Thoughts on Armageddon

[z187]

So who here belives that the world is going to end in some way in the forseeable future.

I think the way things are going there could be rough times for many people in the later half of the 21st century. The rate things are going the world could experience overpopulation, foot shortages, fresh water shortages

on top of that you got the threat of Global Warming, rising water levels and all that other crazy stuff.


Money makes the world go around, I think "Armageddon" may be a strong word but I have the feeling a decline in the standard of living for the majority of the population is inevitable in the future.

[barracuda]

As you've defined Armageddon as the end of the world, my answer is NO. Not going to happen anytime soon (let's say withing the next 100 years).

Every generation since the death of Jesus has been predicting that Armageddon was imminent and all have been sorely mistaken. Now, one could argue that our generation is in a unique position to screw things up and that is correct and needs to be discussed.

4 arguments for the world ending soon flourish in the media:

1. Global warming: The argument goes that because we are bad boys and girls, consuming way too many carbon rich goodies temperatures will rise, sea levels will rise and we'll be either drowned by floods or killed by storms feeding on hot water. This might or might not happen at some point, but I can guarantee you 100% that it won't happen within 100 years. These things take forever to develop

2. The time for Revelations is here: It never seizes to amaze me how often I hear preachers on TV argue that the return of devine rule on earth will happen imminently. Their arguments go something like this: We, the sinners, are sinning like crazy right now, fornicating like monkeys, fucking eachother in the ass like never before and killing unborn babies for sports. All of this appearently showing that the time is right for the dark lord to make a grand stand. Furthermore the argument goes that the Bible said Jesus would only return when everybody in the world had hear the message of Christ and with Internet and TV penetrating every corner of the world, Jesus return can happen soon and the final battle can begin. With all due respect to my Christian friends, this falls on its own logic. I imagine it will take at least another 500 years before everyone has running water, let alone Internet or TV.

3. Nuclear wipe-out: The argument goes that the US and Russia have in the range of 5000-10000 nukes each, enough to wipe out the world several times over (UK, China, India, Pakistan, France and Israel only have a few hundred together, enough to make us very uncomfortable, but hardly literally end of the world). This argument has a lot of merit. The US and Russia can end life on earth. Luckily they are a) only 2 and b) don't have any incentives to do so and c) have sort of gotten over the most dangerous period already. But it still could happen.

4. Various natural disasters: Some believe that a giant meteor or a freak super -vulcano or monster tsunami could end life on earth. Technically correct but the odds are 1 in a trillion. I wouldn't loose sleep over it

[Jager]

Human kind has always experienced "rough" times, and we will no doubt experience more. The key is..can we work through it?

I'm cautiously optimistic, but I do think things will get much worse before they get better. Barring a nuclear war, I think humanity will be fine in the long term.

Short term? I see some potential problems. The rich countries still USE way too much of everything, and the poor countries are basically door mats for the richer ones.

We need to fix third world poverty, but that will mean we take a "cut" in our standard of living, something that most western people are not willing to do unfortunately. To me, that is the problem.

The world can't survive that way, and a bunch of people are going to die, and they are not going to be in Europe or North America for the most part, they'll be in Africa, South East Asia, and some poor countries in South America.

Now there is a silver lining. Technology can save us, I'm convinced of this, but like I said, we have to change our ways.


Now there is always a threat of a large Super volcano erupting, that will severely screw up the atmosphere, and we might have mass starvations because of it, as we might not be able to grow enough food.

The other is a very large asteroid/comet hitting the planet. That will wipe us out for sure, but nothing that technology can't prevent, but that will take further space exploration.

There is also plague, but I'm not convinced that that will wipe out the whole population, there will always be people who are immune, and we can develop a vaccine for it.

[Hutchs' throw ins]

There have always been popultion declines and increases, the black plague, WWs 1 and 2.

Statistically there wont be an armageddon as such, but if there was, it'd more than likely be an asteroid, or meteorite. There are millions flying through space, and earth has been hit several times by them in the last 30 000 years. It would only have to be about a mile across to wreak utter devastation.

To see how common they are just check out the surface of the moon with binoculars.

[LaVecchiaSignora]

Hutch has watched the movie one to many times!....Plus if something that big was coming for us, trust me they would be able to deflect it away from the earth! Or we could send bruce willis up there to drill a hole in it and blow it up! haha

[z187]

Its hard to predict what would happen..

but I think the effects of climate change will bring some turmoil...

If some major war breaks out in the future, it could be catatrophic with the advanced weapons that are used today.. but currently such a large scale event appears unlikely to occure for the forseeable future.

[Jager]

Originally Posted by LaVecchiaSignora

Hutch has watched the movie one to many times!....Plus if something that big was coming for us, trust me they would be able to deflect it away from the earth! Or we could send bruce willis up there to drill a hole in it and blow it up! haha

Actually I think it is you who has watched to many movies. We have only scanned ten percent of the potential asteroids or comets that are out there.

Meaning, that it is very likely if we are going to be get hit, we would have little warning or no warning at all.

A global response to a pending strike would take an effort of titanic proportions, and we would need a few years to prepare for it, that IS right. Two years minimum. At the moment, if there is an asteroid or comet out there, that we don't know about. And it will strike in a year...we would NOT have enough time.

When the government's of the world realise this, maybe they'll take it more seriously.

[Hutchs' throw ins]

Originally Posted by LaVecchiaSignora

Hutch has watched the movie one to many times!....Plus if something that big was coming for us, trust me they would be able to deflect it away from the earth! Or we could send bruce willis up there to drill a hole in it and blow it up! haha

Lol- never seen that film.

The most recent comet/meteorite to hit earth with loss of life, was the Siberian one of 1908. 40km of forest flattened, reindeer fried, from a small comet or meteorite about 10 -15 megaton explosion. There will almost certainly be others.

[Jager]

Small ones like the Tunguska explosion happen frequently, once a century, but most will likely explode over water, as the makeup of the planet is as such.

This is a very serious issue, however I'm convinced that the world will not do anything until we witness a major impact on earth. It will happen sooner or later.

[Werdna]

A semi Armageddon would be the best thing that could happen to our world and the human race!

Yes, the rich, pollution, global warming, poverty, aids, natural disasters, starvation, animal extinction and possible deadly flus are all a threat to us but there is one common factor in why they are all dangers and that is the simple fact that the world is already drastically overpopulated! If 70% of the human race were to die pollution, global warming, poverty, natural disasters etc would hardly be worth mentioning...

(Un)fortunately no species on Earth is in the habit of reducing it's own numbers so nature will come up with a way of doing it some day.

[Jager]

Very true Werdna, but humans are fighters, they will find a way behind it. I thought you were going to say that such an event would bring the planet together, because there is no doubt in my mind that the main problem facing the planet is that we are NOT together.

Imagine what we could accomplish if we didn't spend money on arms???? And used that money to benefit mankind, as opposed to killing it?

[barracuda]

Originally Posted by Werdna

A semi Armageddon would be the best thing that could happen to our world and the human race!.

You could feasibly argue that it would be good for the world. They there is no way in hell it would be good for the human race. Just imagine the suffering....

[jec1]

You guys are causing panic, fear is the disease itself!

I remember when the whole Y2K crisis was about to happen, there were people who were pissing their pants knowing it must just happened which eventually became a fabrication of reality.

It's survival of the fittest, you do what it takes to survive. I don't believe in Armageddon, it's all a tactic to just deter people from living their normal lives.

[barracuda]

I was in the IT business 1999 and can report that we had tons of fun with the Y2K scare money

[Jager]

I don't think its a scare tactic per say, its good to be prepared and ready for any that can happen. Only prudent, but I'm optimistic about our future.

We need to explore space more, and establish a presence in our system, then I think we'll be alright.