Will man drive himself extinct?

The way the economics in America work, if anyone starts dying of starvation in significant numbers, we all will. Society is generally like that.

America is not the world, let's keep things in perspective. Although I am interested in why you think that "Society is generally like that"

Because society has a vested interest in keeping its various parts in working order. I thought we'd been over this before?

If humanity tries to keep everything working, then why would we all die if a few began to starve?

If a few begin to starve, they will attempt to save them. So if large numbers of people starve, it's probably because there aren't many people left to help.

I guess that nature will drive man extinct, possibly at the hands of a more evolved species.

The end result of evolution is extinction.

An interesting video explanation of this can be found here

But on a more serious note, I do think that we are walking a dangerous tightrope. The next major war could very well lead to our extinction, or at least the deaths of 99% of the population.

But it is my opinion that humans will survive. Whether in space, on Mars, on the moon, underwater, wherever. We will adapt and survive.

And after that period, we will also heighten our philosophical values to a point where wars will not be so important anymore.

If man never drives himself extinct, is it possible that he will ever reach a level of evolution where the body is not necessary anymore (Space Odyssey, Childhood's End...)? Our brain is the strongest part of our bodies and that sets us apart from animals who depend on muscle, but could we become so smart that this frail shell of ours is finally shed and we become pure energy?

Or is it possible that we will eventually download our brains into computer and machine?

Finally, will we all just survive in our time-tested bodies until the universe collapses in on itself?

Yes.

I think humanity has been circling the drain for some time now. Part of me would like to believe that we could make things better, but I think entropy and sheer momentum is at work now, and it can only get worse.

I think we will either kill each other off in a "holy war" because of religious differences, or the planet will have to shrug us off like a pest , because we taxed it too much, and the self-correcting mechanisms will pick us off like a horse flicking a biting fly off the back with its' tail.

We were a promising species until the development of religious dogma (which helped rob us of our intellect and created artificial differences among people) and capitalism (which caused us to become self-centered and not think of others as our brother, while losing concern for the well being of the whole.)
That was the beginning of the end the way I see it. I hope I am wrong. But the people I come across everyday are extremely greedy and self -centered and have just enough religious dogma to make them hate, but not enough true spirituality to make them love.

Religion's been around since there were homo sapiens, maybe even earlier. We seem to have survived alright.

Yes, but the greatest effect of life is the very combat of entropy. Do you really think that entropy will really win over life, or is it possible that life will win over entropy?