Over the past years, people seem to have been obsessed with doomsday and the fashion on how it will unfold. The past 5 failed doomsday predictions alone happened in 2012. There was the Ronald Weinland's claim of the return of Jesus Christ to the world in 27 May, 2012. There is the Jose Luis de Jesus prediction of an economic meltdown that would end the world in 30 June, 2012. Then the famous December 21, 2012 prediction of a Mayan apocalypse at the start of the 13th b'ak'tun. A couple of says after that is a prediction by Warren Jeffs, a leader of a prominent church convicted of two counts of felony for child sexual assault, that the end of the world would come on 23 December, 2012. When this date passed, he again predicted the end to come on the 31st of the same month, which by the way also failed.
Some have made a lot of predictions and many have failed. Over the course of human history, there have been at least 180 recorded doomsday predictions that failed. Questions now is, is there really a possibility of a doomsday event, or is it all just a hoax? Below is a collection of possible doomsday scenarios I have collected from various sources.
Doomsday Scenario #1: Nuclear Holocaust
Do you remember "Little Boy" and "Fat Man" that said hello to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945? That was about 70 years ago. Those two atomic bombs took away up to 200,000 lives, some of which happened long after the bombs were dropped.
How relevant is this history to us now? Well, over the years, despite all the international efforts to curb the development and the use of nuclear weapons, we are still exactly where we used to be 70 years ago -- one argument away from total annihilation. With the technological advancements in the field of nuclear sciences, we now have nation leaders armed with more destructive contraptions that the "Little Boy" and the "Fat Man" of 1945.
Doomsday Scenario #2: Black Holes
Blackholes are super vacuums of the universe. In children fiction books, we were made to believe that black holes suck in everything in its path and transforms our world into a totally different one. The truth is, no one really knows what happens inside a black hole. But one could only deduce that since black hole absorbs all light that hit the horizon, there will be nothing that can survive inside one.
Now this shouldn't bother us since the the nearest blackhole known to date is one that is in the center of the Milky Way galaxy, about 27,000 light-years away, right? Wrong! Recent studies have published the existence of rogue black holes, ones that aimlessly wander the universe. However, these rogues can be classified as intermediate black holes which would not have the power to suck an entire planet or system, but it could hurl objects our way at frightening speeds.
Doomsday Scenario #3: Nanotech Invasion
The developments in AI have been astounding in the past years. Nanobots, a particular type of AI designed to self-replicate at a blistering speed, and in just a matter of 2 days can exceed the mass of the sun and the planets in the solar system combined. Although this is highly theoretical, we are already have the nanotech capability. It is only a matter of time until somebody succeeds in making an intelligent prototype that can self-replicate. Then all you need is one breakaway self-replicating nanobot, and we are in for a major invasion by the tiny ones.
Doomsday Scenario #4: Cooking by Gamma Rays
A supernova, or an exploding star, is a common occurence in the universe. When a star explodes, it emits gamma-ray bursts with high-energy beams of electromagnetic radiation so high that it could cook our planet instantly. The good news is, a supernova has to be as close as 75 light-years away to hurt us. The nearest candidate supernova to us is a good 630 light-years away -- the Betelgeuse, the second brightest star in the constellation of Orion. In essence, we are okay. However, this will be our first ever experience of a supernova phenomenon in recorded history, so only heaven knows what could really happen. Some predict it could happen as early now (in fact, even a year ago). One thing is for sure though, when Betelgeuse goes on her final hurrah, we will have a seemingly second Sun 24/7 for a good two weeks.
Doomsday Scenario #5: Bio-Terrorism
Smallpox, plague, anthrax, tularemia, brucellosis and Q fever are among a few deadly pathogens that have been made into bio-weapons. If you remember the anthrax scare a few years ago when everyone was so scared of opening a letter for fear that it contains anthrax? Well, such scare have a real basis. All you need is one evil mind to decide that it is time, and we could see the end of the world just by reading a letter from the post. My suggestion, stick to e-mails.
Doomsday Scenario #6: Curiosity killed the cat -- or the man
Human's thirst for finding answers can spell the doom of the human race. Over the years, scientist have been so eager to understand the black hole phenomenon that they built the Haldron Collider in Geneva. The purpose is to accelerate two particles, effectively producing matter and anti-matter. When these two heavily-accelerated particles collide, you produce a black hole. So now, you don't have to only fear the wandering blackholes in the universe, we even have our own home-grown black hole right at our doorstep. All it needs is to be released in the atmosphere - purposely or accidentally and it is game over.
Doomsday Scenario #7: Supervolcano
An explosion of a giant volcano would pump enough ash and sulfuric acid in the atmosphere that can block out the sun and cause another ice age. Scientists have calculated that about 74,000 years ago, a Sumatran supervolcano exploded that brought down the human population down to less than 10,000. That Sumatran volcano is just one of a few known supervolcanos. Other locations include Chile, New Zealand, Argentina, Colorado, and of course the Yellowstone Hotspot in the USA, which by the way is due for eruption anytime now.
Doomsday Scenario #8: Solar Flares
Solar flares are jets of plasma shooting out of the Sun, discovered in 1859. When a solar flare hits the earth, electronic systems and power grids are all shut down completely. Although not as catastrophic as a big bang, a communication and electrical shutdown cause by solar flares could result to massive power outages, radio blackouts, satellite malfunctions, telecoms system meltdowns, banking and financial system chaos and air-traffic control mayhem. Imagine the number of lives that may be affected by this. The good news is, solar flares happen in cycles. The bad news is, we are due for one by the end of this year.
Doomsday Scenario #9: Near-Earth Objects
NASA and all the other space agencies around the world are on a hunt for near-earth objects the same size as the one believed to have wiped the dinosaurs -- asteroids and the likes that are 10 km wide. The good news is, 90% of such things are believed to have been found and mapped. The bad news is, there is the 10% remaining. An even badder news is those that are smaller-sized ones that are currently not tracked. In 1908, an asteroid less than 40 meters wide exploded near Siberia. This "smaller" asteroid leveled forests for hundreds of square miles. Now imagine that hitting a busy city. It may not be earth-ending, but will be tragic nonetheless.
Doomsday Scenario #10: Alien Invasion
Yeah! You heard me right! Funny as it may sound, but are you really certain that we are the only life form in the universe? Just like what Carl Sagan said, "The universe is a pretty big place. If it's just us, seems like an awful waste of space." Let us just hope we come across the good ones. If not, well, we are talking about doomsday scenario, aren't we?
Doomsday and the reality
The ones listed are just among a few of the famous ones out there. There are still many, that may not be as popular, but still pose a real threat to our existence. I think the bigger question here is not how it will end, but what we'll do when it ends.
To the scientists, it could be a few million years. To the nations' leaders, it could be on the next debate with the other leader. To you and me, it could be tomorrow or could be next year. But the reality is, to some, it has already began.
Like I always say and like I always believe, everything is relative. Doomsday to someone with nothing to lose, is a day of celebration. But to those with something they hold dear, you don't need a doomsday scenario for doomsday to come. Doomsday has come to and investor who invested all his money to an institution that collapsed. Doomsday has come to a patient who learned he/she has an incurable disease. Doomsday has come to a runner who lost a leg. Doomsday has come to a parent that had to bury a child. These the real doomsday scenes often reported by the media, but are often neglected because they don't seem to have that dramatic global scale effect. But these are true depictions of doomsday events that happen almost every minute.
Doomsday scenarios should be a reminder to us all to cherish what we have now, every moment we are given. We never know when what we hold dear will be taken away from us, and how. You might be lucky enough to have the time to flash a final loving smile and then wave goodbye, or you might be so unlucky that you get hit by an asteroid before you could even blink an eye.
And so I end this post with a quote from the Greatest Salesman in the World, Og Mandino:
"Live this day as if it will be your last. Remember that you will only find "tomorrow" on the calendars of fools. Forget yesterday's defeats and ignore the problems of tomorrow. This is it. Doomsday. All you have. Make it the best day of your year. The saddest words you can ever utter are, 'If I had my life to live over again.' Take the baton, now. Run with it! This is your day! Beginning today, treat everyone you meet, friend or foe, loved one or stranger, as if they were going to be dead at midnight. Extend to each person, no matter how trivial the contact, all the care and kindness and understanding and love that you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again."
Some have made a lot of predictions and many have failed. Over the course of human history, there have been at least 180 recorded doomsday predictions that failed. Questions now is, is there really a possibility of a doomsday event, or is it all just a hoax? Below is a collection of possible doomsday scenarios I have collected from various sources.
Doomsday Scenario #1: Nuclear Holocaust
Do you remember "Little Boy" and "Fat Man" that said hello to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945? That was about 70 years ago. Those two atomic bombs took away up to 200,000 lives, some of which happened long after the bombs were dropped.
How relevant is this history to us now? Well, over the years, despite all the international efforts to curb the development and the use of nuclear weapons, we are still exactly where we used to be 70 years ago -- one argument away from total annihilation. With the technological advancements in the field of nuclear sciences, we now have nation leaders armed with more destructive contraptions that the "Little Boy" and the "Fat Man" of 1945.
Doomsday Scenario #2: Black Holes
Blackholes are super vacuums of the universe. In children fiction books, we were made to believe that black holes suck in everything in its path and transforms our world into a totally different one. The truth is, no one really knows what happens inside a black hole. But one could only deduce that since black hole absorbs all light that hit the horizon, there will be nothing that can survive inside one.
Now this shouldn't bother us since the the nearest blackhole known to date is one that is in the center of the Milky Way galaxy, about 27,000 light-years away, right? Wrong! Recent studies have published the existence of rogue black holes, ones that aimlessly wander the universe. However, these rogues can be classified as intermediate black holes which would not have the power to suck an entire planet or system, but it could hurl objects our way at frightening speeds.
Doomsday Scenario #3: Nanotech Invasion
The developments in AI have been astounding in the past years. Nanobots, a particular type of AI designed to self-replicate at a blistering speed, and in just a matter of 2 days can exceed the mass of the sun and the planets in the solar system combined. Although this is highly theoretical, we are already have the nanotech capability. It is only a matter of time until somebody succeeds in making an intelligent prototype that can self-replicate. Then all you need is one breakaway self-replicating nanobot, and we are in for a major invasion by the tiny ones.
Doomsday Scenario #4: Cooking by Gamma Rays
A supernova, or an exploding star, is a common occurence in the universe. When a star explodes, it emits gamma-ray bursts with high-energy beams of electromagnetic radiation so high that it could cook our planet instantly. The good news is, a supernova has to be as close as 75 light-years away to hurt us. The nearest candidate supernova to us is a good 630 light-years away -- the Betelgeuse, the second brightest star in the constellation of Orion. In essence, we are okay. However, this will be our first ever experience of a supernova phenomenon in recorded history, so only heaven knows what could really happen. Some predict it could happen as early now (in fact, even a year ago). One thing is for sure though, when Betelgeuse goes on her final hurrah, we will have a seemingly second Sun 24/7 for a good two weeks.
Doomsday Scenario #5: Bio-Terrorism
Smallpox, plague, anthrax, tularemia, brucellosis and Q fever are among a few deadly pathogens that have been made into bio-weapons. If you remember the anthrax scare a few years ago when everyone was so scared of opening a letter for fear that it contains anthrax? Well, such scare have a real basis. All you need is one evil mind to decide that it is time, and we could see the end of the world just by reading a letter from the post. My suggestion, stick to e-mails.
Doomsday Scenario #6: Curiosity killed the cat -- or the man
Human's thirst for finding answers can spell the doom of the human race. Over the years, scientist have been so eager to understand the black hole phenomenon that they built the Haldron Collider in Geneva. The purpose is to accelerate two particles, effectively producing matter and anti-matter. When these two heavily-accelerated particles collide, you produce a black hole. So now, you don't have to only fear the wandering blackholes in the universe, we even have our own home-grown black hole right at our doorstep. All it needs is to be released in the atmosphere - purposely or accidentally and it is game over.
Doomsday Scenario #7: Supervolcano
An explosion of a giant volcano would pump enough ash and sulfuric acid in the atmosphere that can block out the sun and cause another ice age. Scientists have calculated that about 74,000 years ago, a Sumatran supervolcano exploded that brought down the human population down to less than 10,000. That Sumatran volcano is just one of a few known supervolcanos. Other locations include Chile, New Zealand, Argentina, Colorado, and of course the Yellowstone Hotspot in the USA, which by the way is due for eruption anytime now.
Doomsday Scenario #8: Solar Flares
Solar flares are jets of plasma shooting out of the Sun, discovered in 1859. When a solar flare hits the earth, electronic systems and power grids are all shut down completely. Although not as catastrophic as a big bang, a communication and electrical shutdown cause by solar flares could result to massive power outages, radio blackouts, satellite malfunctions, telecoms system meltdowns, banking and financial system chaos and air-traffic control mayhem. Imagine the number of lives that may be affected by this. The good news is, solar flares happen in cycles. The bad news is, we are due for one by the end of this year.
Doomsday Scenario #9: Near-Earth Objects
NASA and all the other space agencies around the world are on a hunt for near-earth objects the same size as the one believed to have wiped the dinosaurs -- asteroids and the likes that are 10 km wide. The good news is, 90% of such things are believed to have been found and mapped. The bad news is, there is the 10% remaining. An even badder news is those that are smaller-sized ones that are currently not tracked. In 1908, an asteroid less than 40 meters wide exploded near Siberia. This "smaller" asteroid leveled forests for hundreds of square miles. Now imagine that hitting a busy city. It may not be earth-ending, but will be tragic nonetheless.
Doomsday Scenario #10: Alien Invasion
Yeah! You heard me right! Funny as it may sound, but are you really certain that we are the only life form in the universe? Just like what Carl Sagan said, "The universe is a pretty big place. If it's just us, seems like an awful waste of space." Let us just hope we come across the good ones. If not, well, we are talking about doomsday scenario, aren't we?
Doomsday and the reality
The ones listed are just among a few of the famous ones out there. There are still many, that may not be as popular, but still pose a real threat to our existence. I think the bigger question here is not how it will end, but what we'll do when it ends.
To the scientists, it could be a few million years. To the nations' leaders, it could be on the next debate with the other leader. To you and me, it could be tomorrow or could be next year. But the reality is, to some, it has already began.
Like I always say and like I always believe, everything is relative. Doomsday to someone with nothing to lose, is a day of celebration. But to those with something they hold dear, you don't need a doomsday scenario for doomsday to come. Doomsday has come to and investor who invested all his money to an institution that collapsed. Doomsday has come to a patient who learned he/she has an incurable disease. Doomsday has come to a runner who lost a leg. Doomsday has come to a parent that had to bury a child. These the real doomsday scenes often reported by the media, but are often neglected because they don't seem to have that dramatic global scale effect. But these are true depictions of doomsday events that happen almost every minute.
Doomsday scenarios should be a reminder to us all to cherish what we have now, every moment we are given. We never know when what we hold dear will be taken away from us, and how. You might be lucky enough to have the time to flash a final loving smile and then wave goodbye, or you might be so unlucky that you get hit by an asteroid before you could even blink an eye.
And so I end this post with a quote from the Greatest Salesman in the World, Og Mandino:
"Live this day as if it will be your last. Remember that you will only find "tomorrow" on the calendars of fools. Forget yesterday's defeats and ignore the problems of tomorrow. This is it. Doomsday. All you have. Make it the best day of your year. The saddest words you can ever utter are, 'If I had my life to live over again.' Take the baton, now. Run with it! This is your day! Beginning today, treat everyone you meet, friend or foe, loved one or stranger, as if they were going to be dead at midnight. Extend to each person, no matter how trivial the contact, all the care and kindness and understanding and love that you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again."
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