a nebula, resulting in a white dwarf star.

Humanity will most likely be long extinct before this becomes an issue.

Considering how difficult it would be to terraform a planet, I'm not certain that humanity will ever colonize other planetary systems, even if we do create a practical FTL propulsion method. We can probably colonize Mars, but the surface will most likely never be livable without some sort of protection against solar radiation.

It's that red-giant phase that's going to destroy the Earth for sure, providing we haven't been slammed by some other thing in the meantime. I forget if the Sun's diameter will encompass the first three planets, or the first four. But either way the Earth will be toast, literally as well as figuratively when the Sun runs out of fuel and starts its dying process in earnest.

Terraforming Mars has its challenges, not the least of which that Mars no longer has a molten core to give it a magnetic field like Earth's. Our magnetic field is what has kept our atmosphere in place, by deflecting the solar winds that would have blown the atmosphere away. Mars has no such magnetic field, and any atmosphere it may have once had is long gone, blown off by solar winds.

Our best bet in this solar system might be to check out some of the moons of the gas giants. Otherwise, we might have to figure out how to create warp speed so we can explore exoplanets.

Yep, that's exactly why I don't think the surface of Mars will ever be inhabitable. Depending on how bad solar radiation is, it might be possible to grow crops on the surface, but without that magnetic field there's too much risk for cancer for people to live there.

As for moons, that runs into other problems. No gravity, no breathable atmosphere, limited power generation. I'm not sure if solar radiation remains an issue that far out, but that could be remedied by living underground if it is an issue.

darklordmidnight wrote:Read a story in the news recently that said warp drive may very well be a possibility in our lifetimes

You're talking about the propulsion drive that NASA was testing (EM drive), sorry to burst your bubble but it's not the first time something like that has popped up. It's gonna be awhile before we're traveling outside our star system in ships.
http://www.wired.com/2015/05/nasa-warp- ... poppycock/

The time that the sun is expected to die is so far away in the future that I personally think humanity should be more concerned with more pressing matters, like making sure the planet we already have is healthy enough to ensure the survival of the next generations. There are countless other things threatening the survival of life (any form of life) that can/will happen way before it's time for the sun to die.

I agree with Arianna. The way things are going, by the time the sun is at a red giant stage, the humanity will be long gone.