I don't know if this topic is in the right thread, but it sparked an interesting discussion at Ashla Knights.


Human Extinction - The Possible Scenarios

(1) Humanity - Some threats for humanity come from humanity itself that could cause a complete political, economical, ideological and social collapse.

(2) Warfare & Mass Destruction - A long and resource exhausting war of attrition, Nuclear warfare and/or a Doomsday device.

(3) "Unforeseen Consequences Of Technology" Such As Artificial intelligence - It has been suggested that learning computers that rapidly become super-intelligent may take unforeseen actions or that robots would out-compete humanity. Note: In 2009, experts attended a conference hosted by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) to discuss whether computers and robots might be able to acquire any sort of autonomy, and how much these abilities might pose a threat or hazard. They noted that some robots have acquired various forms of semi-autonomy, including being able to find power sources on their own and being able to independently choose targets to attack with weapons. They also noted that some computer viruses can evade elimination and have achieved "cockroach intelligence."(4)

(5) Climate Change & Global Warming - It has been suggested that runaway global warming (runaway climate change) might cause the climate on Earth to become like Venus, which would make it uninhabitable. In less extreme scenarios it could cause the end of civilization, as we know it.

(6) Global Pandemic - A less predictable scenario is a global pandemic. For example, if HIV were to mutate and become as transmissible as the common cold, the consequences would be disastrous.

(7) Ecological Disaster & Famine - An ecological disaster, such as world crop failure and collapse of ecosystem services, could be induced by the present trends of overpopulation, economic development and non-sustainable agriculture. Most of these scenarios involve one or more of the following: Holocene extinction event, scarcity of water that could lead to approximately one half of the Earth's population being without safe drinking water, pollinator decline, overfishing, massive deforestation, desertification, climate change, or massive water pollution episodes. A very recent threat in this direction is colony collapse disorder, a phenomenon that might foreshadow the imminent extinction of the Western honeybee. As the bee plays a vital role in pollination, its extinction would severely disrupt the food chain.

( Natural Disaster - Super-Volcano, Mega-Tsunami, Hyper-Hurricane, Super-Quake

(9) Extraterrestrial Influence/Alien Invasion - Aliens are very likely out there, according to eminent scientist Stephen Hawking but we should keep quiet and hope they don't notice us.

(10) Rogue Planetary Body &/Or Cosmic Event - Meteorite/Asteroid, Black-hole Or Gamma Ray burst.

(11) The Rapture - The Return Of Jesus Christ

(12) 2012 Mayan Doomsday Calendar Scenario - ashlaknights.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=62

Related Ashla Knights Topics: George Lucas Believes The 2012 Apocalypse Could Happen, December, 21 2012 - Doomsday, First Contact Is A Bad Idea!, End Of The World Or Sign Of The Times?, Did BP Trigger A World Killing Event?, Secret 20 Year Government Bunker Building Program - 2012 & Another Doomsday Prediction Has Come & Gone!


What human extinction event do you think has the highest probability of happening and why? Also, if you had exactly $25 million dollars to spend on efforts to prepare for your possible extinction event, what would you do?

1, 2, and 5 are the most likely to happen. Humans in their own right will just kill themselves off at the way they are going. No one is willing to work with anyone to make things easier, but then again that is part of being human.

I didn't see "natural evolutionary processes" in that list... human extinction could occur if we evolve to be something else--something which is no longer recognizeable as human. Right now, I think that's the most likely way that humanity will become "extinct" in the modern sense.

I don't think any will come to pass, the reason we've survived so far is our ability to adapt quickly, we are not different from our ancestors 200,000 years ago (apart from being taller!). And I usually correct people about the Mayan calender prophecy because the calender doesn't stop it will just starts again like any other calender, all I can see happening on 21/12/1012 is a world changing event, war, coronal mass ejection, another larger financial event, I'm not sure. We're all built to last and I believe we'll be around for a long time yet.

On 31-12-2012, our calendar ends... that's surely the end of the world!

On 31-12-1999, I was with a bunch of people who decided to stand in an elevator as the new year rolled over. There were dire predictions about elevators stopping, medical machines ceasing to work, traffic signal systems failing, and lots of other things that just didn't come to pass, including the Apocalypse (there were also 3 different religious paths all fighting over WHICH Apocalypse was going to occur, each favoring their own).

And as we can see, the end of a calendar isn't the end of the world, but here are a couple of ideas to consider:

If a world-ending planetoid was hurtling toward the Earth, we would be able to see it with backyard telescopes by now, considering that these same telescopes can easily pick out the moons of Saturn. Thus, "Planet X" or "Nibiru" is nothing more than some bullshit ploy to try to stir up hysteria. It also missed in 2003, when it was supposed to happen the first time.

The Rapture was supposed to be on May 23, 2011, and was then pushed back to October 21, 2011. It was also supposed to happen at every cosmic, planetary, cyclic, or other end since 1000AD. There have been LOTS of predictions that these are the "last days" since the late 1700's. In the 20th Century alone, the Jehovah's Witnesses predicted that the Rapture would occur on 8 different dates (the last in that century was in 1995). There are so many ideas about this that if it was ACTUALLY to happen, everyone would disagree that it was the real thing, and the skeptics would have a heyday.

Seriously, folks: the future can't be reliably predicted. There are things we can point to as indicators--causal predictors which are actually pretty good. But in the end, we should look at the here and now and leave the future to whatever will happen, while working to make our own lot better through prevention of suffering, promotion of kindness, and devotion of service to others. This line of thought does nobody good service.

I consider this line of thought little more than "intellectual masturbation" because regardless of what we decide the future will be, the truth will only be revealed when the future becomes the now. The future doesn't have to do what we expect it to do, and it's better in a lot of cases if it doesn't.

However, I won't stop anyone who want to post here, either. This is just my own opinions, so feel free to tell me how wrong I am, or whatever... this is in fact interesting.

It will be interesting to watch this show soon (will come on in about 15 minutes). It's on profiling people who predict the end of the world. (one of the very FEW reasons I still have cable).

Although I am Christian, I have read some compelling works that suggest Revelations has already taken place. So I'll put about 20% of my money on the Biblical end (which DOES NOT INCLUDE THE RAPTURE-I don't buy that story, it's not Biblical), 45% on a comet impacting the earth sometime in the distant future and finally 35% on the sun's death.

On the note of Nibiru (which was said to have a 3,600 year orbit)-who's to say that it did exist at one point in time, but it has seen it's demise? I would support the evidence against Nibiru, if scientist could prove that along any potential oribital path Nibiru could possibly have had would encounter another body of mass that should be able to capture it within gravitational field (and I have no doubt that it is possible-but no one has seemed to look for that rather than whether or not the planet is there). According to Zacheria Sitchen (the guy who first introduced Nibiru to the public) there was a story of Marduk and Tiamat being planets that collided together because their orbital path intersected. For all we know, this happened with Nibiru, and the story is locked on earth in the old testament and the Book of Enoch. According to the story, the fallen angels were sentenced to live at least 10000 years in Tartarus. As I recall, there was also a story that Sitchen interpreted to mean that many of the "gods" did not return to their world. This may have been a result of not having a world to return to.

Too many elements to take into consideration. Especially if it DOES all boil down to a matter of Ancient Astronauts were responsible for our early civilization. *shrugs*