This is the question. I agree with finm that we should stay alive since: 1) we justmight figure out a way to stop the mass suffering, and 2) we just might develop the intention to do something about it.
To add on a third, point, I would say: 3) if humanity goes extinct, then there is a possibility that either:
a) no other species capable of humanity’s intelligence and empathy ever comes into being, whereas nature stays on, thus guaranteeing mass suffering until the end of the universe; or
b) even if another another species like humanity (or humanity itself) emerges, that would require hundreds of millions of years, during which sentient beings would suffer.
So I’m of the belief that humanity should be kept alive, because it is the only—albeit small—specter of hope for sentient beings. Now, I am a bit more hopeful than you, simply because within the span of a mere 4000 years of civilization (which is a blink of an eye in the grand scheme of things), humanity has, in many places:
recognized the evil of slavery, caste system, etc.;
outlawed discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, sex;
done away with the belief that war is “glorious”;
even passed laws outlawing certain practices against animals (California’s Proposition 12);
actually tried to realize utopia (ex. French and Russian Revolutions, etc.) (even though they failed spectacularly)
Vive humanity! Well, of course we have done as much—if not much more—horrible things to each other and to animals, but ultimately… upon whom else can we rest our hopes, my friend?
This is the question. I agree with finm that we should stay alive since: 1) we just might figure out a way to stop the mass suffering, and 2) we just might develop the intention to do something about it.
To add on a third, point, I would say: 3) if humanity goes extinct, then there is a possibility that either:
a) no other species capable of humanity’s intelligence and empathy ever comes into being, whereas nature stays on, thus guaranteeing mass suffering until the end of the universe; or
b) even if another another species like humanity (or humanity itself) emerges, that would require hundreds of millions of years, during which sentient beings would suffer.
So I’m of the belief that humanity should be kept alive, because it is the only—albeit small—specter of hope for sentient beings. Now, I am a bit more hopeful than you, simply because within the span of a mere 4000 years of civilization (which is a blink of an eye in the grand scheme of things), humanity has, in many places:
recognized the evil of slavery, caste system, etc.;
outlawed discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, sex;
done away with the belief that war is “glorious”;
even passed laws outlawing certain practices against animals (California’s Proposition 12);
actually tried to realize utopia (ex. French and Russian Revolutions, etc.) (even though they failed spectacularly)
Vive humanity! Well, of course we have done as much—if not much more—horrible things to each other and to animals, but ultimately… upon whom else can we rest our hopes, my friend?