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Study: Sixth Extinction Event Is Underway
garyisabusyguy writes: We've heard proposals in the past that a new extinction event is underway. However, a new study takes into consideration many other factors that may be tilting the data, and still comes to the inevitable conclusion that we have triggered a large die-off, and that we may become victims of it as well.
From the paper's abstract: "Even under our assumptions, which would tend to minimize evidence of an incipient mass extinction, the average rate of vertebrate species loss over the last century is up to 114 times higher than the background rate. Under the 2 E/MSY background rate, the number of species that have gone extinct in the last century would have taken, depending on the vertebrate taxon, between 800 and 10,000 years to disappear. These estimates reveal an exceptionally rapid loss of biodiversity over the last few centuries, indicating that a sixth mass extinction is already under way."
The authors suggest that rapid work to avert the worst of the die-off is still possible. The question may really be whether we can get past paid trolls, FUD, and finger pointing in order to act wisely in a timely manner.
From the paper's abstract: "Even under our assumptions, which would tend to minimize evidence of an incipient mass extinction, the average rate of vertebrate species loss over the last century is up to 114 times higher than the background rate. Under the 2 E/MSY background rate, the number of species that have gone extinct in the last century would have taken, depending on the vertebrate taxon, between 800 and 10,000 years to disappear. These estimates reveal an exceptionally rapid loss of biodiversity over the last few centuries, indicating that a sixth mass extinction is already under way."
The authors suggest that rapid work to avert the worst of the die-off is still possible. The question may really be whether we can get past paid trolls, FUD, and finger pointing in order to act wisely in a timely manner.
There is a massive extinction event underway at this very moment. While many thought it would be Microsoft or SCO or somebody like them who would put an end to Linux, the extinction of Linux is actually being caused by a piece of open source software called systemd.
We've already seen how much strife and controversy that systemd has caused. Its inclusion into Debian has literally torn that project apart. What was once the most cohesive, united distro has suffered irreparable harm to its community, its software and its mission thanks to systemd. Many Debian users have reported severe quality issues due to problems with systemd. Many of these users, and even many others who haven't upgraded to Debian 8, have already left it behind and moved to FreeBSD or Slackware. Worst of all, many people have lost their trust in the Debian project. Even if Debian were to eventually remove systemd, the damage has already been done. The trust and goodwill that have been lost cannot be regained.
It goes much beyond Debian, obviously. Pretty much every major and practical Linux distro has switched, or will be switching, to using systemd. This monoculture means that long-time Linux users can't just switch to another distro, but they need to move to FreeBSD or some other non-Linux OS. We've also seen projects like Devuan fail to produce anything of value, an in fact they could very well be considered "shrapnel" of systemd, causing more strife, agony and damage. The mailing list and IRC discussion for the Devuan project quickly devolved into accusations of people being "systemd trolls", which only served to disrupt the community and project even more.
There's nothing that Microsoft could do to Linux that would cause more harm than systemd has already managed to bring, and will likely continue to bring.
....Slashdot will finally become extinct!