The End of Humanity: Could the Human Species Destroy Itself?
There are lots of ways humanity could be wiped out - although I don't think any of them are particularly likely.
Natural causes - An extinction-level asteroid impact would probably be sufficient, although not much else would - a disease epidemic, major climate shift, etc. would still leave many survivors to rebuild within a few hundred years. The window for such an impact is, however, extremely short, because it's extremely likely that within 300 years or so we will have the means to predict and avert all dangerous impacts. And the chance of that happening is, from historical comparison, 0.001% or less.
There are a few other possibilities that would be much more catastrophic, though. One is a supernova very nearby, which would blast Earth with intense gamma radiation and most likely kill all macro-organisms. However, there aren't any stars large and old enough for this to be a risk for hundreds of thousands of years. Another is orbital destabilization of Earth (such as ejection from the Solar System) by a close-passing star - but the chance of that is extremely remote, and in addition we'd have thousands of years of warning. And the last that I can think of is alien invasion… which is really out there, obviously.
The eventual solar threats to life on Earth are not really relevant to humanity/posthumanity. The Sun is not large enough to supernova, but it will eventually engulf the Earth when it runs out of internal fuel and swells into a red giant. That's a good 4-5 billion years away, but well before that, though, the Sun will have become bright enough to heat Earth's surface enough to trigger a major atmospheric shift by overwhelming the "cloud effect" (which keeps temperatures on Earth stable) with a runaway greenhouse gas effect, boiling the oceans and making the planet Venus-like, uninhabitable except by micro-organisms. But even that is about 2 billion years away, plenty of time for posthumanity to rise and either avert the problem or simply head elsewhere.
Accident - A scientific experiment run awry, or an unexpected side-effect of some new technology could potentially wreck some serious havoc.
One possible horribly catastrophic scenario would be the unforeseen generation of a miniature black hole somewhere on Earth. If the hole did not evaporate instantaneously (and it would have to be pretty large not to, so I don't know how it would be possible to generate one accidentally) it would quickly bore a hole to the center of the Earth, absorbing more and more mass as it went, and eventually implode the planet.
Earth will outlive us all and when the human species eventually dies out, Earth will still be here fixing itself from the damage we have caused, yet continuing with the natural disasters. I do admit, we are polluting the planet, but there will always be some sort of life on Earth even if humans are not. People should not be too worried about destroying the planet because it will heal itself. If people begin to pollute it too much, Earth will kill us off. Roderick Nash, along with many other people, underestimates the power of the Earth. It can take care of itself just like how it has been for over a billion years.
The movie, Interstellar, beautifully portrayed how the end of time would affect culture, individual citizens, and the mental state of the people in the crisis. Using social Darwinism and functionalism revealed that humans will go to great lengths to save their species. Some of the people on Earth may believe it is their god given right to survive. Humans have used this belief throughout history to overcome obstacles, to go the extra mile, to better their societies in order to become the strongest, toughest
What is the most devastating natural disaster known? Hurricanes are one of the most catastrophic and natural events to ever be experienced. They can be up to 600 miles across and have wind speed of 75 to 200 mph. Hurricane Sandy and Hurricane Katrina happened to be two of the most devastating hurricanes in history.
The earth is about four billion years old, within the span of these four billion years; the earth has become accustomed to various transitions and dissimilar geological and environmental permutations. The Ice age period has been the subject of much debate regarding these various transitions. As the rate at which geological disasters on earth continue to intensify we begin to ask ourselves whether it is possible for an ice age to spontaneously occur overnight. Nonetheless, In order for such a disaster to persist, massive improbable geological events would have to occur and graft coherently which is evidently and scientifically impossible. The notion that an ice age can occur overnight is implausible for the reason being that: Global warming is on a evidential rise , chances of catastrophic volcanic activity as deteriorated and the earth's orbit is at a period of solar radiation absorption.
Earth has served as a good home for humans for many years, and will most likely
The Earth should last for millions of years and gradually get colder until all life forms die, unless God steps in and brings the world, as the world knows it and passes out the last judgment. The population does not know when the Second Coming will transpire but they must be perpetually on the watch because it will come like a thief in the night.
Not only will this be catastrophic for the humans, but animal and plant life will suffer too (“Global Warming” 4, 10, Than 1-4). The oceans will become more polluted and warmer which will cause fish along with coral reefs will die (“Global Warming” 4). The heat will bring animals to extinction; their migration patterns will be altered, change their diet, and force them to live in different locations in order to find a suitable climate (Than 1). Additionally, the warming will hurt the crop production. Crops have a very specific range of temperatures they should grow in order to maximize their yield, and if the earth is going to be above the temperature then crop yield will suffer. Projections for the year 2050 show...
Lani is having a hard time deciding on what to do. She recently went out with some girls, had a couple of drinks and woke up with a strange man. A couple weeks went by and she started noticing that there might be something growing inside her. She’s debating on if she should abort it,but even if she does keep it her tax dollars are still funding planned parenthood. What's the point? So she decided to do some research on planned parenthood, she shortly found out some shocking news about this facility.If we defund planned parenthood, then people would be saving a lot more money and planned parenthood wouldn’t profiting around $6 million wasting people’s time and tax dollars.The research that Lani’s
Progress and the Total Destruction of the Earth Throughout all of history, humans have evolved not only genetically, but also culturally. Of the two evolutionary processes, cultural evolution happens more quickly, and has had a more noticeable effect on the environment compared to genetic evolution. Early hunter/gatherer societies evolved to agrarian society, which then had technological changes that affected the culture of the society. Unfortunately, while humans have been culturally evolving towards what is perceived to be progress, the environment has been compromised, marginalized, and degraded as it is continually exploited for human benefit and consumption. The culture of hunter/gatherer society was the least damaging to the environment in the long term before humans developed agriculture.
Scientists think this was thanks to the combination of a super-volcano erupting and the ice-age.
... temperatures will drop so low that the “Ice Age” will began. After the polar ice caps melt, we will experience the effect of the frozen freshwater entering into the conveyor belt system that circulates warm water around the Earth and the cold freshwater will dilute the warm salty water and effectively turn off the ecosystem. Then the possible end of days or "Ice Age” will be in affect.
The definition of Catastrophic found in the dictionary is “1. involving or causing sudden great damage or suffering. or 2. extremely unfortunate or unsuccessful.” (dictionary.com)
The warming of the Earth is known more commonly as global warming. Maybe this subject is going to be fought over for centuries while we squander the time we have left, but even if we did stop doing the things that cause global warming, it will not bring it to a standstill. The main cause is pollution, and although scientists say that crude oil will be a thing of the past, alternatives to it will be created. Whether you consider the future to be one hundred years away or just a second, the conception of the future is always the same. There are numerous views on the future, but each one says the identical thing.
The hottest recorded temperature was in 2005 which matched the temperature in 1998. Twice in the last decade we've had the hottest temperature on average ever recorded throughout history. Coincidence. I think not. The snows of the Kilimanjaro have basically vanished and in a couple decades Glacier National park is going to need a new name because by 2030 there will be no glaciers left in the whole park. The great Greenland icecaps are melting at an alarming pace, and sliding into the sea. Your right, who cares it's not like its happening near us. But by 2100 all our coastal states will look like Venice including ours. You won?t be alive but your children and grandchildren will. The sea level is expected to rise up to 23 inches in the next decade. There has been a 100 percent increase in intensity and duration of hurricanes and tropical storms since 1970 according to a 2005 MIT study. How much more evidence do we need before someone does something about this? For anyone who cares at all about the future, the gradual transformation of our earth is turning into a human-furnace that makes terrorism look like a game of monopoly. Think I'm kidding? By 2050, 15-37% of all plant and animal species could be extinct. Meaning it will be harder for plants to produce photosynthesis. No big right? Wrong. Without photosynthesis, oxygen can?t be made. Most of us in this room will be in our late 60?s by then with children and grandchildren. What does that mean for them? The air will be harder to breath and the temperature of earth will have increased by 2 degrees Fahrenheit. By 2050 up to 38% of water will be unable to hold underwater species because of rising temperature.
earth?s atmosphere starts to warm, which leads to global warming. Global warming can lead to