You talk as if you have presented a credible case—but you really haven’t.
Instead there is a fantasy about making black holes explode (references, please!) another fantasy about subjective time compression outstripping expansion—and a story about disasters triggering other disasters—which is true, but falls a long way short of a credible argument that civilisation is likely to be wiped out once it has spread out a bit.
Instead there is a fantasy about making black holes explode (references, please!)
You have me there. We have not yet successfully detonated a black hole.
Small black holes are expected to eventually explode. Large black holes are expected to take longer than the expected life of the universe to evaporate to that point.
Anyway, I’m not a physicist. It’s just a handwavy example that maybe there is some technology with solar-scale or galaxy-scale destructive power. When all the humans lived on one island, they didn’t imagine they could one day destroy the Earth.
Anyway, I’m not a physicist. It’s just a handwavy example that maybe there is some technology with solar-scale or galaxy-scale destructive power.
Then the example is pointless. A weapon powerful enough to cause extinction galaxy wide is a very big if. It’s unlikely there would be, simply because of the massive distances between stars.
Also, if you base your argument (or part of it, anyways) on such an event, it is equally fair to state “if not”. And in the case of “if not” (which I imagine to be highly more likely), the argument must end there.
Therefor, it is likely to assume that yes, we could outrun our own destructive tendencies.
When all the humans lived on one island, they didn’t imagine they could one day destroy the Earth.
At that point in our evolution we had no firm grasp on what “world” even meant, let alone a basic understanding of scale. Now, we do. We also have a basic understanding of the universe, and a method to increase our understanding (Ability to postulate theories, run experiments and collect evidence). When all humans (most likely an ancestor) were contained in one geographic coordinate, none of these things even existed as concepts. There are a few more problems with this comparison, but I’ll leave them alone for now, as it does nothing to bring them out.
I wasn’t asking for references supporting the idea that we had detonated a black hole. It’s an incredible weapon, which seems to have a low probability of existing—based on what we know about physics. The black hole at the center of our galaxy is not going to go away any time soon.
Bizarre future speculations which defy the known laws of physics don’t add much to your case.
You talk as if you have presented a credible case—but you really haven’t.
Instead there is a fantasy about making black holes explode (references, please!) another fantasy about subjective time compression outstripping expansion—and a story about disasters triggering other disasters—which is true, but falls a long way short of a credible argument that civilisation is likely to be wiped out once it has spread out a bit.
You have me there. We have not yet successfully detonated a black hole.
Small black holes are expected to eventually explode. Large black holes are expected to take longer than the expected life of the universe to evaporate to that point.
Anyway, I’m not a physicist. It’s just a handwavy example that maybe there is some technology with solar-scale or galaxy-scale destructive power. When all the humans lived on one island, they didn’t imagine they could one day destroy the Earth.
Then the example is pointless. A weapon powerful enough to cause extinction galaxy wide is a very big if. It’s unlikely there would be, simply because of the massive distances between stars.
Also, if you base your argument (or part of it, anyways) on such an event, it is equally fair to state “if not”. And in the case of “if not” (which I imagine to be highly more likely), the argument must end there.
Therefor, it is likely to assume that yes, we could outrun our own destructive tendencies.
At that point in our evolution we had no firm grasp on what “world” even meant, let alone a basic understanding of scale. Now, we do. We also have a basic understanding of the universe, and a method to increase our understanding (Ability to postulate theories, run experiments and collect evidence). When all humans (most likely an ancestor) were contained in one geographic coordinate, none of these things even existed as concepts. There are a few more problems with this comparison, but I’ll leave them alone for now, as it does nothing to bring them out.
I wasn’t asking for references supporting the idea that we had detonated a black hole. It’s an incredible weapon, which seems to have a low probability of existing—based on what we know about physics. The black hole at the center of our galaxy is not going to go away any time soon.
Bizarre future speculations which defy the known laws of physics don’t add much to your case.