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Major Extinctions 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 Now ................................ Now, soon, or later? * 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 wea- pons, and whatever else the combin- ation 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 ... - - -
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