Any one person crazy enough to push the big red button. Every other country would feel to need to push their's because governments are made up of little boys who feel the need to outdo each other and most of the human population dies to either the blasts/ radioactive fallout or the nuclear winter that follows. Those that somehow survive that die due to lack of food because the nuclear winter killed them all off. Now its possible that evolution happens again and something akin to human comes back but it won't be the same human being that came before it
What exactly would it take to wipe humanity off the face of the Earth?
- Thread starter Kolby Jack
- Start date
Easy. Easy easy easy. Disease could rip through us, natural disaster could deprive us of food or water or just ahnilate us, or we could could just kill each other for food and space. Everyone acts like we are this big force of change on earth but the reality is we are barely a blink as far as the earths history goes. It will recover from our habitation and continue like we never existed. Take comfort in that everyone 
here's the thing; humanity is resilient and blowing up the planet is a lot harder than you'd think.Kolby Jack said:
No, nukes won't do it.
If we're counting South American jungle tribes that have no contact with the outside world then we're talking an airborne disease or hilariously comprehensive nuclear warfare including people dropping nukes everywhere just for lulz. No one thing is realistically capable of wiping out all of humanity at once.
Close-proximity Gamma-Ray Burst.
I couldn't imagine the biosphere feeling very well after supernova levels of Gamma-Ray radiation.
I couldn't imagine the biosphere feeling very well after supernova levels of Gamma-Ray radiation.
I think a good way to narrow it down would be for one to use imagination and come up with a possible way for the entire human race to die off. (this may need a little explanation). Someone mention a method of destroying humanity, someone counter it with a way of it not working, until one method remains, and nothing is out of the realm of possibility IE sun exploding, we could of colonized other worlds in that time, nuclear war, its survivable, if we stop repeating the same old tired ideas eventually someone will hit upon a novel and plausible way of making sure we don't see out our lifespan.
It'd actually be pretty hard. You'd either have to make it impossible for survivors to keep surviving and rebuild, or make sure there aren't enough survivors keep the human race intact. Anything less, and we'll eventually get back up. Achieving either of those objectives is pretty damned hard. So let's just judge them per apocalypse (that i can think up)
Looking back at this...I probably had way too much fun with it. Oh well, the basic point is that we'll probably be fine as a species. In the event that any of the possible events happen, it's very unlikely that anyone here will actually be able to tell me if I was right.
1. Global Warming, aka "With a bit of luck my house will have a beach the day after tomorrow"
In the worst case, we'd see a drastic change in climate. Large areas that are now considered fertile could become arid, deserts could increase drastically in size, and several countries could become part of our glorious oceans.
Could it kill us: Nope! I don't know that much about global warming, but earth's seen some climate changes already, and there's probably nothing coming that some part of the world isn't experiencing already. The odds of ALL of the world becoming ENTIRELY unsuitable for cultivation and survival are zero. It could heavily reduce the amount of land available for humans and other animals in the future though, but that's hardly anywhere near extinction.
2. A huge Meteor, aka "Deep Impact without the double entendre"
Theoretically, we could easily be wiped out by a huge meteor. Anything large enough hitting the earth fast enough wouldn't only create a crater, but could potentially push us out of our place in the solar system. That would probably result in a lot of incredibly funny cosmic hijinks and the death of pretty much anything on earth. And earth itself, should we end up falling into the sun. However, it's more likely that a small meteor causes a ridiculous amount of dust to go into the air, blocking out the sun and warmth, effectively starting an ice age.
Could it kill us: Not very likely at all. The largest meteor ever to hit earth wiped out a lot of species, but not all of them. Several relatively large creatures survived (alligators, iirc), and Humans would probably adapt to a world with extremely little sun. Yes, we'd drastically change and be forced to adapt, and yes, we may end up needing to live in a nomadic fashion again, but I see no reason Humanity would be entirely finished. At worst we'd live in nomadic hunter/gatherer tribes again, but we survived that before. Now, if the meteor is significantly larger than the previous one, it's possible that large life-forms couldn't survive in a world bereft of light. But the odds of a meteor hitting the earth are incredibly low. The odds of a meteor larger than the one 65 million years ago hitting us are close to non-existant. Also, it'd be an incredibly boring way to go in my opinion.
3. Giant volcano/Superstorm/Megatsunami, aka "Can we please just get Sharknado?"
So there's a lot of huge disasters in this world. They make some good movies, usually not too deep, but with nice effects and suspense. Then they also make pretty bad movies, which is usually the case. And then they make Birdemic. Do I need to say anything else? But let's be honest here, these things won't wipe out humanity by a long shot. Some natural disasters are so great that they can wipe out entire areas of all the population and cause huge problems to society. But even with disaster-movie size forces of nature, can anything really wipe out more than a continent?
Could it kill us: Nah, a meteor's got a better shot. The megavolcano could have a shot if i've overestimated the ability of humans to adapt to low sunlight though, but it would roughly have to be the size of a continent, or two. Again, a huge meteor has already proven to be way better at throwing dust into the air. An earthquake or a hurricane might do a load of damage, but even in it's tracks people survive. And those things never really bother more than a specific area. Basically, I'd like to conclude that earth isn't terribly good at destroying us all by itself. But how about we give it a hand?
4. Nuclear war/accidents, aka "Please please please, let it be like Fallout"
In all honesty, this is definitely my favourite end of the world. But will there by anything left afterwards? When it comes to accidents, absolutely yes. Not only are nuclear plants pretty safe (not taking a stance, but they won't all have a meltdown), but the effects of radiation on a large scale are hard to decide. Nobody knows exactly the damage that chernobyl caused, but the wide-range effects are likely limited to increased chance of cancer and some other diseases at worst. Definitely bad, but even a dozen or a hundred accidents like that will not highly impact humanity's odds for survival. Still, i'd love to play Stalker: Shadow of Borssele (The location of one of the Nuclear power plants in the Netherlands.
Now, a nuclear war is something quite different. With some 17.300 nukes spread around over countries, the only true prediction I can make is: I'm not sure, but I think we've got a shot. First off, only a minority of those nukes will likely be launched. The storage facilities and launch installations for these things will be prime targets when all hell breaks loose, so I imagine only a small % of the arsenal can be fired before most of the stockpiles are hit. Still, there should probably be enough to crush every single major city in the world within a few minutes, and just imagine what the fallout could do after that.
Could it kill us: Accidents aren't likely to do more than kill everone in the area and give a lot of people nasty tumors in a widespread region. But when it comes to nuclear war, we definitely have the ABILITY to destroy ourselves. 17.300 missiles neatly arranged all over the world would probably destroy just about anything, contaminate it, and throw up a dustcloud that would make it impossible to ever see the sun ever again. But a nucear war will likely be short, brutal, and not quite as apocalyptic as we'd think. During a nuclear attack, the first priority will be to take out the other's capability to fire off nuclear weapons. In all likelyhood, deploying the weapons will become quite impossible after the first exchange (at least with long-rage missiles), thus limiting the amount to the civilian population.
Sadly, there's not enough data to go by. Everyone can make a plan for war, but that won't work if you're fighting a war with a weapon that has been used exactly twice. Due to lack of facts, i'll just guess what is going to happen: Most big cities and the area surrounding them will no longer be there, and will remain inaccessible for decades, if not centuries. Within years, most of the population will be doused pretty hard with radiation, and human will probably start dying of cancer a lot more often and a lot sooner from then on. Still more devastating is the combination with the dustclouds which ruin the remaining farmland. Society will break apart, humanity will definitely feel the effects for generations to come, but we'll probably survive. Unless in some weird way the majority of the world's nuclear arsenal is launched, but I don't see how it could.
In the worst case, we'd see a drastic change in climate. Large areas that are now considered fertile could become arid, deserts could increase drastically in size, and several countries could become part of our glorious oceans.
Could it kill us: Nope! I don't know that much about global warming, but earth's seen some climate changes already, and there's probably nothing coming that some part of the world isn't experiencing already. The odds of ALL of the world becoming ENTIRELY unsuitable for cultivation and survival are zero. It could heavily reduce the amount of land available for humans and other animals in the future though, but that's hardly anywhere near extinction.
2. A huge Meteor, aka "Deep Impact without the double entendre"
Theoretically, we could easily be wiped out by a huge meteor. Anything large enough hitting the earth fast enough wouldn't only create a crater, but could potentially push us out of our place in the solar system. That would probably result in a lot of incredibly funny cosmic hijinks and the death of pretty much anything on earth. And earth itself, should we end up falling into the sun. However, it's more likely that a small meteor causes a ridiculous amount of dust to go into the air, blocking out the sun and warmth, effectively starting an ice age.
Could it kill us: Not very likely at all. The largest meteor ever to hit earth wiped out a lot of species, but not all of them. Several relatively large creatures survived (alligators, iirc), and Humans would probably adapt to a world with extremely little sun. Yes, we'd drastically change and be forced to adapt, and yes, we may end up needing to live in a nomadic fashion again, but I see no reason Humanity would be entirely finished. At worst we'd live in nomadic hunter/gatherer tribes again, but we survived that before. Now, if the meteor is significantly larger than the previous one, it's possible that large life-forms couldn't survive in a world bereft of light. But the odds of a meteor hitting the earth are incredibly low. The odds of a meteor larger than the one 65 million years ago hitting us are close to non-existant. Also, it'd be an incredibly boring way to go in my opinion.
3. Giant volcano/Superstorm/Megatsunami, aka "Can we please just get Sharknado?"
So there's a lot of huge disasters in this world. They make some good movies, usually not too deep, but with nice effects and suspense. Then they also make pretty bad movies, which is usually the case. And then they make Birdemic. Do I need to say anything else? But let's be honest here, these things won't wipe out humanity by a long shot. Some natural disasters are so great that they can wipe out entire areas of all the population and cause huge problems to society. But even with disaster-movie size forces of nature, can anything really wipe out more than a continent?
Could it kill us: Nah, a meteor's got a better shot. The megavolcano could have a shot if i've overestimated the ability of humans to adapt to low sunlight though, but it would roughly have to be the size of a continent, or two. Again, a huge meteor has already proven to be way better at throwing dust into the air. An earthquake or a hurricane might do a load of damage, but even in it's tracks people survive. And those things never really bother more than a specific area. Basically, I'd like to conclude that earth isn't terribly good at destroying us all by itself. But how about we give it a hand?
4. Nuclear war/accidents, aka "Please please please, let it be like Fallout"
In all honesty, this is definitely my favourite end of the world. But will there by anything left afterwards? When it comes to accidents, absolutely yes. Not only are nuclear plants pretty safe (not taking a stance, but they won't all have a meltdown), but the effects of radiation on a large scale are hard to decide. Nobody knows exactly the damage that chernobyl caused, but the wide-range effects are likely limited to increased chance of cancer and some other diseases at worst. Definitely bad, but even a dozen or a hundred accidents like that will not highly impact humanity's odds for survival. Still, i'd love to play Stalker: Shadow of Borssele (The location of one of the Nuclear power plants in the Netherlands.
Now, a nuclear war is something quite different. With some 17.300 nukes spread around over countries, the only true prediction I can make is: I'm not sure, but I think we've got a shot. First off, only a minority of those nukes will likely be launched. The storage facilities and launch installations for these things will be prime targets when all hell breaks loose, so I imagine only a small % of the arsenal can be fired before most of the stockpiles are hit. Still, there should probably be enough to crush every single major city in the world within a few minutes, and just imagine what the fallout could do after that.
Could it kill us: Accidents aren't likely to do more than kill everone in the area and give a lot of people nasty tumors in a widespread region. But when it comes to nuclear war, we definitely have the ABILITY to destroy ourselves. 17.300 missiles neatly arranged all over the world would probably destroy just about anything, contaminate it, and throw up a dustcloud that would make it impossible to ever see the sun ever again. But a nucear war will likely be short, brutal, and not quite as apocalyptic as we'd think. During a nuclear attack, the first priority will be to take out the other's capability to fire off nuclear weapons. In all likelyhood, deploying the weapons will become quite impossible after the first exchange (at least with long-rage missiles), thus limiting the amount to the civilian population.
Sadly, there's not enough data to go by. Everyone can make a plan for war, but that won't work if you're fighting a war with a weapon that has been used exactly twice. Due to lack of facts, i'll just guess what is going to happen: Most big cities and the area surrounding them will no longer be there, and will remain inaccessible for decades, if not centuries. Within years, most of the population will be doused pretty hard with radiation, and human will probably start dying of cancer a lot more often and a lot sooner from then on. Still more devastating is the combination with the dustclouds which ruin the remaining farmland. Society will break apart, humanity will definitely feel the effects for generations to come, but we'll probably survive. Unless in some weird way the majority of the world's nuclear arsenal is launched, but I don't see how it could.
Looking back at this...I probably had way too much fun with it. Oh well, the basic point is that we'll probably be fine as a species. In the event that any of the possible events happen, it's very unlikely that anyone here will actually be able to tell me if I was right.
Titans? Reapers? Multiple Sharknados?
Honestly, I'd say the sun going supernova, a massive meteor hitting Earth, or some sort of disease that affects womens fertility and stops us from breeding at all. Colonizing space would improve our chances of survival from all 3 of those dramatically. I think we could eventually recover from anything else (Nuclear war, Yellowstone erupting, etc).
Honestly, I'd say the sun going supernova, a massive meteor hitting Earth, or some sort of disease that affects womens fertility and stops us from breeding at all. Colonizing space would improve our chances of survival from all 3 of those dramatically. I think we could eventually recover from anything else (Nuclear war, Yellowstone erupting, etc).
A supervolcano [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supervolcano] eruption would likely extinguish all life on earth.
Another event could be a drifting planet slamming into earth, at best stripping it off all atmosphere and at worse turning it into a million small asteroids.
There is always aliens with planetbusters.
Another event could be a drifting planet slamming into earth, at best stripping it off all atmosphere and at worse turning it into a million small asteroids.
There is always aliens with planetbusters.
temperature wise - yes. plantlife/animal wise - no. Humans can take change of 10 celsius. Most animals and plants cant. millions of species would go extinct and our ecosystem would be fucked as hell. Whether we would survive is a question of course, but those areas certainly wouldnt be like mid europe in any way.SinisterGehe said:
Jim, thats a bad way to go about it. Id rather be Obese than stop craving for sweets. The genetic cure for obesity is change of bodys metabolism control and food absorbtion. Sure it will likely result in similar end result but for whole different reasons (even if you fine enough fruit and food durign summer your body would refuse to "save them up").DANGER- MUST SILENCE said:
That link mentions a number of supervolcanoes that have already happened, and not all life on Earth is dead, though.Strazdas said:
In any case, there are bacteria that live quite happily kilometres below the surface that would survive more or less anything short of throwing the planet into the sun.
Well, it all depends on the size of volcano. and if you noticed the last one is believed to have exterminated 60% of human population. Though i admit i should have talked about human life rather than life in general.thaluikhain said:
And those pesky bacteria is ruining my plans on making this planet my barren terraform planet! Where are my hencment!
An omnibenevolent God who is capable of admitting His mistakes and of attempting to make right by them. In other words: nothing.
60% is "easy". It's that last community of a few hundred that you miss that will repopulate and keep humanity going.Strazdas said:
Yeah, just doesn't want to work. You've also go more complex lifeforms that exist around volcanic vents deep underwater, that live without any energy from the sun reaching them.Strazdas said:
Thoroughly irradiating the planet would work, but, again, you might miss some bacteria somewhere, and a few millions years later you'd need to do it all over again. Also, most ways of irradiating the world involve a star going nova, it'd be easier to give up and move to an already barren planet.
That reminds me...IIRC, once, astronauts brought machinery back from the moon which had been left by a previous mission. It was discovered that micro-organisms that had been on the machinery had survived weeks or months on being left on the surface on the moon.
You need at least 10.000 people or the gene pool will not be big enough and they would die from inter-breeding. so few hundred alive, in different corners of the earth, wont really live long.thaluikhain said:
irradiating the planet wont work because cocroaches. those bastards can shrug off radiation. Im going back to my drifting planet collision theory. now i only need a very long rope and a lot of henchmen to pull one in.
hmm, bacterial surviving on a moon, interesting. have we infected the moon now? is it going to turn into a monster?
I thought it was only a few hundred to avoid that problem.Strazdas said:
Well...so can more or less arthropod. Low down on the food chain, good at scavenging, dies naturally before cancer develops, low moisture content. Roaches just get good PR, ants and various beetles would do well also.Strazdas said:
If you do it right, you could move the Earth into a much closer orbit to the sun and kill everything that way.Strazdas said:
Oh! Stop the Earth rotating, and you'll turn the Earth's magnetic field off (or way down). Then the solar winds would blow away the atmosphere and irradiate everything.
the experiments i saw Roaches took 5 times as large a dose as Ants and walked away after some "hibernation" time while the ants were dead.thaluikhain said:
Moving earth to sun is a plan, but i still need that bump from antoher planet to push it because there is a lot of mass here. The earth is obese. And has parasites we call humans.
Yes, why havent i thought about turning magnetic fields off. thats a good way to destroy anyone that isnt dug far underground.
Your nickname and that post does not match.DisasterSoiree said:
