How will the world end
 

Serious discussion today folks. Your options are

Mass terrorist attack/nukes
Global warming
Gigantic natural disaster ie massive earthquake/meteor/hurricane
Sun Burns out
Alien attack
Other

Please discuss which option you think it most likely to end our planet.

Re: How will the world end
 

Global warming...this could cause a lot of natural distaters such as massive hurricanes. I don't think this is very close.

Re: How will the world end
 

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Global warming...this could cause a lot of natural distaters such as massive hurricanes. I don't think this is very close.

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Are you a climatologist or something? I like how sure you are.

Re: How will the world end
 

Not with a bang, but a whimper.

Re: How will the world end
 

Bears.

Re: How will the world end
 

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Global warming...this could cause a lot of natural distaters such as massive hurricanes. I don't think this is very close.

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A lot of peoples first response is global warming, but honestly, how will it take for global warming to kill everyone on our planet? The chance a huuuge meteor or a gigantic nuclear bomb killing everyone off is probably a greater likelyhood.

Re: How will the world end
 

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Not with a bang, but with a whimper.

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[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

if the question is, 'how will human beings end?' i think a case can be made for (in roughly descending order) nuclear war, asteroid impact / other extraterrestrial catastrophe, or climate change. if the question is how the PLANET will end, i think that's gonna be when the sun burns out.

Re: How will the world end
 

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Viagra.

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Re: How will the world end
 

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Not with a bang, but with a whimper.

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[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

if the question is, 'how will human beings end?' i think a case can be made for (in roughly descending order) nuclear war, asteroid impact / other extraterrestrial catastrophe, or climate change. if the question is how the PLANET will end, i think that's gonna be when the sun burns out.

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you got me NT, i'm shooting more for human life. Anything after that we won't give a [censored] about anyway amirite?

Re: How will the world end
 

define "world end"

you mean world end, like end of humanity or end of the planet earth ?

Supernova will end earth

Re: How will the world end
 

Not sure when, but it's going to probably be because of a serious cowbell deficiency

Re: How will the world end
 

guys,

it was bears.

Re: How will the world end
 

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define "world end"

you mean world end, like end of humanity or end of the planet earth ?

Supernova will end earth

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Actually our sun will never go supernova, it'll just expand beyond the orbit of mars and then collapse in a relatively non-violent way into a white dwarf star.

Re: How will the world end
 

"The world won't end with a whimper or a bang, but with a discreet, tasteful announcement: 'Bill Rivervale, phone call holding, line two.' Then nothing."

Re: How will the world end
 

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Bears.

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No pic? I'm disappointed.

Re: How will the world end
 

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Global warming...this could cause a lot of natural distaters such as massive hurricanes. I don't think this is very close.

[/ QUOTE ]

A lot of peoples first response is global warming, but honestly, how will it take for global warming to kill everyone on our planet? The chance a huuuge meteor or a gigantic nuclear bomb killing everyone off is probably a greater likelyhood.

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Not directly, but it will probably cause a lot more wars because of mass migration screwing up society and drastically increasing water demands. Also drastically increasing poverty, leading to political crises.

Re: How will the world end
 

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Serious discussion today folks. Your options are

Mass terrorist attack/nukes
Global warming
Gigantic natural disaster ie massive earthquake/meteor/hurricane
Sun Burns out
Alien attack
Other

Please discuss which option you think it most likely to end our planet.

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by "end of the world" do you mean earth no longer existing, or simply human beings wiped out?

if by humans going extinct then i vote sun bursts from sun spots.

either that or climate change... but i don't think climate change will kill off ALL humans like a sun thing could.

NOTE: i ahve done no research on this and am basing this vote off of TV programs that i only partially remember.

Barron

Re: How will the world end
 

Alaska is pretty empty. A lot of people could move there if the icecaps melted.

Re: How will the world end
 

I'm surprised to see nuclear war listed. I give a higher probability to biological/chemical war. The Russians have supposedly already bred an incurable smallpox, and the barriers to entry when it comes to creating that stuff are far lower than they are for making nuclear bombs, much less making them on any scale.

Re: How will the world end
 

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I'm surprised to see nuclear war listed. I give a higher probability to biological/chemical war. The Russians have supposedly already bred an incurable smallpox, and the barriers to entry when it comes to creating that stuff are far lower than they are for making nuclear bombs, much less making them on any scale.

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I would list that under "other" and I also consider this a serious threat to human life

Re: How will the world end
 

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I'm surprised to see nuclear war listed. I give a higher probability to biological/chemical war. The Russians have supposedly already bred an incurable smallpox, and the barriers to entry when it comes to creating that stuff are far lower than they are for making nuclear bombs, much less making them on any scale.

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wouldn't some tribe in some forest in south america or africa survive that kind of stuff?

Re: How will the world end
 

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Global warming...this could cause a lot of natural distaters such as massive hurricanes. I don't think this is very close.

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Are you a climatologist or something? I like how sure you are.

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From Wikipedia:

"Storm strength leading to extreme weather is increasing, such as the power dissipation index of hurricane intensity[6]. Kerry Emmanuel in Nature writes that hurricane power dissipation is highly correlated with temperature, reflecting global warming. Hurricane modeling has produced similar results, finding that hurricanes, simulated under warmer, high-CO2 conditions, are more intense; there is less confidence in projections of a global decrease in numbers of hurricanes. Worldwide, the proportion of hurricanes reaching categories 4 or 5 – with wind speeds above 56 metres per second – has risen from 20% in the 1970s to 35% in the 1990s."

Re: How will the world end
 

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Not with a bang, but a whimper.

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Ghey

Re: How will the world end
 

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I'm surprised to see nuclear war listed. I give a higher probability to biological/chemical war. The Russians have supposedly already bred an incurable smallpox, and the barriers to entry when it comes to creating that stuff are far lower than they are for making nuclear bombs, much less making them on any scale.

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wouldn't some tribe in some forest in south america or africa survive that kind of stuff?

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Could be, but some people could possibly survive a massive nuclear attack too. Nuclear winter, I've read, isn't a certainty. Of the two, it seems to me more likely that biological warfare would be tried because so many people could try it, and on the cheap.

Now it's not easy to imagine everyone everywhere wiped out, but with air travel and such, you can spread a plague world-wide within hours. And there will probably be research done, sooner or later if it isn't already, to make killing this way ever easier. You have to make it not kill everyone right away, so it can spread further, and not die easily, so people coming near bodies and contaminated surfaces can still catch a bug/virus. Maybe they'll even find a way to weaponize prions, the extremely hard to destroy proteins said to be responsible for mad cow disease and some other diseases.

I'm not sure that whatever survivors might be left over from a nuclear or biological attack would be self-sustaining, either. So that's another reason a worldwide disaster may not have to kill everybody instantly. Maybe they would wipe themselves out, be in inhospitable lands that can't feed them, or not know how to get food out of those lands. Maybe unattended nuclear power plants will break down and irradiate them, or the breakdown of the world would destroy water supplies thousands of miles away in some odd protected nook of the world. I'm not sure if you got a bunch of people with plenty of guns but not enough food and water, they wouldn't just all slaughter each other immediately or die out fairly shortly.

Re: How will the world end
 

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Global warming...this could cause a lot of natural distaters such as massive hurricanes. I don't think this is very close.

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Are you a climatologist or something? I like how sure you are.

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From Wikipedia:

"Storm strength leading to extreme weather is increasing, such as the power dissipation index of hurricane intensity[6]. Kerry Emmanuel in Nature writes that hurricane power dissipation is highly correlated with temperature, reflecting global warming. Hurricane modeling has produced similar results, finding that hurricanes, simulated under warmer, high-CO2 conditions, are more intense; there is less confidence in projections of a global decrease in numbers of hurricanes. Worldwide, the proportion of hurricanes reaching categories 4 or 5 – with wind speeds above 56 metres per second – has risen from 20% in the 1970s to 35% in the 1990s."

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Wind Shear is increasing too

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Climate model simulations for the 21st century indicate a robust increase in wind shear in the tropical Atlantic due to global warming, which may inhibit hurricane development and intensification. Historically, increased wind shear has been associated with reduced hurricane activity and intensity.

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Re: How will the world end
 

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Not with a bang, but a whimper.

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Ghey

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Eliot Sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edit: You sir, are a hollow man.

Re: How will the world end
 

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Global warming...this could cause a lot of natural distaters such as massive hurricanes. I don't think this is very close.

[/ QUOTE ]

Are you a climatologist or something? I like how sure you are.

[/ QUOTE ]


From Wikipedia:

"Storm strength leading to extreme weather is increasing, such as the power dissipation index of hurricane intensity[6]. Kerry Emmanuel in Nature writes that hurricane power dissipation is highly correlated with temperature, reflecting global warming. Hurricane modeling has produced similar results, finding that hurricanes, simulated under warmer, high-CO2 conditions, are more intense; there is less confidence in projections of a global decrease in numbers of hurricanes. Worldwide, the proportion of hurricanes reaching categories 4 or 5 – with wind speeds above 56 metres per second – has risen from 20% in the 1970s to 35% in the 1990s."

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there was an ice age documentary on a while ago about the 1500s. from 1520-1580 or so temperatures in central europe dropped by a some relatively huge #. there is evidence in soil samples, rocks, and tree rings.

during the next century, obviously temperatures rose by a similar #.

climatology is so ridiculously tough to see while it is going on.

now, that being said, i agree that just in case we ARE causing global warming, we should do everything humanly possible to prevent it's continuation (i.e. we shoudl recycle and i do. we should reduce emissions whenever possible and once ethanol is available by me i'll be buying it)

Barron

Re: How will the world end
 

winged monkies

Re: How will the world end
 

http://msnbcmedia1.msn.com/j/msnbc/C...ed.hmedium.jpg

Re: How will the world end
 

I can't believe everyone left out zombie/vampire apocalypse. Either that or When Cyberdyne becomes self aware.

Re: How will the world end
 

skynet

Re: How will the world end
 

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Serious discussion today folks. Your options are

Mass terrorist attack/nukes
Global warming
Gigantic natural disaster ie massive earthquake/meteor/hurricane
Sun Burns out
Alien attack
Other

Please discuss which option you think it most likely to end our planet.

[/ QUOTE ]


The Yellowstone Caldera is the biggest near-term threat to life, though it's unlikely to extinguish all life.

The biggest extinction threat medium-term is robots.

The biggest long-term threat is a close proximity supernova.

Re: How will the world end
 

Look I'm not saying global warming is definitely going to cause changes is weather patterns to a degree that it will kill everyone. Wind shear may be increasing and in fact lead to reduced numbers of hurricanes, but given the evidence of increased numbers in hurricanes (small sample size I know) and the strength of said hurricanes, I don't think the effect of wind shear is greater than whatever other forces, if any, are causing increases in hurricanes.


From the study KotOD linked:

"This study does not, in any way, undermine the widespread consensus in the scientific community about the reality of global warming," said Soden. "In fact, the wind shear changes are driven by global warming."



Increased hurricanes is one possible negative consequence of global warming that could conceivably end the world. With all of the other thing global warming could screw up, I think it's the most likely cause of the end of the world.

Re: How will the world end
 

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Serious discussion today folks. Your options are

Mass terrorist attack/nukes
Global warming
Gigantic natural disaster ie massive earthquake/meteor/hurricane
Sun Burns out
Alien attack
Other

Please discuss which option you think it most likely to end our planet.

[/ QUOTE ]


The Yellowstone Caldera is the biggest near-term threat to life, though it's unlikely to extinguish all life.

The biggest extinction threat medium-term is robots.

The biggest long-term threat is a close proximity supernova.

[/ QUOTE ]


I like this Yellowstone one. Didn't even enter my mind.

I'd like to hear some more thoughts on the robot thing.

Re: How will the world end
 

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Serious discussion today folks. Your options are

Mass terrorist attack/nukes
Global warming
Gigantic natural disaster ie massive earthquake/meteor/hurricane
Sun Burns out
Alien attack
Other

Please discuss which option you think it most likely to end our planet.

[/ QUOTE ]


The Yellowstone Caldera is the biggest near-term threat to life, though it's unlikely to extinguish all life.

The biggest extinction threat medium-term is robots.

The biggest long-term threat is a close proximity supernova.

[/ QUOTE ]


I like this Yellowstone one. Didn't even enter my mind.

I'd like to hear some more thoughts on the robot thing.

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15 years from now Apple is going to launch iRobot (a new device that does everything you can possibly think of including playing your music and wiping your ass), since they like to produce stuff very [censored], their first line of iRobots is going to be defective and eventually take over the world.

Re: How will the world end
 

ice-9.

OP,

could you specify what you mean by "end our planet". As in, wipe out humanity, wipe out most species, make it completely uninhabitable, literally destroy the planet? pls be more specific

I think the greatest threat to humanity in the near future is a deadly epidemic, but nuclear war, yellowstone, muslims, etc are all concerns

Re: How will the world end
 

http://depts.washington.edu/kexp/blo...Bear-Larry.jpg

Re: How will the world end
 

We could prevent the end of humanity via bears if we get rid of all the women.

But, I imagine humanity would end a different way quickly after that...

Re: How will the world end
 

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[ QUOTE ]
Serious discussion today folks. Your options are

Mass terrorist attack/nukes
Global warming
Gigantic natural disaster ie massive earthquake/meteor/hurricane
Sun Burns out
Alien attack
Other

Please discuss which option you think it most likely to end our planet.

[/ QUOTE ]


The Yellowstone Caldera is the biggest near-term threat to life, though it's unlikely to extinguish all life.


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I thought that was basically limited to this continent.

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The biggest extinction threat medium-term is robots.


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What the heck?

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The biggest long-term threat is a close proximity supernova.

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This has got to pale next to us killing ourselves off one way or the other.

Re: How will the world end
 

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We could prevent the end of humanity via bears if we get rid of all the women.

But, I imagine humanity would end a different way quickly after that...

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We would die of happiness?