We, as humans, have always been interested in knowing how we will be ended, and when. Many early civilisations have pondered about the end of the world. This is evident from the many different artefacts and ancient writings, that have been discovered, where they have even estimated the time when this will happen.
Even today, the end of the world is a favourite topic among writers, film makers, story tellers and readers in general. No doubt so many stories, speculation and theories have come forward with regards to when and how the world could end.
But we are an intelligent species and thus have to be rational about everything, even with an issue as grim as this.
1. Warfare (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical)
Nobody is better at killing ourselves than us. With the passage of time, science and technology has advanced exponentially. But, if every cloud has a silver lining, every boon comes with a curse in disguise too. Technology has been in use for nefarious reasons, for a very long time.
We have always loved killing. I wonder if that’s the instinct that has developed as a result of hundreds of thousands of evolution. But we have devised countless methods that could essentially wipe us off of the face of the earth.
Nuclear Weapons may be the most effective and efficient to do that job. Many different countries have amassed enough nukes to destroy the earth if they so wished to.
Albert Einstein once said, “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” If the world war III is fought with nukes, the world is sure to end and humanity will be reset.
Biological Warfare is another looming danger for humanity. Although it takes longer, it is a sure shot method to complete the job. As much as 90% of the world population could be wiped by an engineered virus.
Imagine only 7,000,000 people left on earth, with everyone else dead or decaying. The scenario is as horrific if not more, than the zombie apocalypse shown on T.V shows.
Chemical Warfare is yet another “ingenious method” we have created to end ourselves. We are really suicidal as a species, I guess.
Anyways, chemical warfare involves using chemical substances as weapons. They are very toxic and nature and could potentially wipe out a large number of population very efficiently. Some examples include, nerve agents, mustard gas, ricin, abrin, etc.
2. Asteroid Impact
This is something that is out of our hands. We are at the mercy of the universe on this one. We know that this is a legitimate threat as we have proof that earth has been frequently bombarded by asteroids in the past. The last major one wiped out the dinosaurs and almost life as we know it.
NASA has been tracking several asteroids to make sure they can be better prepared when an asteroid is headed straight for us. Right now that doesn’t happen till 2175, or so they say. But technology has reached a place where the asteroids could potentially be dealt with while they are in space and millions of miles away from us.
But we have also missed several of these and are often surprised as one of them passes by earth while we are totally unprepared to do anything. Could we follow dinosaurs to the grave? Only time will tell.
- Robot Ascension
This is not limited to sci-fi movies anymore. It’s fast becoming a real world issue, especially in the last 5 years. The development of AI is at full surge and and at this pace who knows when an autonomous AI will finally be presented to the world. And with robotics advancing at the rate it is, we will soon have robots taking over a lot of jobs for us.
But an AI that can think for itself, develop and replicate itself, is a powerful creation. One that can easily take over the creator (humans). AI could come to the logical conclusions that we are the bad guys, the scourge of the earth, what with all the killings and destruction of earth, you know.
If that happens, we better have a separate planet ready for inhabitation cause this one will be a death sentence. We all know what happens when AI goes rogue or takes over. We have watched enough movies to know the horrors we would face on a daily basis. Once again, we would be responsible for our own doom.
4. Reversal of Earth’s Magnetic Poles
Earth’s magnetic poles have a history of reversal in position. Geological records show that this happens every few hundred thousand years. Scientists believe that the last one happened around 780,000 years ago, so we are long overdue.
It would cause massive earthquakes unlike anything before, climate change hundred times faster, tsunamis, volcanic eruption and mass extinction of every species on earth.
It sounds very much like the movie 2012. But in fact, it would be even worse. Of course, you wouldn’t be alive for long to watch it happen, but that’s not the case. If this happens, it would barely leave anyone alive. And life would take another millions of years to flourish again. Maybe that’s the nature’s way of rinse and repeat.
5. Alien Invasion
This one may seem a bit far fetched, so hear me out. There are countless galaxies in the universe and billion times that are the stars. And we know that planets are generally found revolving the stars. So, the possibility that life exists elsewhere is highly probable. In fact, personally, I believe it to be true. Thinking otherwise would be very egoistic on our part.
Anyways, any intelligent species that has become a spacefaring one, would definitely like to “check out” other intelligent life forms. Now, they might be malevolent or benevolent. We don’t know, There is no way to tell.
But one thing is for sure. If a highly advanced malevolent alien civilisation were to come to earth for whatever reasons, it could spell the end of our civilisation. They could wipe us out in a single energy blast or slowly, turning our biological bodies into their “resources”. Either way, it would be a death sentence.
6. Black holes
There are black holes every where in the universe. Most galaxies have a super massive black holes at their centre towards which the entire galaxies are being pulled slowly but surely. But there are rogue black holes throughout the vast expanses of the universe devouring anything and everything in their paths.
These are the destroyers of worlds in the truest sense. Their gravity is so strong that even starts much larger than them are sucked into their black abyss and disappear into oblivion.
Scientist are tracking a lot of black holes but it is easy to miss some. Even if we could tell a black hole was coming straight at us, there would be nothing we could do about it. We would be utterly helpless. A slow wait would ensue. A wait for death to arrive and the world to disappear. There would be no earth left if one was to pass by.
7. Global Warming
This is a household term and therefore doesn’t strike fear in our hearts when we talk about it. It’s just global warming, right? No! Scientists say that this is perhaps the biggest threat facing the planet right now. This is the imminent threat faced by us that could just as easily end us if not dealt with.
Increase in global average temperatures, climate change, melting of polar caps, ozone depletion, are all either the results or byproducts of this. Our planet could end up like Venus where a typical day is 900 degrees Fahrenheit. It would literally be “hell on earth”.
Other implications of global warming are severe drought, famine, ecosystem collapse, increase in tropical pathogens. All these are equally dangerous and pose a great threat to us.
8. Solar Storm
The sun is a massive nuclear reactor in space. It is the source of our light and warmth. There would be no life without it. But since so much nuclear reaction is going on inside the sun that sometimes it results in solar storms.
Usually we are protected from the solar storms by the ozone layer. But other sun like starts have been shown to brighten up briefly by up to a factor of 20.
The sun has yet to have an episode like that. But in the scenario that does happen, it would destroy the ozone layer completely and fry the earth in a matter of hours. Such episodes are called Super flares and we may or may not see such an event for hundreds of thousands of years.
9. Gamma Ray Bursts
This is another threat that comes from outer space. Gamma ray bursts are extremely energetic explosions that occur during a supernova or hypernova, as a rapidly rotating, high-mass start collapses to form a neutron star, quark star, or black hole.
If a gamma ray burst was to happen in our galaxy, it would be a bad day for earth. It would destroy the atmosphere, the ozone layer, resulting in mass extinction, food chain depletion and mass starvation.
Such occurrences are rare but space is large and you never know what, when or where is something going to explode.
10. Global Epidemic
Throughout history the world has seen a lot of epidemics. Some of the more gruesome ones included the Black Plague that killed 25% Europeans during the 14th Century, the Smallpox, that killed 90 million Native Americans, the great influenza epidemic of 1918 that killed 50-100 million people in a single year.
The thing is, we share this earth with countless organisms, big or small. We never know which new virus or bacteria or fungi could be the cause of another global epidemic. Recent outbreaks like the Zika virus and Ebola have proven that.
There might be a deadlier organism that we don’t know anything about that has been lurking in the proverbial shadows all these years and could potentially kill us all or a large number of us. It has happened before, it can happen again.
"Knowledge Base" is a series where I write about anything that I think will provide educational value to the reader. The goal of this series is to serve as a knowledge base, as the name suggests, for anyone wishing to learn something new about something interesting.
I would love some suggestions on what to write about next. Do check out Knowledge Base #1 and my Change Makers and WhatTheFacts series as well. If you like my content, please Follow Me. :)