When you look at possible scenarios for the end of the world you can divide them into three groups: natural, human-made, supernatural.
Natural
- World wide pandemic
- Climate change
- Black hole sucking in the Solar system
- collision event
Human-made
- global warming -> climate change
- nuclear war/terrorism
- Revolting machines (think of the movie "Terminator")
- Creating of a artificial black hole (LHC anyone?)
Supernatural - see "The End. Part one."
The end will come in 2012...
... at least many prophecies say so.
Some facts and theories:- On December 21 the Maya calendar will finish a 5,125 year long cycle. Many New Age speculators say that the world as we know it will come to an end.
Maya calendar.
- A web bot project which scans the web for specific keywords predicted that the world will end on December 21. In the past it is said that it predicted September 11 events. Another proof that you can find everything in the web.
- Planet X will collide with Earth. Another New Age belief. Problem is that so far this planet is invisible, very convenient.
- A black hole will reign havoc on the Solar system, so far noone noticed it, yet.
Flash movie presenting end of the world
I believe none really knows the date of the world's end and anyone will be able to prepare. Still, even if all of these prophecies seem to be funny, they have some value: they remind us about the passing of things, including our own lives. Surely, everything is possible, but I imagine the end of our world as if someone suddenly turns off the light. That's the most appealing picture for me :-)
ReplyDeleteYou mean with no fear involved? I agree.
ReplyDeleteEarth once had "end of the world", when a large meteorite crashed into earth and dinosaurs became extinct, it can happen again. So it depend on how big will be the meteorite.
ReplyDeleteI think we can say, at least twice. Before extinction of dinosaurs there was at least one more extinction of species. It was when first multicellular organism evolved. But that's not even half of the story. Quick look on wikipedia and you see that there was FIVE mass extinctions. So, I believe that life on earth already used to it.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Asia. In my opinion we can't predict date of the end. I don't believe in all of these (reasonable) prophecies. I don't have any image of the end. It will be something unimaginable. But i'm sured nuclear war is not possible due to balance of power and politicians' fear of loosing authority and money. We don't have to be afraid of global warming too. Milions years ago the temperature was higher and life still exists.(there are many other reasons). So I don't believe in ecologists predictions.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion if something cause the end of world it would be human. I do not believe in any supernatural things. I hate catastrophic films like 2012 or Armageddon. I think that talking about doomsday, the end of world is going to make panic through the people, and it is a good way manipulate them. I believe in conspiracy theory and I think that governments sponsor this kind of films..
ReplyDeleteDude, I love both 2012 and Armageddon, not because they remind me anything, but.. just because ;D
ReplyDeleteI agree that the end of world will come most likely because of the way how human acts, but I wouldn't be so certain that collisions in the universe are impossible.
I was wondering what can be the result of experiments in LHC. As Large Hadron Collider can produce small black holes which disapire to fast to be dangerous it sounds reasonable to think that they can create such a big black hole which will kill all of us! I tell you, it's just a matter of time!
Well I'm actually quite annoyed by all these end of the world prophecies, 2012 etc...
ReplyDeletePeople make these theories by composing some truth with many myths, I've watched program on Discovery Channel which exactly showed how it works.
End of the world can happen, there is a chance that some space object will collide with Earth but saying that it will happen on some particular date while there is no rational evidence is clear fear mongering and lie.
We should however take safety measures to protect from such events, for example develop a way of disposing dangerous space objects which would be in colliding course with Earth.
just as Michał Opoka wrote - some natural cataclysms are of course possible, but all the prophecies are just cheap sensations or a way to earn money or become popular.
ReplyDeletebtw: does everyone nowadays believe that global warming is caused by humans? this is shocking. why do people believe it while there are no solid proofs?
I don't think it's true. Once someone said that after polish Pope there will be the black one and after this black one will be the end of our world.
ReplyDeleteI didn't notice any black Pope so far.. Of course many sources predict the end for year 2012, but for me it is pointless to speculate because we will find out then. We can't be sure about anything, like about greenhouse effect. For a few years we've been hearing about global warming and everything connected, but this year several scientists told us something like this never existed. So what should we believe in? Maybe in facts... But there's no REAL fact that
the world is going to end in 2012.Actually I’d rather expect that Polish football team will play in finals of The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship than we become extinct.
Well, believing in such a prophecys doesn't really testify in those who believe in it favour. Such revelations should be first evaluated by accredited scientists, not one or two seers. It has a lot in common with telling fortune by cards or horoscopes. Latter are made up every week by ordinary editors - sometimes they agree reality, more often they don't.
ReplyDelete...when it comes to global warming, more than 95% of CO2 in the atmosphere is not produced by human. It is mostly caused by volcanoes, oceans and so on... even cows produce more CO2 than our civilization.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you, there is no reason to think that the world will come to an end in a specific day, but you have to say, that this is a great topic to discuss, even if there is no real scientific background.
There are movies about the end of the world, because it is difficult to imagine anything more spectacular than that.
If I think about doomsday I see something like Nuclear World War rather than natural cataclysms that will destroy all human beings.
ReplyDeleteBy "doomsday" I understand something rapid, things like another Ice Age etc. takes to much time.
Any theory can be true. Ok maybe without 2012 and Maya. But for me believe in some date are ... stupid :)
ReplyDelete@Tomasz Bar
ReplyDeleteYou are right about the CO2 numbers. Still I think that even 5% is enough to change the climate, not rapidly tho. Keep in mind that the number forests is shrinking aswell.
I’m not a fan of those theories. It is a fact that USA and Russia have nuclear missiles capable of destroying earth several times, (Which in fact is stupid, why do you need destroying earth more than one time?!?) but I hope that Russians and Americans like everybody else have a little self-preservation instinct left. Generally I think that we should focus on doing our things and stop worrying. Come on, if such day will come, there is probably nothing we can do to prevent it, so why waste energy?
ReplyDeleteFrom my point of view, it doesn't really matter what kills you, as long as it will do it fast. There cannot be anything worse than dying slowly, for example out of starvation, thirst or torture. When it comes to speculating about an exact date of the end of the world, I don't believe in any exact predictions. According to some false prophets doomsday was supposed to come in the year 2000, when of course it didn't. The same situation will take place in two years time.
ReplyDeleteThere will be no end of the world in 2012 because the calendar of Maya's is going to finish.. This so stupid that people believe in that. How they were able to predict end of the world in that times huh? I think that people will faster kill each others and this will be our doomsday than some asteroid will collide with earth.
ReplyDeleteThings could happen... I mean there are possibilities that some meteorite will collide with earth, nuclear war will destroy human being or dangerous world wide pandemic encompasses the whole world but I don't believe in ridiculous predictions such as Maya calendar...
ReplyDeleteThere are many mathematic pattern showing us that there will be a huge hit between Earth and a meteor. But when? That’s the question.
ReplyDeleteMany scientist said our civilization would die in 2880. There is a big article in the newest “21 WIEK” shows whole comparison: the year of collision and the size of space object. So June 2011 – asteroid 7m, June 2028 – asteroid 780m, ….. , march 2880 – asteroid named 1950DA - 1000m diameter and that one is most dangerous.
I’m sure that the end of the world would happen in 2012 (especially for Poland) and not because Maya calendar is ending but due to a big delay in our Olympic Infrastructure. Our National Stadium wouldn’t be finished punctually, our roads and whole communication venture would collapse.
FIFA would organized Championships in Spain and every country of the world would say about Poland – “Oh, look at that place, this is Poland they scrued up everything. There is nothing interesting there, put our business anywhere else…come on, get away from here.”
And many years later some director would make a movie about us: “Polish Wars” and it would be began like that: “A long time ago, in Poland - country far, far away after Burkina Faso or Uganda.”
*print screen’ed*