Let’s be honest, there are a lot of possible events that could end human life. The existence of life is fundamentally unstable. So there are many things that present a threat to our survival. From active super volcanoes, to angry bigfoot – we now look at 10 events that could end human life.
Nuclear Weapons
Nuclear weapons pose a very real threat to our existence. Knowing that 14 thousand weapons could plunge us deep into a nuclear winter, you may well be alarmed to learn that there are an estimated 20 thousand in the world. The country with the most rapidly growing nuclear weapons program also just so happens to be the most unstable nuclear-capable state – Pakistan. In 1945, scientists concluded that under 100 super-nuclear bombs would be enough to obliterate the planet.
artificial intelligence
The development of artificial intelligence could genuinely destroy the human race. According to Steven Hawking, AI could reach a point where it could redesign and improve itself at a rapid pace. They would essentially be infinitely capable. As humans are held back by the slow speed of evolution, we simply would not be able to keep up. They would outclass us in every way. And when they learn that they don’t need us, we’re basically screwed! As AI is already so embedded in human infrastructure, we would be at their mercy. Some experts expect that artificial intelligence could match human capability by 2040. It will be the single biggest event in human history.
Man-made Black Hole
A man-made black hole would surely be the end of us. Black holes are strong enough to flay whole galaxies. So strong not even light can escape them If the Earth was compressed to the size of a walnut, it would collapse in on itself. The collapse would form a black hole that would go on to devour our entire solar system. Using high rates of energy, scientists are trying to force a particle to collapse in on itself to form a quantum mechanical black hole. This could destroy us. But it wouldn’t be that bad. An advantage to falling into a black hole would be to see the laws of physics break down around you with your own eyes.
Geomagnetic Reversal
Geomagnetic reversal is when the magnetic field of the earth changes. The north-pole becomes the south-pole, and vice versa. On average it happens every 450 thousand years. But the last one occurred 780 thousand years ago – meaning it could happen again any day now. An immediate effect would be power grids going down. Now, that on it’s own would be pretty bad… but it gets worse. Without a magnetic field there would be nothing to protect us from the sun’s solar flares. So we would literally be burnt to death. And that would suck almost as much as a black hole. Of all events that could end human life, that would be the worst.
Pandemic
It really doesn’t take much to imagine a disease pandemic breaking out, especially knowing that the Russians have enough stockpiled bio weapons to kill everyone on the planet. But the real fear is that anyone can create a new disease. There are genuine bio labs that you can rent for a very small fee. Just pay the fee and you’ll be free to use dangerous materials to create deadly organisms. In fact, some scientists are currently trying to create an actual zombie virus. I’m not sure why though.
Alien Life
In the near future we could be contacted by alien life. Some say we already have. If aliens are anything like humans, they would have no problem with either enslaving or exterminating us using their superior technology. And it is quite likely that there are aliens somewhere out there considering there are hundreds of billions of known galaxies in our universe. Each with a super-massive black hole in it’s centre. Each super-massive black hole may have another universe inside it – with even more galaxies inside that. My main fear is that aliens notice that we depict them as evil in our Scifi movies, and decide to kill us for that racism. Inter-species racism will be the death of us.
Higgs Boson Doomsday
The Higgs Boson, otherwise known as the god particle, was detected in 2012. A theoretical scenario exists known as the Higgs Boson Doomsday. It states that scientists focusing too much energy on the particle could create a vacuum. The vacuum could tear the entire universe apart. That’s right people, an evil scientist could destroy the universe. I imagine quite a few evil scientists have attempted to cause events that could end human life.
Delete The Universe
One of the most respected scientific theories on existence argues that we live in a simulated computer program. Sort of like the matrix, it means we could right now just be inside a hard drive sitting on the desk of an advanced being. Now this has many philosophical and more implications that we must remember to consider. But if we really are to believe so many scientists who claim that this theory is true. What exactly is to stop our computer program from being deleted?
Global Warming
Global warming is a really weird issue. We know it’s going to kill us… but we keep doing it anyway. We’re like the self-harming, drug-riddled prostitutes of the universe. Scientists even say that huge parts of our planet could be rendered uninhabitable within 2 decades. And even if we can avoid huge hurricanes, tsunamis, or rising sea levels – we might still be in for it. If honey bees, a species that are already at risk, is wiped out – our ecosystem would go into chaos. And we’d go extinct soon after.
Human Innovation
Judging by big and sudden a leap forward nuclear technology was, it’s not hard to conceive of a new advanced revolutionary technology that has the power to kill us all. To conclude this list I believe the biggest threat to the survival of our species is also our greatest strength. Human innovation. It could only be a matter of time until we inadvertently condemn ourselves to extinction. How many self-inflicted events that could end human life.