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Question of the Month

How Will Humanity End?

Each answer below receives a book. Apologies to the many entrants not included.

The question can be thought of in at least two different ways: (1) How will humans die out?, or (2) How will the characteristics that make us human cease to exist? Humanity ends not only if there are no more people, but also if the traits that define us as ‘humans’ disappear.

Humans have brought about the extinction of innumerable species, and most of this has been inadvertent, a byproduct of our success, or if you prefer, our carelessness. So it seems reasonable to suggest that if humanity ends, the cause will be humans themselves. We can handle almost anything else. The biologist Edward O.

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