Will Humans Be Extinct in 100 Years?

I think I've always known this in some way. I'd been hearing for many years about Nostradamus's prediction that 2012 will be the end of time for us. I can already see some merit in this belief. For the past 10 years, disasters have been getting worse and seem to be worsening every year. I've been lucky so far that this town has not yet been hit with a major tsunami. We did have a bit of a scare last year. But nothing happened. Also, it seems everywhere I go now, everyone is a homosexual. Not that I have anything at all against homosexuals, I have friends who are gay and I totally respect their beliefs, but they don't have children! So the more gay people there will be, the less the human race will reproduce. Our numbers, so numerous now, will lessen through time. Most of us now, will be dead, or very old, in 100 years. Way beyond the age of having children. Then there is this oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that is wreaking havoc, and I heard it's only going to get worse. Already I heard about this thing called "oil rain". It's raining oil-tainted water in Lousiana. Then there is Obama. He's spending money like crazy. Not only that, but I heard a rumor that he is demanding money. To people outside the USA, these problems may seem localized, but these are BIG problems!! They will before too long, start affecting everyone all over the World! And each one will cause it's own share of human destruction. And that's not all, all over the world there is deforestation, killing of endangered species, pollution, etc, etc, etc, and more. So there is a great deal of merit in what Nostradamus says!

So here is the article I found.

http://news.discovery.com/human/will-humans-be-extinct-within-100-years.html

Will Humans Be Extinct Within 100 Years?
Analysis by Ian O'Neill Wed Jun 23, 2010 07:59 PM ET

Is the clock of doom ticking for mankind? Yes, says an eminent 95-year-old scientist from Australia. Professor Frank Fenner -- the same scientist who brought the myxomatosis virus to rabbits to control their numbers in the 1950's -- is acutely aware of the impact of overpopulation and shortage of resources.
Widely regarded as the World Health Organization's (WHO) finest hour, in 1980 Fenner announced to the World Health Assembly that smallpox had been eradicated.
In an interview with The Australian, the well-respected microbiologist expressed his pessimism for our future. "We're going to become extinct," he said. "Whatever we do now is too late."
After all the hype surrounding the pseudoscience of 2012, I've become a bit numb to "yet another" warning of doomsday, but when a scientist of Fenner's caliber goes on the record to say mankind will die off, it's hard not to listen.
ANALYSIS: Top 10 Reasons Why the World Won't End in 2012

"Homo sapiens will become extinct, perhaps within 100 years," he said. "A lot of other animals will, too. It's an irreversible situation. I think it's too late. I try not to express that because people are trying to do something, but they keep putting it off."
Although efforts are under way to mitigate the worst effects of overpopulation and climate change, Fenner believes it is futile, that our fate is sealed.
The world's population is forecast to balloon to 7 billion next year, putting a terrible strain on food and water supplies. So much so that Fenner predicts "food wars" in the coming decades as nations fight to secure dwindling supplies. Global droughts continue to ravage farmland, intensifying widespread malnutrition and poverty.
Climate change is a big driving factor behind his warning and, in Fenner's opinion, we've passed the point of no return. Although we have the scientific ability to tackle global problems, it's the lack of political will to do anything before the planet turns into a dust bowl that's the problem.
WIDE ANGLE: Global Warming, On the Brink
Although these warnings aren't without merit, I see Fenner's belief that all of mankind may not exist in a century to be overly pessimistic. It's not that I doubt the world will be a very different place in 100 years, it's just that he hasn't considered the technological factors of what makes humans human.
Granted, we're not very good at looking after our planet, and we are in a dire predicament, but thinking we'll be extinct in less than a century is a little over the top. There being a "collapse of civilization" or "rapid population decline" might be a better forecast.
Extinction occurs when every single member of a species dies, so unless a succession of global catastrophes (pandemics, runaway global warming, nuclear wars, collapse of resources, throw in an asteroid impact) happened at the same time, a small number of our descendants should still be able to eke out an existence in sheltered pockets around the planet.
In a paper published in the journal Futures last year, researchers approached the question: Human Extinction: How Could It Happen?
"The human race is unlikely to become extinct without a combination of difficult, severe and catastrophic events," said Tobin Lopes, of the University of Colorado Denver, in an interview with Discovery News. He added that his team "were very surprised about how difficult it was to come up with plausible scenarios in which the entire human race would become extinct."
Sure, we could be faced with a "perfect storm" of catastrophes leading to a mass extinction, but I think it will be more likely that we'll adapt quickly, using technology not necessarily to reverse the damage we have caused, but to support life in a hostile new world.
But this is as speculative as Fenner's gloomy forecast. I suspect the realities of living on a warming planet with a spiraling population and dwindling resources will remain unknown for some time yet. However, if our continuing abuse of resources continues at this rate unchecked, we can be anything but optimistic about our species' future.