Morbid question but how do you think humanity and the world as we know will end?

[Blantyre]

It seems like it will happen at some point due to either a mass epidemic, cataclysmic natural disaster or potentially some brilliant but evil madman or government pulling off a mass self-destructing act.

One interesting thing to ponder is will humanity each other galaxies or planets once it happens or in the off chance, will we live on in some form forever?

 

[EADC]

World war 3 after Russia invades Ukraine

Nukes are going to fly can't wait

 

[scudsucker]

I suspect a slightly longer time scale than a quick nuclear war, where we overbreed for the resources already limited by global warming to make our generations grandchildren the last.

 

[Blantyre]

where we overbreed for the resources already limited by global warming to make our generations grandchildren the last.

The only critique I have is that population growth tends to stabilize and then decline once quality of life gets to a decent level and poverty is ended.

It seems a far cry now but I'd imagine that most of the world will be developed within 150 years and population growth will be negative.

 

[Johnatan56]

Your question is timeline and what state culture will fall back to, I do think we'll probably fall at one point, but not this generation yet, maybe a bit later, and most of us will die in whatever catastrophe it is.

 

[Nicholas]

It seems like it will happen at some point due to either a mass epidemic, cataclysmic natural disaster or potentially some brilliant but evil madman or government pulling off a mass self-destructing act.

One interesting thing to ponder is will humanity each other galaxies or planets once it happens or in the off chance, will we live on in some form forever?

/Sucks on thumb

One or catastrophic events [for example giant space rock followed by seismic upheaval] at which juncture a world already weakened by climate change and human-driven extinction goes down like dominoes.

I hear that the sixth great extinction event may already be underway. so...collapse of ecological systems, escalating conflict over resources we are burning through ever faster, widespread regional wars and collapse of governments if not an outright global war. Ensuing population crash accompanied by various diseases. Let's not forget that the end might only be one asteroid strike away. How would another incidence of solar activity on the scale of The Carrington Event [or worse] affect much of the technology we depend on.

Maybe scattered communities of humans might survive, but it could be as though we had abruptly been knocked back thousands of years. I hope some form of life can pull through and recover from this mess. In the long term, this planet is toast.

Humans will be lucky to establish a viable settlement on Mars. The only human artefacts with a chance of getting close to another star system will be whatever remains of the probes we have sent out. [See Douglas Adams on the size of the universe we live in.] Our television and radio broadcasts will already have rippled into the local cluster of star systems. These may well be distorted/drowned out by whatever they pass through and as the universe continues to expand.

In the cosmic blink of an eye, there will be nothing left to show that we existed.

As it has been for many hundreds of billions of life forms before us, our worlds will end when we lose consciousness for the last time.

[writing stuff is hard stuff, and I'm already wondering whether I should have speculated]

 

[Blantyre]

I hear that the sixth great extinction event may already be underway. so...collapse of ecological systems, escalating conflict over resources we are burning through ever faster, widespread regional wars and collapse of governments if not an outright global war. Ensuing population crash accompanied by various diseases. Let's not forget that the end might only be one asteroid strike away. How would another incidence of solar activity on the scale of The Carrington Event [or worse] affect much of the technology we depend on.

I was thinking about this.

Supposing there was a catalysmic event like a meteorite strike that would be detectable in a short period of time, it would probably not be told to the world community at large that we are going to be wiped out. It would be much better if we remained calm and went out unexpectedly than if they had to tell everyone. There would probably be large scale anarchy if that happened.

 

[Nicholas]

I was thinking about this.

Supposing there was a catalysmic event like a meteorite strike that would be detectable in a short period of time, it would probably not be told to the world community at large that we are going to be wiped out. It would be much better if we remained calm and went out unexpectedly than if they had to tell everyone. There would probably be large scale anarchy if that happened.

Have you read or watched anything about previous catastrophes, such as the Permian Extinction, or the Great Oxidation Event? A documentary I watched about the extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period showed evidence of see-sawing climate change, changes in sea-level, and volcanism topped off with the Chicxulub impact [press-pulse extinction]

 

[Nicholas]

I was thinking about this.

Supposing there was a catalysmic event like a meteorite strike that would be detectable in a short period of time, it would probably not be told to the world community at large that we are going to be wiped out. It would be much better if we remained calm and went out unexpectedly than if they had to tell everyone. There would probably be large scale anarchy if that happened.

Could be very difficult to keep this quiet.

 

[Nicholas]

On a smaller scale, have you ever wondered what the fallout would be a smaller space rock hitting/coming down near a major city, site of religious significance, or volatile spot on the Earth's crust? [The Chicxulub impactor is supposed to have hit an area rich in sulphur, resulting in the release of sulphur dioxide in to the atmosphere. [This could help to tip things over the edge, too.]

More crazy scenario:
Two warring space-faring civilisation see the part of space we are in as having strategic significance. We are collateral damage, or they decide to sterilise the planet for funsies.

On the plus side, we don't have to worry about the Infinity Stones falling into the wrong hands, right?

 

[Nicholas]

Gamma-Ray Burst

 

[Blantyre]

An interesting discussion as well is whether future generations will defeat aging? It does seem like we are slowly getting there and future generations may live up to 150. As it is, these days people making 100 years in first world countries especially is no longer rare.

But there are obviously ethnical concerns about this.

 

[Seldom Bucket]

In the words of late comedian George Carlin:

 

[Seldom Bucket]

The routine video

 

[LD50]

It will burn ,you and me we will both burn

 

[Seldom Bucket]

 

[Paul Hjul]

it starts with an earthquake
Birds and snakes, and aeroplanes
And Lenny Bruce is not afraid

On which note, I absolutely love this rendition

 

[Moosedrool]

Here's one.

A rogue planet aimed towards our solar system. Astronomers pick it up but there is nothing humanity can do. The planet will destabilise orbits but the prediction model's accuracy increases as the planet moves closer.

Which would you prefer:

1. Earth being flung out of the solar system where temperatures will plummet in a matter of weeks until we're just a ice ball?

2. Or have earth fly into the sun where in a few days the temperatures sky rocket, solar winds break through our magnetic field causing crazy bright arouras until the planet is a molten ball days/hours before becoming sun food?

 

[Blantyre]

Here's one.

A rogue planet aimed towards our solar system. Astronomers pick it up but there is nothing humanity can do. The planet will destabilise orbits but the prediction model's accuracy increases as the planet moves closer.

Which would you prefer:

1. Earth being flung out of the solar system where temperatures will plummet in a matter of weeks until we're just a ice ball?

2. Or have earth fly into the sun where in a few days the temperatures sky rocket, solar winds break through our magnetic field causing crazy bright arouras until the planet is a molten ball days/hours before becoming sun food?

Supposing a cataclysmic event was detected with nothing being able to be done, will the global population be informed or they just keep quiet?

I'm pretty sure it will not really be detectable by some of the world's most powerful people so they will be able to withhold info.