Alive. Just to be able to say: "I told you so". ;-)
Pole shifts: yes, poles shift, I found that out in Discover and they had a theory about the next one. Don't quite remember the details but this is the conclusion: We don't have to worry about it.
The sun will eventually extinguish and as a result earth will not be able to sustain life as we currently know and understand it. That is also expected... in a million years. We don't have to worry about it.
Asteroids, solar flares, dormant bacteria awoken by the melting ice caps, pendemics, meh, there are so many scenarios...
What I would worry about are quantified facts. Forget about global warming and the discussion surrounding as it hasn't gained overall consent - I personally believe it, but some people would argue against it, so let's just talk facts for which there is empirical data that noone can contest: diminishing water tables, diminishing arable land per person.
In layman's terms, the diminishing water and arable land essentially mean that eventually there aren't resources for everyone. Now, I don't actually believe in the "end of the world" - that's actually too vast a concept to discuss in a few paragraphs - but history has proven on many occasions that lack of resources leads to war, and that is just a fact. One way or the other, governments and people attempt to increase their "vital space", and when they do, there are always governments and people to try and stop them - think first world war.
The difference is that today, the means to gain or defend the resources are more advanced and more destructive than they ever were, and there lies, I think, the greater risk for destruction, which is potentially nuclear... The thing is history has a funny way of repeating itself, and given the means to obliterate its opponent, man usually does so. Does that mean the "end of the world"? No, it doesn't, but it could be the end of "one world" and further proof that man doesn't evolve, only his genes do. :-)
Last edited by bloodee (2007-01-29 14:35:30)
