How human civilisation will most likely end

[Still Waters]

Researchers at Oxford University have compiled a "scientific assessment about the possibility of oblivion".

The scientists from the Global Challenges Foundation and the Future of Humanity Institute used their research to draw up a list of the 12 most likely ways human civilisation could end on planet earth.

http://www.independe...d-10046945.html

[seaturtlehorsesnake]

well, good. it's been a while since i was paralyzed by fear.

wait, no, that's a lie. i'm always paralyzed by fear.

[Gold Star]

Human civilization won't end all at once. It is more probable it will end piece by piece. This is what we find in nature. We still have tigers but no saber-toothed tigers; no mammoths or mastodons but a few elephants left, etc.

So, what could be the first piece? Possibly the left and right extremes of the statistical curve. For example, the most primitive and the most advanced; the poorest and the richest; the least intelligent and the most intelligent, all with the effect of impoverishing the gene base enough to be vulnerable to the second piece.

[A rather obscure Bassoon]

Another Doomsday list.....

[minera]

Im sick of all the doom and gloom about how the world will end. Scientists have nothing better to do?

[bubblykiss]

They have failed to foresee the threat of hyper duck barbarians swarming over the city walls.

And lolcats fever, it will consume us all.

Im sick of all the doom and gloom about how the world will end. Scientists have nothing better to do?

They did prove dogs are really good at telling if humans are angry or not....which, is, ah, useful?

[Border Collie]

Not with a bang but a whimper.

[LV-426]

Human civilization won't end all at once. It is more probable it will end piece by piece. This is what we find in nature. We still have tigers but no saber-toothed tigers; no mammoths or mastodons but a few elephants left, etc.

The only problem with this theory is that saber-toothed tigers, mammoths or mastadons never developed thermonuclear weapons, or devastated their own eco-sytem through systematic greed and shortsightedness... just sayin'.

[gailforce]

my list

1. me (i have several plans in case of war to wipe out Russia that can just kill everyone if i wish)

2. man

3. man

4. man

5. man

6. man

7. man

8. man

9. man

10. man

11. something previously set in motion by man

12. natural disaster

[Foil Hat Ninja]

They forgot McDonald's.

[eschatologist]

They forgot to mention the Gott Hypothesis!

[Indiogene]

Humans can't possibly last forever, no species in earth's natural history has. Another possibility is humans evolved into a new species of human, and if this is likely, humans are able to reach out into space and colonize other worlds in the solar system or throughout the galaxy. I call myself a "futurist" trying to comprehend what our future will be like based on happenings of the present, and our damage to the earth's environment like global warming to overpopulation or our tendency to fight in wars greatly endangers the human race.

[rashore]

Heh, tec is on the top of my screaming heebie-jeebie list. AI, nano tec, robots eat the earth.... On the flip side, human control is on the top of my hubbies list- food control, birth control in the water, germ warfare... Both of us worry about collapses or mankind stupid/shortsighted activity causing humans to flip out.

But neither of us fear stuff like volcanoes, asteroids and stuff like that. That's more natural, and hey, what ya gonna do? Worrying about it is about as effective as trying to solve an algebra question by chewing bubble gum.

My sister figures any and all of it could cause human civilization to end.. as we know it. Humans turn feral incredibly quick no matter what the circumstance. A power outage too long, a storm effect causing stores to be cleaned out, a crime causing rioting makes us all turn nasty real quick. But whatever remains just means a change in civilization, and not necessarily an end to humanity.

My mom is a bit older. Her take is human civilization has risen and fallen in all sorts of ways over the centuries. It will happen again, probably more than once for different reasons. And we will get over it. If there's more than two people left, they will figure out how to get along/ be civilized, or face no more humans- and that is something we are hardwired not to accept.

[Mikolaj]

Nonsense. Only thing we should be scared of its ecocide.

[Meridian O]

The 12 terrifying ways researchers think human civilisation is most likely to end.

1 Extreme climate change

2 Nuclear war

3 Global pandemic

4 Major asteroid impact

5 Super volcano

6 Ecological catastrophe

7 Global system catastrophe

8 Synthetic biology

9 Nanotechnology

10 Artificial intelligence

11 Future bad global governance

12 Unknown consequences

LOL! My first thought about the title of the news article was about the movie the 12 monkeys…Hence I did a quick web-search for the movie and discovered that there’s now a new 12 monkeys series which premiered in January this year.

Strange! Maybe a subliminal sign for No 8...

[UFO_Monster]

These suggestions are nothing new.

[spud the mackem]

You don't need to be a scientist to predict or guess how the human race will end.

[regeneratia]

I think the CIA has to be in that list.

[MissJatti]

Muslims should be on that list

[Astra.]

End of days.

Full screen needs to be observed.

Edited February 17, 2015 by Astra00

[maximusnow]

opps! Left one off the list, Greed!

[Dark_Grey]

Giant rocks from space. It's obvious, likely and has happened before several times. Just look at the surface of the moon; we live in a cats cradle of asteroids. We used to think the Earth was isolated when in fact just the opposite is true...

[White Crane Feather]

Well.... I guess all those crazy peppers aren't so crazy. It seems they will be the ones to inherit the earth. One day the SHTF will happen it will be those most prepared the will go on. This is why we exist in the first place our deep ancestors had niches that allowed them to survive these cataclysms before. Granted nuclear war has never happned before.

As for Ai, I don't think Ai will take over. If we are succesful we will be melding with our technology eventually even evolving beyond physical existance. A type 5 civilization could be right here with us and we would never know it.

[theotherguy]

Most of those won't be too much of a problem if we can get a stable, self-supporting off-planet civilization going fast enough. At least, not immediately; the bad seeds will need to have something to run into the ground before they start running society into the ground.

[+and-then]

Giant rocks from space. It's obvious, likely and has happened before several times. Just look at the surface of the moon; we live in a cats cradle of asteroids. We used to think the Earth was isolated when in fact just the opposite is true...

There is mention of such in the book of Revelation - a "falling star" that will kill off 1/3 of the life of the oceans and a multitude of people because the waters will be poisoned. But war and the famine and disease that accompany it are what will make the biggest dent in our population. By the end of the 7 years the population will be roughly HALF what it was at the outset. That's about 3500 million souls.