Apocalypse never

[Undertoad]

A helpful reminder, in the horrible clickbait culture that wants to scare the shit out of you in order to get your attention for three minutes:

Human predictions of the apocalypse: 1,000,000,000s

Number of times it came true: 0

Predicting the end times: it's merely our programming. It's what we do. It's what we pay attention to. There is nothing different about modern predictions. This is simply human nature at work.

If you think your prediction is somehow different, please reference the table above. You're not special, and you and your human sources of information are definitely not immune to this. It's part of our DNA.

[DanaC]

Meh. The only difference between us and all the other creatures that have faced extinction is we are looking for it.

May I remind you of that time oxygen almost killed everything...

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by DanaC

May I remind you of that time oxygen almost killed everything...

Man, I hate when that happens.

[xoxoxoBruce]

If you don't know when it's coming you must worry every day.

[sexobon]

So, oxygen was the first lethal pooticle.

[Glinda]

Originally Posted by sexobon

So, oxygen was the first lethal pooticle.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

If you think your prediction is somehow different, please reference the table above.

Note that the only predictions for which that table is applicable are those which predict the elimination of all humans.

[Undertoad]

If you quibble, you think your prediction is different! But it's not. Enjoy.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

If you quibble, you think your prediction is different! But it's not. Enjoy.

I'm not predicting; I'm just saying that it relies solely on the fact that humans still exist. There have been many predictions of disasters which came true, but didn't extinct the species, and there have been many species extincted, who probably didn't predict it.

All it says is that nobody who predicted the extinction of humanity was right, which is pretty much a tautology, if claimed by a human.

[Undertoad]

:| It is a statement about human behavior, not actually a logic or math problem to be solved.

[xoxoxoBruce]

If the scientists are right about the history of the earth, then logic tells us the future will hold more cataclysmic events that could very well wipe us out. However predicting them is a whole different matter so for now, "the end is nigh", remains wishful thinking.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

:| It is a statement about human behavior, not actually a logic or math problem to be solved.

But if it were reworded to apply to anything other than extinction of humanity, it wouldn't have such a spotless track record (and would require actual research to come up with the number).

There's also a human tendency to ignore or discount warnings.

[Undertoad]

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

But if it were reworded to apply to anything other than extinction of humanity, it wouldn't have such a spotless track record (and would require actual research to come up with the number).

:eyeroll:

Alrighty then.

The statement is 100% accurate to complete extinction;

And yet, that doesn't stop the many predictions of complete extinction;

Which, obviously, gives us a perspective on predictions that only apply to a smaller number of humans, or a smaller region of the world; those predictions are perhaps only almost entirely wrong but that can't be mathematically proven.

There's also a human tendency to ignore or discount warnings.

:eyeroll:

Yes, whole point of the thread: it's a good idea to do exactly that, for all 100% apocalyptic warnings, and most of the rest as well.

Y2K: it wasn't necessarily going to kill ALL of us, capisce?

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Y2K: it wasn't necessarily going to kill ALL of us, capisce?

Was the lesson you took from Y2K that all of the work that was done to prepare for it by upgrading out-of-date software, and testing important systems, was wasted?

Or that institutions would have spent the money to do all that naturally, even if they hadn't been warned?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Well here we go, 780,000 years ago the earths magnetic field switched poles. 40,000 years ago it tried but snapped back. Meh, so the Boy Scouts will turn their compasses around, no big deal, right?

The Earth’s magnetic field protects our planet from dangerous solar and cosmic rays, like a giant shield. As the poles switch places (or try to), that shield is weakened; scientists estimate that it could waste away to as little as a tenth of its usual force. The shield could be compromised for centuries while the poles move, allowing malevolent radiation closer to the surface of the planet for that whole time.

Oh, that sucks.

Daniel Baker, director of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, one of the world’s experts on how cosmic radiation affects the Earth, fears that parts of the planet will become uninhabitable during a reversal.

I wonder if that includes sexobon's spot?

The vast cyber-electric cocoon that has become the central processing system of modern civilization is in grave danger. Solar energetic particles can rip through the sensitive miniature electronics of the growing number of satellites circling the Earth, badly damaging them. The satellite timing systems that govern electric grids would be likely to fail. The grid’s transformers could be torched en masse. Because grids are so tightly coupled with each other, failure would race across the globe, causing a domino run of blackouts that could last for decades.

Oh no, watching netflix by candle light.

No lights. No computers. No cellphones. Even flushing a toilet or filling a car’s gas tank would be impossible. And that’s just for starters.

The ultraviolet inhibitors in you window caulking don't stand a chance.