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-   -   The poll of the apocalypse (http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=17279)

lumberjim 05-17-2008 10:47 AM

The poll of the apocalypse
 
what does your GUT tell you?

monster 05-17-2008 10:49 AM

that it's lunchtime

lumberjim 05-17-2008 10:51 AM

you have to wait for the poll sometimes

monster 05-17-2008 10:54 AM

my gut's still only concerned about lunch. It has no vision. *sigh*

lumberjim 05-17-2008 10:57 AM

you could eat a pole?

kerosene 05-17-2008 11:28 AM

I voted the way I did because my option isn't really there...

"The world will end in however many millions of years it takes for the sun to swallow it up when it swells up. Humans will be extinct sometime in the next 6000 years." :)

Undertoad 05-17-2008 12:05 PM

The apocalypse scenario is something the human mind seems to want to believe in and to spread. The end times for humanity, if not the entire planet, is the centerpiece of just about every religion. The mind judges actions by their consequences, and the harshest of all consequences, really resonates. It is these stories that we continue to share with urgency, generation after generation after generation, even though they are flat out fantasy tales.

There's only one that's really worth talking about today. About 25 million years ago, the earth was hit by a 7-mile (10 km) wide asteroid. It landed in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. Shortly thereafter 90% of all life on the earth was wiped out.

Every few years astronomers locate another big-ass rock in space headed our direction. This being the only apocalypse that's actually proven to have happened, there should be much more emphasis on locating these things and working out how to crack them up before they reach us.

Of course 25 million years since end days is a long time, and the odds are with us.

skysidhe 05-17-2008 12:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by monster (Post 454525)
my gut's still only concerned about lunch. It has no vision. *sigh*

hehe :lol:


I am not sure what I think about this apocalypse stuff. I am sure there have been intances in the past where it felt the world was ending. Re;world wars, genocide.

Will we blow ourselves up? Will we cover the sun in a radioactive cloud? Will a meteor hit? Will the earth warm up so much that we get one natural disaster after another? I don't know but I do think life will carry on no matter what. ( like UT said)

spudcon 05-17-2008 12:53 PM

Speaking of fantasy, Our sun orbits our galaxy every 220 million years. It has been postulated that in some parts of that orbit, the sun passes through clouds of dust and gas, causing changes in its apparent brightness from earth. In this scenario, Ice ages begin, and continue in a runaway fashion because the cooler snowy earth reflects more sunlight, causing more freezing etc. Of course, there's always the possibility of clouds of asteroids also, causing more catastrophes.
Since we are still coming out of the last ice age, isn't it fair to assume that the earth might be heating up .6 degree per cenury? Or does it make more sense to retrograde civilization because chicken little thinks he knows the sky is falling?

Cicero 05-17-2008 01:23 PM

I think the world is going to end up just fine. The difference between the world being fine and human life being fine are two different things I think. Humans, it doesn't look so good. There may be some that survive the natural instabilities inherent in living in this Universe. Dunno. But I think the earth will continue on it's natural course or a reasonable facsimile, and so will other bodies in the universe, which spells doom for any living form, in many ways....

I wouldn't call it an apocolypse...that's too biblical for me. I rely on natural law to continue to be what it is, and we are lucky to be a part of it no matter how long that is. Just the sheer improbability of us being here in our current form is overwhelming.....Much less thinking about how we intend to keep surviving the insurmountable odds against it.

I think we will continue to evade our own extinction, but going on universal natural law principles, there's just no telling how much longer we have. I think anything can happen at any time. There are no guarantees, we don't even have earthquakes or weather nailed down yet. We can fight, man vs nature, but nature will always be more powerful, and hopefully we can continue to feebley outwit the largesse of that power. But...well, the Universe is actually pretty unstable for humans as it always has been for any life, and we still know very little about it, and there is a black hole in the next galaxy over, I don't know what is going to happen!! I'm just holding onto this wild ride for as long as I can myself. It's against probability that I can even sit here and discuss this. Talk about against all freaking odds.

It's against probability that you could exist to even ask that question. So I have no answer. Really. There is a bottom line...How did we manage to get here in the first place, much less try to comprehend how long we have? I don't have another species like us or a planet like ours, a model, to base any information on whatsoever. I do know that other life forms in the universe have died due to natural occurences.

The only proof I have is that we are a very rare improbability and the universe is highly unstable in regards to life forms, wtf from here? The history of life forms, albeit single celled or not, has not been good. Bad track record. There is no evidence that we will survive long, because there is no evidence for how we managed to get this evolved in the first place, not in such a chaotic universe.



I think I will ask smooth's magic eight ball.

wolf 05-17-2008 01:52 PM

None of the above.

Or 12/21/12.

But that's a beginning, not merely an end.

xoxoxoBruce 05-17-2008 01:56 PM

Worrying about things you can't do anything about, is like paying interest on money you didn't borrow.

Elspode 05-17-2008 02:01 PM

I think that Apocalypse is likely due to a "perfect storm" of events, starting with human stupidity and greed, compounded by biological pandemics and topped off with a nice, gooey coating of natural disaster - all within a short period of time, making it impossible to effectively counter the combined effects. *When* exactly this might occur is anyone's guess, but certainly the socioeconomic state of the world right now is well positioned for *that* part of the puzzle to be initiated. A good superflu, more volcanic/tectonic activity and some unprecedented cyclonic events come along, and despotic and misguided cultures/governments would seek to take advantage (see Burma for a reference) of the confusion to further their own positions somehow, and things could get pretty fucked.

Of course, exterminating all life on the planet is a pretty tall order. After all, when we talk about Apocalypse, we're really talking about own survival.

Mother Earth does not hold human beings to be any more important than the bacteria or viri that might contribute to the eventual demise of Man on this rock. So, if *we* care about the survival of our species, we probably ought to be figuring out a way to help and cherish each other, instead of making every goddamn waking moment about having all the fucking cookies for ourselves.

sweetwater 05-17-2008 02:05 PM

As far as I know, the sun was suddenly extinguished about 8 1/2 minutes ago, so I limit my worries of the future to that time frame. Been 9 minutes and the sunlight still happening? I'm good! And I'm relying on Bruce Willis and Co. to save Earth from an asteroid, although I love dinosaurs and would not mind turning into a fossil myself to be with them. It will happen whether I wish it or not, I think.

xoxoxoBruce 05-17-2008 02:09 PM

Want to know the future? Here's the timeline.

sweetwater 05-17-2008 02:13 PM

That goes to 2050, and beyond ~ I thought the world was scheduled to end Dec 12, 2012.

Cicero 05-17-2008 02:16 PM

Oh, the future does include even more incorrect spelling of common words...Thanks Bruce!
;)

skysidhe 05-17-2008 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elspode (Post 454584)

Mother Earth does not hold human beings to be any more important than the bacteria or viri that might contribute to the eventual demise of Man on this rock. So, if *we* care about the survival of our species, we probably ought to be figuring out a way to help and cherish each other, instead of making every goddamn waking moment about having all the fucking cookies for ourselves.

wow you show yourself to be so smart AND kind. :)

Luckily we attempt to out- think those viruses that would be our demise.

Unfortunately marijuana cookies are illegal otherwise i'd send some really pissy people some.

xoxoxoBruce 05-17-2008 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetwater (Post 454589)
That goes to 2050, and beyond ~ I thought the world was scheduled to end Dec 12, 2012.

Maybe you should spend your money more wisely, it may have to last a lot longer. :D

sweetwater 05-17-2008 04:36 PM

S/he who dies with the fewest dollars wins!

monster 05-17-2008 06:04 PM

I believe the world will end when tw is unveiled as a nom de plume of Britney Spears. The earthquake cause by the millions of jaws simultaneously hitting the ground in the US will cause all the people in China to be catapulted into space, where they will orbit the planet and block the light of the sun. Of course that's not what wipes us all out -that happens because we can no longer afford to buy anything because nothing is made in China anymore, so millions of Americans with guns march on the White House to protest, and Bush -caught by surprise and not able to leave to the safe bunker in time- shits his pants, and while reaching for the tp, accidentally hits THAT BUTTON. Yes, his belly button. The stench attracts Sundae girl like a super electromagnet, and on landing somewhat undecorasly, her impressive rack accidentally nudges the other button, The big red one.

so it's all Sundae's fault.

Sundae 05-17-2008 09:13 PM

I don't believe in pork lips.
I'm growing my nails for Ragnarok.

monster 05-17-2008 10:58 PM

Still your fault, though.

smoothmoniker 05-18-2008 01:19 AM

Human beings will survive, even if catastrophe hits. The dual capacities of reason and creativity are the greatest adaptive survival trait nature has ever seen.

But, the world as we know it will end when Jesus rides in on a white horse. Keep one eye up, people.

glatt 05-18-2008 08:53 PM

Humans are doomed, but life on Earth will continue for a long time.

Dingleschmutz 05-19-2008 11:22 AM

I stumbled upon this site one day when I was bored at work. Plenty of ways for the apocalypse to happen. I particularly liked the gamma ray bursts, that would probably suck.

http://www.exitmundi.nl/

For the record though, I'm convinced a reality show will be the cause of the apocalypse.


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