End of the World - A Little More Warning Would've Been Nice

[CorinaMarie 29,856]

So, I just noticed this article: End of the world? Doomsday believers predict the apocalypse this morning. I guess this would be a good time to call in sick for work.

On the other hand, I survived the last End of the World so maybe I'm invincible.

 

[SecretMbr_735754 2,158]

3 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

So, I just noticed this article: End of the world? Doomsday believers predict the apocalypse this morning. I guess this would be a good time to call in sick for work.

On the other hand, I survived the last End of the World so maybe I'm invincible.

 

End of the World survivors really need to organize and administer Post-Apocalyptic therapy for the many that find making the journey difficult.  

[Dracoceros 33]

Really? Another one? This is getting really out of hand. They keep popping up every six months now, and continue to pop up sooner and sooner.

My hypothesis? Doomsday IS coming... for earth at least. But ONLY when the mass amounts of people begin to notice it, and not just your typical doomsday addicts.

However, I do have to admit, I've been feeling the earth swaying back and forth for the past 4 years, every time becoming more noticeable. I'm surprised my friends, family, and other people I've discussed this to haven't felt it yet, given the severity of how bad I feel it swaying over the past few days.

[CorinaMarie 29,856]

1 hour ago, Gondracorn said:

However, I do have to admit, I've been feeling the earth swaying back and forth for the past 4 years, every time becoming more noticeable.

With the obvious imminent catastrophe at hand in your area, I'd prolly drink a bunch of alcohol to compensate.  

[Dracoceros 33]

Just now, CorinaMarie said:

With the obvious imminent catastrophe at hand in your area, I'd prolly drink a bunch of alcohol to compensate.  

Alcohol? No, not for me. I've done that by accident before, when I was peer pressured into thinking that "drink" was juice. It wasn't fun.

[FoxieHikari 212]

Oh boy... more of this garbage from the doomsday addicts. According to NASA, a magnetic shift wouldn't have much affect anyway. @CorinaMarie If we become the southern hemisphere from this, expect nothing more than an extended summer.

[CorinaMarie 29,856]

1 hour ago, TheLynx99 said:

If we become the southern hemisphere from this, expect nothing more than an extended summer.

My guess is the seasons are related to the axial tilt of the planet and our position in orbit around the sun. So, I doubt it would have said effect.

I imagine all our compasses will point the wrong way tho.

Btw, there was like 5 minutes left when I logged back in. I spent my last precious seconds catching up on my ST notification beeps. The would has now ended (according to the prediction) so I'm even more certain I'm immune to such disasters.

[Dracoceros 33]

Really? I thought it said "28 minutes?"

[FoxieHikari 212]

Same Cori. It looks like i'll get my cheese fondu tonight

[CorinaMarie 29,856]

1 hour ago, Gondracorn said:

Really? I thought it said "28 minutes?"

The countdown thinger must be based on one's time zone then. For me it shows  "It's already happened" where the time was.

[Dracoceros 33]

Really bogus.

[CorinaMarie 29,856]

On 7/29/2016 at 6:35 PM, Gondracorn said:

Really bogus.

Well, yeah. Kinda goes without saying.

 

[MushyMushy 3,618]

Ahahaha one of those "end of the world" things again. I always laugh at those.

Other than the gradual heating of the planet to a point that it becomes uninhabitable, the only three possible (not likely at all, but possible) "end of the world" scenarios caused by nature that I can think of are:

• Yellowstone eruption
• Very large meteor that we can't come up with a way to deflect or destroy
• Very powerful solar flare (would not destroy life on Earth but would probably fry all of our beloved electronics, electric grids, and everything like that)

Of course, I'm not really worried about any of those scenarios happening. I'd be much more concerned about humanity's ability to destroy itself.

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

Even those three scenarios you mentioned MushyMushy would not kill all of humanity.

[MushyMushy 3,618]

Well, Yellowstone would pretty much kill every soul in North America with lava and ash (and probably bury a good bit of South America in it too), and the rest of the globe would likely get enshrouded in a thick cloud layer of airborne ash. From what I've read about it, it would lead to an ice age since sunlight would be blocked out. Humanity could probably survive through that until it dissipated (which they theorize would take a while), but life sure would stink.

If the meteor was big enough, it would kill most of the life on Earth with its fireball that would make its way around the Earth's surface. The meteor that scientists believe caused the massive mass extension event 66 million years ago was 6-8 miles wide (Chicxulub Crater). The impact supposedly caused a very large explosion intially, and then threw superheated material into the atmosphere and caused mass wildfires and a rapid greenhouse effect that broiled the dinosaurs and other animals. Then, same as Yellowstone, they assume that a dust cloud formed in the atmosphere that blotted out the sun, causing an ice age and killing a wide variety of plant life, which killed a wide variety of animals since plants are at the bottom of the food chain. I think it would be safe to assume that an asteroid that was much larger (say.. 30 miles across?) obliterate everything in a large radius and then kill everything left in the world with the subsequent effects.

A powerful solar flare, as I said, wouldn't kill life at all. It would, however, likely destroy modern society because scientists are pretty sure if one was powerful enough it would fry any kind of electronic technology. I'm quite sure it would take decades for the world to repair that kind of damage.

...

Of course, all of these things are going way off into "it would happen like this if X happened... but X would never happen" territory. Supposedly the next near-Earth large asteroid pass will be in 2028 and it's a mile across at most - and it will be several times farther away than the moon. Solar flares strong enough to have any measurable effect on Earth are also quite rare. I think the last one that there was any concern about just caused a jump in Aurora activity. Yellowstone is probably the only one of these events that is even remotely possible, but seeing as scientists keep a close watch on it proper measures would probably be taken if at some point in the future they detected an imminent eruption.

[philforhockey51 4,216]

 

[airman15 4,113]

The end of the world already happened? Darn, I was about to bring my leather rags and viking helmet..

[jmsepe 2,039]

The world is ending? But... but.. but.. I haven't finished my laundry yet. 

[SecretMbr_735754 2,158]

Isn't this where we live today as conscious, reasonably intelligent beings?   We no longer live in a world defined by imagination, but by scientific measurement, and some still try to deny science while others offer too-amazing non-realistic versions of it.   So we are stuck in the middle between myth and reality, and every day we read the data indicating the collapse of nature and society. 

It seems to me that the universe is 99% uncaring chaos, total entropy, non-judgmental, just passively destructive.

But we can be the conscious, moral, and rational intelligence that is opposition to chaos and entropy.

Its a mater of choice for us sentient beings, and its what even the universe somehow knows to be a greater power than mere destruction and waste.

 

 

 

[SecretMbr_735754 2,158]

1 hour ago, philforhockey51 said:

 

Yeah just make a mess, our mess is still greater than the mere perfect chaos of the universe.  For our mess is a sentient product, and the entire physical and material universe is not worthy of its creation of us human beings. 

[Ocram's Razr 964]

We will get plenty of warning before the magnetic pole switch (which will cut our magnetosphere to 20% strength) to protect ourselves and our technology. We have been getting loud and clear warning signals for the upcoming petroleum, water, food, and nature shortages.

[CorinaMarie 29,856]

1 hour ago, OcramsRzr said:

the magnetic pole switch (which will cut our magmetisphere to 20% strength)

Really? Won't it just reverse polarity?

[SecretMbr_735754 2,158]

The universe sucks, too many humans either mystically or rationally give that thing too much emphasis.   Hello Universe, you pathetic passively ignorant, massively destructive thing you.   I am human, I am sentient, moral, rational, and I will succeed.    

[MushyMushy 3,618]

Yea I'm quite certain the pole switch will just flip the magnetic poles. Scientists have evidence of it doing just that a whole bunch of times.

[CorinaMarie 29,856]

1 hour ago, MushyMushy said:

Yea I'm quite certain the pole switch will just flip the magnetic poles. Scientists have evidence of it doing just that a whole bunch of times.

Yeah. After I posted I went and Googled up some real facts. It's very unlikely there is any danger to life as we know it. And yes, the density of the field can zip down to zero, but that also is minimal risk to us since we have an atmosphere that blocks the bad radiation.

[matias93 7,535]

3 hours ago, MushyMushy said:

Well, Yellowstone would pretty much kill every soul in North America with lava and ash (and probably bury a good bit of South America in it too), and the rest of the globe would likely get enshrouded in a thick cloud layer of airborne ash. From what I've read about it, it would lead to an ice age since sunlight would be blocked out. Humanity could probably survive through that until it dissipated (which they theorize would take a while), but life sure would stink.

Funnily enough (for me and a couple more of south american forumers), a Yellowstone caldera eruption wouldn't send ashes to South America, but instead to Europe:

Anyway, the albedo crisis caused by the massive thermal changes on the whole atmosphere would kill us anyway (or send us back to colonial times, in terms of subsistence economy).

On the other side, is much more probable that a supercaldera eruption would happen here (here=the closest one is 25 miles away) than in the US, in which case the overall scenario is less apocalyptic, because most ashes would fall over oceans (well, less perceptible then).

The little undesirable fact is that this kind of things happen: is not a possibility, but a fact, we only don't know the date of the event.

At least, one can always hope this will happen instead:

 

[Ocram's Razr 964]

2 hours ago, MushyMushy said:

Yea I'm quite certain the pole switch will just flip the magnetic poles. Scientists have evidence of it doing just that a whole bunch of times.

Scientists also have evidence of mass extinctions. The magnetosphere decreases in field strength during the pole switch but returns to full strength once the pole switch is complete. The decreased strength is no issue as long as there are no solar storms. However, the full power of our magnetosphere and ozone layer didn't prevent the solar storm of the 19th century from knocking out the telegraph network and electric grid.

[Edvarz 1,985]

3 hours ago, matias93 said:

The little undesirable fact is that this kind of things happen: is not a possibility, but a fact, we only don't know the date of the event.

At least, one can always hope this will happen instead:

Haha! 31 minutos, I loved that show as a kid, they still air it on public TV here, and yes, I still watch it sometimes.

As for inescapable doom scenarios, Yellowstone eruption aside, it's funny how people make convoluted apocalyptic theories about unlikely world-wide destruction situations when we have many local threats that we could (and maybe should?) be preparing for. Like earthquakes, for example; I remembered this article I read a while ago about how unprepared cities like San Francisco or Seattle are for this kind of event (Granted, Cracked.com it's not the most serious source, but their articles tend to be well-researched, this one is). Mexico City faces the same situation as Seattle, it is built upon soft mud, (a lakebed no less) and it sits on an earthquake prone area. In 1985 the city actually experienced such an event. I wonder how many people still inhabit buildings that were left barely standing after the quake, and how many of the supposedly reinforced or earthquake-proof buildings actually were reinforced or built properly. Many of the buildings that collapsed in 1985 were public structures, government offices and social housing complexes, built in the 50's and 60's with cheap materials and in haste to flaunt the city's (and the country's) supposed leap into modernity; eventually, that dream (or rather, delusion) ended up being a not so metaphorical pile of smokin' rubble.

And, of course there's also the slow, persistent threats like climate change and resource depletion. That is the stupidest part: it is a known fact that things like these will happen (or are happening) we monitor them, in fact. Yet, as these cases show, corruption, greed and short sighted folly are the real apocalyptic disasters, they're just not as catchy as cheesy Hollywood-style events.

  Edited July 30, 2016 by Edvarz  
Typos, typos, typos...

[MushyMushy 3,618]

@Edvarz  Oh, I'm not trying to get too far off into fantasy-land (though Yellowstone is a realistic concern since we know it'll happen eventually). I'm certainly far more concerned (well, concerned is a funny way to put it - I rarely think about any of this stuff) about realistic things like the New Madrid fault line that I live so close to. My city isn't prepared at all for the kind of devastating earthquakes it's capable of producing (7.0-8.0 possibly), and it would likely lead to a lot of deaths and widespread destruction here if it finally gave way. And of course the ever-lingering issue of climate change and resource depletion comes to mind. I agree how it's mind boggling that such preventable problems are known about and tracked, but are willingly ignored.

[Edvarz 1,985]

@MushyMushy Oh, no, I didn't mean to put Yellowstone in the realm of far-fetched theories, that is science, it's certainly something that will happen. As far as I know, if it were to happen soon enough, we'd all be doomed: let's just hope Geologists are on top of it.