There's
99942 Apophis. I guess they're saying that it's unlikely it will actually hit Earth. And at an estimated 510 megatons it's small compared to the one that killed the dinosaurs at 1,000,000 megatons. But, an astroid being identified and having a name helps to put a face on the danger and make it perhaps less abstract. And of course there are much larger monsters out there.
April 13th, 2029. Well, something to want to live long enough to see in 2029, I suppose. It would have to be a pretty impressive sight, I imagine. And
April 13th, 2036: I'll bet I'll be long gone by then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaW4Ol3_M1o
Quotations and paraphrases from
Hyperspace:
Our solar system moves around the Milky Way at 230 kilometers per second. The Earth goes round the galaxy every 250 million years. It travels through the densest part of the the galaxy every 30 million years, and that's the danger zone. Every 30 million years or so life on Earth comes close to being wiped out. Life has been all but eradicated on Earth 20 separate times.
Our solar system does not only rotate around the galaxy, but it also bobs up and down. As it rotates and bobs up and down it can collide with or come under the influence of other stars, black holes, super novas, etc. And, gravitational influences can knock comets out of their orbits and send them ulitmately into our solar system. The last time our solar system moved through the densest part of the galaxy was about 1 million years ago. That's about how long it takes a dislodged comet to get to our solar system. One such comet hit Jupitor in July 1994. It covered an area larger than our entire planet.
The average life span of a species on earth is a few million years. Humans have been around for about a few million years.
Let's hope they can beat the odds, I guess.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvR3xP0MI-g&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL0C58448A81E9E201
It's cool that this snippet is on Youtube to share. But I do recommend buying a copy of
Hyperspace or renting it at the library or whatever. It's awesome and the picture and audio will be much better.
Then there's
WR 104.
I was hoping there would be a clip of this from
Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking from which I first heard about WR 104. It's so good. I definately recommend getting a copy of that doc' too.
This clip isn't as good. It doesn't animate, illustrate the whole beam-shooting-out-of-the-star's-poles-and hitting-the-Earth stuff, but it's cool. Just imagine those ridiculously high energy beams shooting out of the Gamma Ray Burster Super Nova and hitting the Earth like a laser beam. Like that, yay. Er.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YdyK6bHoKQ
Ever since I learned that there is a
Supervolcano Under Yellowstone I've wondered what would happen if it had a "huge volcanic eruption" tomorrow or today or while we all are around. No, it wouldn't be an ELE, but I'm guessing that those living in North America might be toast. Maybe it would depend on which way the winds were blowing etc. How would it affect the world's climate or agriculture etc?
Yeah, as long as those
nuclear arsenals are sitting around, humanity might meet its end that way. There's all too good of a chance that humans are too stupid and too vicious
not to use them.
Maybe
genetic mistakes or
accidents. But, like Stephen Hawking believes, something he expresses in his
The Universe in a Nutshell, I suspect humans will be altering themselves, speeding up adaptation, etc. It may be that such alterations are absolutely required if the species wants to get smart enough to figure out how to escape this solar system or be physically able to live on alien planets or in artificial habitations in space or wherever. Otherwise or in anycase, it may be that humans are just not smart enough to survive beyond this planet or this solar system, that there simply aren't enough resources to colonize space, or that the physical laws simply will not permit it, no matter how smart and resourceful we or our descendants are.
The
Ultimate Human Plague, as far as our species goes. I think another name for it is usually used, but I can't recall it and googling didn't help. Perhaps:
The Human Plague, not referring to
The Black Death. But anyway, like I think Cracker already said, the fact that there are so many of us all around the globe hopefully insulates the species against extinction by plague. But just think, we've heard that there was a time in our species's history when they think there were only about thirty (?) individuals, or so. Imagine, one nasty disease that wiped them out and we wouldn't even be here. Of course, some say that the Ultimate Human Disease is already here:
HIV/AIDS.
Even before the Sun toasts the earth, the continents are supposed to move together. A History Channel documentary about the history and future of the Earth said that there will be a
super continent. It will be desolate and hostile to life such as ourselves. History Channel documentaries usually suck, but that one was good. The documentary
Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking says that the continents will cluster towards the South Pole in some 75 million years, but it is not known if the Earth will be habital then.
I have a copy of
Time, June 25, 2001. The cover says:
How the Universe Will End. Oh dear, that's already an old issue. It says that the latest data, circa 2001, suggests that
the universe will keep expanding until everything is gone. Even atoms will no longer exist. But, it speculates, perhaps humans or some other intelligent life forms could transform their minds into
digital intelligence and live on in the darkness. Really? That's over my head. So, does the digital somehow live beyond matter and energy and whatever? Could someone explain that?
Anyway, these days I wonder
what's the point of humans surviving beyond Earth. If the species lives till tomorrow or till 14 billion years from now, what's the point, really, unless they figure out how to survive the death of this universe...unless, it turns out that there
are other universes and they manage to escape into one of these other universes that is not dead? Otherwise, would it really be much ado about nothing? Maybe everything does dies, and it's best for them to just accept their mortality and to not worry about living beyond the Sun's life? Heheh, okay, I do think they ought to at least try!
********
Live for another half century as kings before decimating the planet's biosphere?
Live with a 1950s standard of living for a few more centuries?
Live as hunter-gatherers for another ten thousand years?
It's all about the trade off between population and standard of living.
Can't have both sky high.
Zero sum.
Either/or.
Who says our modern standard of living is best?
I would love it if humans could return to a hunter/gathering way of life. Either that, or Star Trek, but nothing in between. This modern age is for the birds.
You both might change your minds right quick when you get an Earth Shattering Toothe Ache or Appendicitis and there's no dentists or doctors around. We could think up another gazillion examples, but I'll bet that's not necessary.
