Keep in mind that the average lifespan of a mammalian species is 2.2 million years. Homo sapiens was born only 200 thousand years ago, and the genus Homo - about 1.8 million. We will certainly die out, this is the law of biology.
Based on the number of commercially successful films about cataclysms and disasters, pop culture is fascinated by the idea of the end of the world. In Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, a virus ravages the UK and the surrounding area.
In "Impact with the Abyss" and "Armageddon" the Earth is threatened by a huge meteorite. "The Day After Tomorrow" tells about a terrible sudden change in climate. Indeed, life that originated on Earth about 3.5 billion years ago is very fragile, and death is a normal part of its history. Of the 4 billion species that existed on the planet, 99% have disappeared. Over the past 500 million years, mass extinctions have occurred five times: during these periods, the reasons for which are not fully understood, more than 75% of the existing species disappeared.
At least one mass extinction is due in part to what might be called the Hollywood-style doomsday. If a large asteroid did crash into Earth, it could cause earthquakes and tsunamis across the planet. In addition, the huge amount of dust that rose into the atmosphere as a result of the explosion would block the sun for several years, and then the plants would die, and with them those who ate them. It is believed that 65 million years ago, something similar took place after a meteorite with a diameter of 10 km in the area of modern Mexico.
Monica Grady, an expert on meteorites at the Open University (UK), notes that near-Earth objects more than a kilometer in diameter collide with the Earth every several hundred thousand years, and more than six kilometers in diameter - every hundred million years. Other unlikely things can also cause a global catastrophe (see below), but our own activities pose a much more serious risk. Our species has the unique ability to change the world.
And this can lead us to death. This, of course, is anthropogenic climate change, excessive pollution, depletion of natural resources and nuclear war. Fiddling with genes and atoms can be expensive too. Nanotechnology, synthetic biology, and genetic modification give us better food, safer medicines, and so on, but the cost of error in these industries is very high.
British astronomer Martin Rees, former president of the Royal Society, warned in Our Final Century? (2003) that the chances of human civilization for survival after 2100 do not exceed 50%, given the easy access to technologies with global consequences (biological terrorism, out of control of nanotechnology).
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Another vulnerable link is computerization. On the one hand, this is better access to information, new ways of trading, communication and management. On the other hand, these are viruses. Skilled terrorists can threaten the energy systems of entire countries from the comfort of their homes, as well as steal financial data and disrupt food supplies. A similar disruption in the US could affect other countries in a matter of seconds.
Paradoxically, but true: the more light we shed on the secrets of the universe, the higher the risk of self-destruction. In addition, the more we become aware of our fragility. Could the great scientists and educators of Europe in the 17th – 18th centuries imagine that scientific discoveries bring not only light, but also a threat? They had no idea of black holes, nuclear bombs, or rising sea levels due to anthropogenic warming. So if you want to get really scared, forget about Hollywood and see the following.
So, the ten most sophisticated ways of the death of humanity (sometimes - together with the Earth), discovered by science in recent years.
1. Many of us daily consume caffeine and nicotine, as well as other substances that raise mood, improve attention, increase activity. When will the moment come that we can no longer live without them? Perhaps this will not lead to an instant catastrophe, but it will force humanity to gradually evaporate.
2. If the Earth exists in a region of space called a false vacuum, it (this region) can at any time go into a lower energy state. A wave of energy will cover us at the speed of light and tear us apart into atoms.
3. Generally speaking, there are many frightening things in quantum mechanics. For example, there is a hypothesis about "strapels" - objects that can turn any particle into their copy. Within a few hours, the entire Earth can become a shapeless mass of faceless "strange drops".
4. The laws of physics allow the end of time. In 2007, Spanish scientists proposed an alternative explanation for the mysterious dark energy, which makes up 75% of the mass of the universe and acts as a kind of antigravity, pushing galaxies away from each other. In their opinion, we observe the effect of time dilation as it "flows" out of the Universe.
5. Geologists fear that the eruption of the volcano La Palma in the Canary Islands could shoot into the Atlantic Ocean a piece of rock twice the size of the Isle of Man. As a result, a wave of kilometer height will arise, which will move with the speed of a jet plane. Half of the largest cities in the world will be under water in minutes.
6. The poles of the Earth change places from time to time. In such a transitional period, the planet's magnetic field, which protects us from harmful radiation, is weakened or completely disappears. The last time this happened was almost 780 thousand years ago.
7. While dying, the supermassive star shoots out two beams of high-energy gamma rays. It is capable of ripping apart the atmosphere and destroying the ozone layer at hand.
8. A black hole can tear the Earth into atoms by its gravity. She is able to pull us to her, being billions of kilometers from the solar system, and tear the planet away from the star - the source of life.
9. Invasive species of plants, animals and microorganisms can destroy an ecosystem that does not have protection against them. They have already become a big problem for global agriculture.
10. One day biological and technological innovations will bring people to a level where they will no longer be like us, their ancestors. "Posthumans" will be half computers or even fully exist only in the form of digital information transmitted over ultrafast networks and living seemingly forever after the collapse of the physical body. Then the system will crash.
Almost all religions say that in the end the planet will be cleansed of sin and depravity as a result of "divine" intervention, and it will be populated by a race of highly moral people who will start all over again. Why not? And don't forget that the average lifespan of a mammalian species is 2.2 million years. Homo sapiens was born only 200 thousand years ago, and the genus Homo - about 1.8 million. We will certainly die out, this is the law of biology. Will a different species form from our distant descendants?