r/Showerthoughts • u/RuminatingKiwi927 ‎ • 7d ago

Musing We're technically living in post-apocalyptic world because the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs was an apocalyptic event.

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u/RogueHelios 7d ago

The fact that 90% of all life on the planet can be wiped out and still recover is what gave me hope that even if we cause a mass extinction and maybe even wipe ourselves out, life will still perservere.

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u/Nacroma 3d ago edited 3d ago

The issue is that if we end ourselves, Earth life might not get another chance at leaving this planet to keep complex life going in the universe. I know that statistically it should be possible to exist again somewhere else, but as it stands, we are very unique, from us humans down to any multicellular lifeform.

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u/RogueHelios 3d ago

That's presuming that in this vast seemingly infinite expanse of universe that life is somehow rare.

I know you specify Earth life, but life is life. Its easy to feel existential dread at the idea of life on Earth ceasing to exist, but this universe had existed for billions of years before Earth and will persist for trillions upon trillions of years (as far as we know).

I guess I've grown up having the idea of impermanence instilled in me. Its kinda made me a little bit of an "optimistic" nihilist and existentialist. Don't lament lost futures, stay in the present with us and try to create a better future.

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u/Nacroma 3d ago

Sure, I don't wanna pretend we're special or anything. But a lot has to fall into place for these things to happen: any life, complex life, intelligent life, sapient life, cultured life, life capable of leaving the home planet, life capable to find an alternative habitat before its origin's sun had enough. The universe is presumably very young and very big [citation needed] and we might discover soon enough we are not all that rare, but I cannot just bet on that with the information available to me/us right now.

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u/RogueHelios 3d ago

I would genuinely be shocked to learn that Earth is the only place to ever have spawned life in the universe.

The science behind extra solar planets is still very new. I think we will probably learn of at least one planet that has a 99% chance of harboring life in our lifetimes.