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Apocalyptic Prophesy?


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#1 Pasidon

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Posted 02 May 2009 - 07:22 AM

Might be a topic where people fight each other eventually... but I'm interested in other opinions.

I personally think the scientific minds of this age are crocked up on theories that claim certain dooms day situations will happen a little too often. I'm sure you've heard a dooms day situation like the sun burning out soon or something completely impossible for this age of technology to determine. But I look at all the possibilities assumed by the greatest scientific minds of this world, and they seem to make everything look pessimistic in the future. But I can't help to put all of the bad predictions together and predict only one outcome: a bad ending for the earth. I mean look at all of these examples:

-Global Warming / Pollution
-12/12/12 (Not really a probable one from modern day science)
-Over population
-The Sun burning out
-Another ice age
-The super quakes
-World hunger to mass death
-Weapons of mass destruction to mass death
-Massive Biological Epidemic
-Science becoming too powerful (A weapons of mass destruction tie sort of)
-Another World War 10x's more massive than the last
-Ice Caps melting to global flooding

These are the main ones I can think of, but I know there are thousands more. Here's the fact: the greatest minds this world has to offer has come up with most of these theories based on some sort of logical human probability cycles. Like if history has taught us anything, a nation will rise within the greatest of nations. Egypt fell, Babylon fell, Persia fell, Greece fell, Rome fell, Fascist Europe fell, and the great minds of the world must now assume the cycle will continue based on the primitive human desire to conqueror and rise up.

So are the great minds telling us the end of the world is inevitable soon?

That is what I am hearing. Every go-to guy in the field of knowing the future of mankind has told us something bad will happen. Only one thing on my list needs to happen and the world is lost. But in reality history has taught us nothing is predictable to that scale: only in a biblical seance. But the bible also says a rapture will consume the earth. Science and religion is telling us ultimate death is inevitable. What are we supposed to do, panic? Thanks for the tip... you might start a nation wide, or even world wide panic that could even cause the end of nations just because you claimed the earth's days were limited by some sort of scientific phenomenon and turn out to be wrong. Ironic.

My opinion is that things are going to go two ways... One thing on the list comes true and makes everything just go into the crap hole or science and religion is proven wrong and like Greece all those years ago, some things will pay dearly causing a lot more harm than good. Doubtful religion will ever be proven wrong, but if it is... nothing good will come of the weakening moral bond of most people.

What's your whole opinion on this apocalyptic crap?

#2 segwayrulz

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Posted 02 May 2009 - 09:27 AM

-Global Warming / Pollution

that shouldnt be there because 100 years ago the earths average temperature was the same, thus proving global warming to be a myth.

religion has been proved wrong alot of times, remember when the catholic church guessed the second coming of jesus and got it wrong?

#3 Vortigern

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Posted 02 May 2009 - 09:33 AM

Honestly, the only one of those that really worries me is overpopulation. The Earth is already too crowded and it's not going in the right direction to deal with that problem. People need to go somewhere, whether through the hurried invention of space travel or a third World War, both of which would appease me.

There's no way, absolutely no way, that the Sun will burn out, so you can safely cross that off the list. The Danny Boyle movie Sunshine was the least scientific science-fiction project ever conceived. Seriously. They kick-started the sun by blowing up a nuke on its surface, though the core of the sun, where the important stuff goes on, releases the energy of more than a million nukes every hour or so. But never mind that now. There have been several discussions herein of why global warming will not be a problem (natural cycle, we're long overdue another Ice Age, we'll just get a bit chilly, but mainly we'll all be fine. African nations will love it). Also, pollution is kinda a different problem. I know they're related but they're not really the same issue.

Also, you forgot to list both Macedon and France among the great empires. And, more importantly, Britain! We had the biggest empire ever, then it fell apart, now we're in a recession with a hated, illegitimate, half-blind Prime Minister. That's quite a fall from grace.

One last thing: you're right, religion won't help at all. If anything, I'd expect religion to play a major role in choosing the method of our absolute destruction.
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#4 Allathar

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Posted 02 May 2009 - 12:11 PM

-Global Warming / Pollution


Global warming will balance itself, and it's not humans fault. Can't be arsed to go further into this, look it up in the other topic. Pollution isn't big of a deal and can most of the time simply be 'un-polluted'.

-12/12/12 (Not really a probable one from modern day science)


I've heard that one ;)

-Over population


Not likely. Last years, the world population has even lowered. Also, don't forget that as soon as there are more humans than the earth can handle, people will die, thus resulting in less humans. Again, problem solves itself.

-The Sun burning out


Never in a million years. Well, perhaps after five million years or so... ;)

-Another ice age


Chilly. Based on geological facts, it's not likely to happen anytime soon. Moreover, we 'just' came out of a small ice age, 500 years ago.

-The super quakes


Not likely to happen in at leat 100,000 years. Plates take time to travel, y'know.

-World hunger to mass death


As soon as there are more humans than food available, people will starve, thus resulting in more food for each human until the situation is balanced. Problem solves itself.

-Weapons of mass destruction to mass death


Hmmm... Which worldleader would want a nuclear holocaust?

-Massive Biological Epidemic


Pandemic! This one seems most likely.

-Science becoming too powerful (A weapons of mass destruction tie sort of)


Like a robot revolution, in which they begin to 'kill all humans'?

-Another World War 10x's more massive than the last


Doesn't seem likely with todays nations communicating with eachother (UN and such).

-Ice Caps melting to global flooding


Even if all the ice melted, it'd be a mere 5 meters higher sealevel. We'll survive that ;)


My opinion on this crap? Yep, humanity will once die, but not in my time. Nothing to worry about.
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#5 duke_Qa

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Posted 02 May 2009 - 12:59 PM

Most likely is pandemic IMO. A black plague today could get rid of quite a few people. wars are likely, but most likely most wars in the future will be like in Iraq/Afganistan, proxy-wars and small conflicts.

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#6 Puppeteer

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Posted 02 May 2009 - 01:35 PM

I'm waiting for Mr Malthus to sort out the overpopulation problem. The rest isn't that feasible or likely to happen.

#7 OmegaBolt

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Posted 02 May 2009 - 02:55 PM

Pandemic is most likely, or would be most destructive as we're all huddled together in squalor.

I'd like to believe 2012 cause its probably the closest. IMO the end of the world would be an awesome spectacle.

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#8 Vortigern

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Posted 02 May 2009 - 02:59 PM

While that is true, I'm rather concerned with the prospect of 'what happens next?' I'm sure I don't speak for everyone, but I rather enjoy life. I would resent that all being taken away just for a spectacle, however grand it may be.
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#9 OmegaBolt

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Posted 02 May 2009 - 03:09 PM

I'd rather live for one glorious moment and die in the height of it than several smaller moments mixed with shit bits.

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#10 duke_Qa

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Posted 02 May 2009 - 03:33 PM

Thats what some suicide bomber told me ;)

Life is all about finding the little gems in the shit. That and running after dreams.

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#11 OmegaBolt

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Posted 02 May 2009 - 03:51 PM

Then the suicide bomber was right. ;) If he truely believed in the purpose then it was a true one.

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#12 Pasidon

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Posted 03 May 2009 - 06:05 AM

Bomb runners are only helping us out on the overpopulation deal recently. A thanks to our fast boys covered in blood and gunpowder.

If I'd believe anything it would be the 12/12/12 thing. These Aztec and Mayan prophecies are spookishly accurate. I don't believe the moon and stars are heads of dead people, but they knew the exact date when their cool new Hispanic gods were coming across the sea. But like Allathar said, most things won't happen for many years, and by then science will resolve things right? Probably migrate to a new galaxy or something. Probably then science will predict Riddick will assassinate god and make the universe implode on itself...

#13 OmegaBolt

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Posted 03 May 2009 - 11:53 AM

Depends how securely delusional you are regarding Human knowledge. ;)

Scientists are as most likely incorrect as Christians or any other religious peoples. There is no reason, apart from arrogance, to think that such a small creature like ourselves should be able to figure out the Universe and its workings. Of course it is in our nature to be blindly curious to the point of destruction of everything we need and love. Ultimately theres no way of actually being certain of what is real and what isnt. We're just scrambling around trying to work everything out, not believing things which we dont want to or cant fathom, so if the world isnt calculatable we wont accept that fact.

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#14 Pasidon

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Posted 05 May 2009 - 04:37 AM

Yea, I mean the telescope was invented less than 500 years ago, and all of a sudden humans become experts in astrology. I'm sure even Davinchi sat in his rocker with his eye on a telescope lens thinking, "Well that's not good."

#15 Copaman

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Posted 05 May 2009 - 12:36 PM

12/12/12 is my personal favorite. That and alien invasion. How sweet would it be to go all Mastur Cheef on some alien ass?!

Seriously the answer to all our apocalyptic problems is space colonization. People think I'm crazy but look:

- World Hunger: More farmland = more crops = no world hunger

- Overpopulation: Second planet = more space to live = no overpopulation

- Nuclear Annihilation: Second planet = can't be nuked from Earth = safe

- Ice Age: chances of two ice ages happening simultaneously on two planets? Get real...

- Ice Caps melting: Unless we go to Mars, not exactly a problem.

- Global Warming: Can't heat up the atmosphere of another planet from Earth.

- 12/12/12: Not sure how the world is predicted to end, but I'll say that a colony on a second planet cuts the chances of humanity being wiped out by half.

- AI revolution: If this happens, the end of the human race as we know it is inevitable. A second (or several) colony(ies) would only buy the resistance more time to try and find a way to beat the bots.

- Super virus: Quarantine Earth/colony by cutting off space travel. Yeah, your population will be cut significantly, but humanity STILL isn't dead.

- Sun blowing up: That's still millions of years away. PLENTY of time to find an Earth-like planet, develop cryo technologies, and work on FTL travel. Even if we can't work around the universal speed limit, by then we should've figured out anti-matter drives, fusion drives, or space-time dilation fields. Freeze the first interluminary colonists on a massive ship and send them off with the hopes of humanity on their cold shoulders.

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#16 Puppeteer

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Posted 05 May 2009 - 04:30 PM

Good luck finding that planet, then actually moving to it...

- World Hunger: More farmland = more crops = no world hunger

It's not quite as simple as that.

#17 Vortigern

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Posted 05 May 2009 - 05:15 PM

You also have to consider the exponential growth of humanity when placed in an unrestricted environment. The numbers of humans on that planet would increase at a substantially higher rate than on Earth, which would negate the point of more crops, unless they still hit their surplus demands, which is unlikely for a new frontier planet.
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#18 Copaman

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Posted 05 May 2009 - 06:04 PM

Unless that planet is Earthlike... then again, I acknowledge the chances of finding an Earthlike planet in the next 25 years to be fairly slim.

My opinion is still the same. We need to start working on the final frontier again.

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#19 partyzanPaulZy

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Posted 06 May 2009 - 12:41 AM

"Sun Burning Out" - what the hell?! Thinking of this happening in next few million years is like believing dinosaures were living together with hominides...
Earth is safe from this for at least billion years (or 2), Sun will slowly grow into the Red Giant (life zone will be somewhere around the Saturn, Earth won't be nothing more than today Mercury (or just part of the sun plasma)), then after 5 Billions years after now this Red Giant will throw away his matter creating the planetary nebula, only the Sun core will remain as the White Dwarf, slowly cooling (billions of years) into the Black Dwarf.

The worst Sun caused catastrophe could be uncontrolled Greenhouse effect - ending with something which happened before 250 millions years, when 96% of all the life extincted due to mass eruption of methan from ocean shelfs (inicialized by volcanic activity caused by creation of the Pangea), oxygen level dropped to some 10% (less than 16% is lethal - for the mankind), from large ground advanced lifeforms, only 2 roots remained:

2. bird root - this root has air bladder system in bones which allows to breath more continuoslly than mammals and be active in a atmosphere with low level of the oxygen, there were 2 side-effects of this adaptation: quick growth (into collosal measures), getting wings capable to fly

1.(proto)mammals - this root has low amount of ribs and also mammals have the diaphragm, which allows to breath larger amounts of the air, also there are 2 side-effects of this adaptation mechanism: the mammals can lie on side (unlike lizards) and female can breast-feed the youngs
After level of the oxygen rised to normal level, large brain could be sustained.

So if the level of CO2 will rise (and the level of oxygen will drop) until we all will have to pay for breath (we have already to pay for drinkable water), only some of those from the billions of sewer-rats will survive (although their IQ is same like IQ of a normal dog and they are very active), of course cockroaches will survive this, small common animals would survive this, too, etc.

To solve this we would have to replace coal powerplants with Nuclear powerplants (one of the most efficient ecological sources of energy), not just wait on Nuclear Fussion to save us... also it would help if large solar-oven powerplant alleys were built in deserts (something like those in California or Israel, top efficiency around 70%, cheaper than coal energy, semiconductor-based solar panels don't have more than 30% efficiency, usually just around 10%)
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Massive introduce of hydrogen and electricity as car fuel is also one step on the good way.

Problem is we cannot stop this now, we can slow it down and let the nature to stabilize. Maybe if we killed all the cattle (they produce the largest amounts of "man-produced" methan), but what can we do with large Siberian swamps which were all the history frozen in the permafrost?

Pandemia is another possible apocalypse, if some combat lethal virus with spread capability like flu was released, it would be real danger.
But if the Northamerican Flu (from Mexico, hybrid of human, bird and Swine Flu) was so dangerous like Spanish Flu, would the first victim, 5-year old boy, be cured from it like it was just normal flu? First 2 days are critical.
Tamiflu is big stunt, because governments buy it although Tamiflu hasn't proved to be very successfull against the bird flu. The key point is that one of the major stock-holders in that company which produce Tamiflu is Donald Rumsfeld (yes, that former US Secretary).
So while the world is in the economical crisis caused by greediness and partly by medial pressure, massmedias spread panic around the Swine Flu (how many people really died on this, 25?), in the end Pharmaceuticals Companies are climbing on Forbes rich people ladder more than energetical companies...

Overpopulation?! - Africa has problems with AIDS, ebola or new resistent strains of old diseases which were thought as dead (tubercolosis, leprosy, etc.), most of the world is dying out (average woman should have 2.3 children, but this is far from reality due hard living conditions, 3rd world population is more hardened in this), only islamic countries, India or some other Asian countries populations are growing too much (and this will also stop and reverse).

Nanite Disaster or "Skynet Scenario" would be also real danger since there are many fags producing malware... Also nanites can be key to "everlasting" young, building anything in very short time (scysraper build in few days, but also invasion did by few people with small box of nanites ready to build robotical army in few hours),
but also the biggest danger from artificial inteligence like nanite virus (wait 1-2 decades and this virus can be real).
On the other hand nanites can help us to terraform Mars. Who know maybe not 300 years, but just 50 years of terraforming would be needed to live there.

As Stephen Hawking said, humanity has to colonize other planets...

finding an Earthlike planet in the next 25 years to be fairly slim


I think it will be less than 15 years... the problem is getting there.

Edited by partyzanPaulZy, 06 May 2009 - 12:43 AM.

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#20 Pasidon

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Posted 06 May 2009 - 04:26 AM

If the sun blows up, we can just move to mars.

I was (stuck) in a science discussion about finding new worlds, and I picked up a really good point. Even if we do find a world with a similar atmosphere, the likelihood of the world being in the acceptable margin of atmospheric properties is super unlikely. Some wise-cracker said "The atmosphere of an alien world can only be off .001% of this world's normal temperature/particle type ratio." on the topic. If ya' think about it, the atmosphere can have 2% more nitrogen or something and cause big problems for living there in long term scenarios. I'm no stupid scientist who thinks he knows everything, so can't say for sure.




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