The world will end someday.
When you think of doomsday, you might think of a reckoning from a divine deity, or perhaps
you imagine a flash of light that signals nuclear war.
But you probably couldn’t imagine some of the craziest ways the world could end.
An experiment gone wrong, a change in the very state of the universe, or visitors from
another planet: let’s explore the 12 most insane ways the world could end.
End of world scenario number 12: artificial intelligence or death by Terminator.
Sci-fi movies and TV shows are not the only warnings of the dangers associated with artificial
intelligence.
Many scientists are also wary of the potential that AI could have if unleashed on the world.
It is estimated that by 2050 machines with artificial intelligence will be able to complete
most tasks better than humans.
The most frightening part about this is that humans are really good at destroying our planet
and using up natural resources.
Most scientists who are nervous about AI and how it could end the world are less concerned
about the machines taking over and becoming evil and more concerned about how humans will
use them.
If artificial intelligence becomes smarter than the average human and it falls into the
wrong hands, there are countless ways it could end the world.
All the user would have to do is ask the AI to wipe out all life on the planet, and it
would come up with a solution that we probably haven’t thought of yet.
Artificial intelligence could also go the way of the terminator.
If it becomes so advanced that it’s self-aware, there is a possibility it might do whatever
it can to survive and reproduce.
Since humans would have initially programmed the AI, and we are the result of billions
of years of evolution that has programmed us to survive and reproduce, it’s likely
that these same instructions would somehow find their way into the AI’s code.
It’s not out of the realm of possibility that an artificially intelligent machine becomes
aware of how badly we are messing up the planet and decides to stop us since Earth would be
its home too.
So, perhaps the human species will end with artificial intelligence, but there is a good
chance that the rest of the living things on the planet will live in a better world
if an AI takes over.
One tool an AI might have at its disposal to end the world is the next item on our list.
End of world scenario number 11: destruction by nanotech bots.
Nanotechnology is amazing.
In the not too distant past, computers took up entire rooms within warehouses to generate
what is now considered an extremely small amount of computational power.
Now we have computers in the palm of our hands and microchips that are becoming more powerful
while also becoming smaller.
But all of this is nothing compared to the future of nanotechnology.
It’s theorized that in the next few decades, we will build microscopic robots that can
perform different functions and even replicate themselves.
You can probably see the pros and cons of this type of technology.
The terrifying thing is that if a flaw develops in the nanobots and they begin duplicating
out of control, there is very little we would be able to do about it.
4 Containing a nanotech bot problem, if it ever did arise, would be nearly impossible.
Imagine nanotechnology that malfunctioned and began releasing toxic chemicals in a host
as it replicated.
It would be so small that it could easily infiltrate into any living thing on the planet
and fill it with toxins.
This could lead to the mass extinction of all species on Earth as the nanobots sweep
across the planet on wind currents and within humans as they traveled around the world.
Hypothetically, the nanobots could be wiped out by a large EMP, but that would also fry
every other electronic on the planet.
Nanotechnology is the way of the future as microscopic bots could help doctors perform
internal surgeries without cutting a patient open or allow scientists to clean up oil spills
and help combat pollution.
However, if something goes wrong, things would go from bad to worse in the blink of an eye.
Hopefully, a kill switch will be implanted in every nanobot that is ever made, but this
is not a guarantee.
Without a safety net, nanobots could spread across the world like wildfire, which could
be a huge problem if they are malfunctioning and killing every living thing in their path.
Like with nanobots, the next scenario may have started with good intentions but could
end with the planet's destruction.
End of world scenario number 10: solar geoengineering and messing with a delicate balance.
We know that climate change is a problem.
The effects it’s having on our planet are undeniable, and soon it will be too late…
or will it?
Some scientists believe that the effects of climate change could be reversed by using
a technology known as solar geoengineering.
However, there are some real dangers and world-ending consequences that solar geoengineering could
have.
The idea behind solar geoengineering is that particles can be put into our atmosphere to
reflect sunlight back into space before it reaches the Earth’s surface.
This would counteract the greenhouse effect, which traps some of the sun's radiation between
our atmosphere and Earth, leading to the planet warming up.
The problem is that there is a fine balance happening in our atmosphere that keeps our
planet’s temperature just right for liquid water to be plentiful and life to thrive.
If solar geoengineering throws off this balance, it could have dire consequences.
Imagine if the solar geoengineers miscalculated and put too many sun-reflecting particles
in our atmosphere.
The planet’s temperature would plummet, and the Earth would become a giant ice ball.
Another option for geoengineers is to remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere,
which would also slow down global warming and might be slightly safer.
Then again, the same cooling problem would occur if too much carbon dioxide was removed
from the atmosphere.
Other concerns about solar geoengineering arise because we just don’t know how modifying
our atmosphere will affect other aspects of the planet like local ecology and weather
patterns.
Deploying particles into the atmosphere or removing CO2 could shift the heat distribution
of the sun and could throw our planet’s whole weather system into chaos.
We could experience massive tornadoes in the middle of cities or snow in the Amazon Rainforest.
These isolated changes could lead to global catastrophes and the end of the world.
But to be fair, we are doing a pretty good job of destroying the planet without the help
of solar geoengineering, as shown by number 9 on our list.
End of world scenario number 9: catastrophic climate change.
Climate change is an insane way for the world to end because it could have been easily prevented.
We have known for decades that burning fossil fuels and spewing pollution into our atmosphere
would one day have dire consequences, and that day has come.
However, things will get so much worse if we carry on doing business as usual.
And this is the crazy part; as of right now, it looks like humans are still not taking
climate change seriously, and therefore this very well may be what causes the world to
end.
In the not too distant future, we will see the already intensified storms and weather
due to climate change become even worse.
Huge hurricanes will wipe out entire coastlines, islands will become submerged under rising
sea levels, and droughts will squeeze every ounce of freshwater from once fertile lands.
The planet we see today will seem like an alien one to the humans of the future.
The unequal distribution of vital resources such as fresh water and food will become more
and more prominent.
This will lead to wars and death across the planet as people fight to survive.
As temperature increases, entire ecosystems will collapse or vanish entirely.
There is no stopping climate change unless we take drastic action and control our overconsumption
of resources and burning of fossil fuels.
In an absolute worst-case scenario, humans could put enough carbon dioxide, methane,
and water vapor into the atmosphere to cause a runaway greenhouse effect.
The world would likely end long before this happens, but if enough greenhouse gasses are
released into the atmosphere, our planet could become similar to Venus.
Temperatures could reach as high as 900 degrees on the surface, which would turn Earth into
an inhospitable rock.
And as you are about to find out, climate change is not the only thing that could disrupt
our atmosphere.
End of world scenario number 8: high energy gamma-ray burst.
There is good news and bad news about gamma-ray bursts.
The good news is that although they occur around once a day in our universe, most are
happening in distant galaxies.
The bad news is that they do happen in the Milky Way, and if a gamma-ray burst ever hit
Earth, it would obliterate our atmosphere and kill everything on the planet.
Scientists believe a gamma-ray burst happens when a massive star, many times the size of
our sun, runs out of fuel and collapses in on itself, forming a black hole.
Another possibility is that when two already collapsed stars orbiting each other merge,
they release a gamma-ray burst.
During this process, an enormous amount of energy is released.
A gamma-ray burst is estimated to be ten quadrillion times more energetic than the energy generated
by our sun.
In this scenario, the gamma-ray burst would pass through space at the speed of light.
When it hits Earth’s atmosphere, the planet would immediately begin to boil as nitrogen
oxides form, and the ozone layer is destroyed.
If the gamma-rays didn’t already kill everything on the planet, the radiation from the sun
would.
Without the protective layers of our atmosphere, Earth’s water would evaporate into space,
and all living things would die from being cooked alive.
However, a gamma-ray burst is nothing compared to what could happen if the laws of physics
changed.
End of world scenario number 7: collapse of the vacuum.
One of the scariest end-of-world scenarios comes from a fundamental change to our entire
universe.
It’s believed by some scientists that the early universe was empty space full of some
form of energy.
This is known as a false vacuum and was not a stable state for the universe to be in.
For some unknown reason, a new kind of vacuum appeared and quickly swept through the universe,
changing its composition.
This released an enormous amount of energy and caused the expansion of the cosmos.
The vacuum that resulted from this event is the one that exists today.
However, this does not mean that it’s the most stable kind of vacuum.
If for some reason a new vacuum appeared that was more stable than the current one, it would
fundamentally change everything throughout the universe.
In this scenario, tiny bubbles of the new kind of vacuum would appear and spread at
light speed across our cosmos, changing the laws of physics as they went.
When this new vacuum reached Earth, it would tear the planet apart atom by atom.
The end of the world by the collapse of the vacuum would be instantaneous, and there is
no way to know what would result from the change.
Most astrophysicists are convinced that this re-writing of the fabric of space is highly
unlikely, but since it happened in the past, it could happen again in the future.
The scariest way the world could end comes from a phenomenon that we cannot directly
see.
End of world scenario number 6: death by black hole.
Through advances in telescope technology and our knowledge of the universe, we now know
that black holes not only exist but are much more common than we once believed.
Our own galaxy is full of collapsed stars that turned into black holes.
Some scientists believe there could be as many as 10 million unknown blackholes traveling
around our galaxy.
It’s highly unlikely one of these monsters will pass through our solar system, but it’s
not impossible.
If a black hole was headed towards Earth, we would know about it before it got here,
but there would be nothing we could do to stop it.
We wouldn’t be able to directly observe the black hole as light can’t escape its
grasp, but its effects would definitely be noticeable as it approached our planet.
The first indication that something was wrong would be that the orbits of the outer planets
of our solar system would start to change.
These planets would be pulled away from the sun and towards the approaching black hole.
Then, anything in the black hole’s path would disappear into its singularity.
Even if the black hole didn’t pass directly through our solar system, it would still throw
all of the planets off their orbits.
This would be enough to eject Earth into deep space, where we would all freeze to death
without the energy and heat of our sun.
On the other hand, if Earth was directly in the path of the black hole, everyone and everything
on the planet would begin to feel its gravitational pull as the black hole approached.
The side of the planet that was closest to the black hole would stretch as it was pulled
into the black hole’s gravity well.
Our entire planet would eventually become spaghettified as the gravity on one side would
be much more intense than the gravity on the other.
Earth would be consumed by the black hole and crushed by its gravity.
No one knows what happens inside of a black hole, but it’s highly probable that the
world would be destroyed.
End of world scenario number 5: alien invasion.
Although the prospect of aliens being among us is tantalizing, it’s also terrifying.
The universe is vast.
In our galaxy alone, there are an estimated 100 billion planets.
Obviously, not every one of them can support life, as exemplified by our own solar system.
However, even if one one-hundredth of a percent of planets have life, that is still 1 billion
inhabited planets right here in the Milky Way.
Currently, we have no idea how many planets have life, but to think that Earth is the
only one would be insane.
Many scientists believe that if aliens do come to Earth, they will have ill intentions.
They might see our planet as a place to gather resources such as water or oxygen.
The aliens will have technology that is infinitely more advanced than ours since they just traveled
across the cosmos to get to Earth.
If they wanted to strip our planet of its resources, there would be very little we could
do to stop them.
If human conquest has taught us anything, it’s that the aliens themselves might not
be the ones who wipe us out, but the pathogens they carry will instead do the work for them.
Nothing on our planet will have natural immunity to alien diseases, which would probably lead
to the extinction of much of the life on Earth.
This may seem counterintuitive, but by extending human life, we might cause the end of the
world.
End of world scenario number 4: ending the world by extending life.
The World Health Organization estimates that 500 million people suffer from psychological
disorders every year.
The scary part is that this number has steadily increased and doesn’t seem to be stopping.
Some researchers believe that in the coming decades, we will be able to double the life
expectancy of humans.
However, longer life also comes with more mental health problems.
This is why some believe that in the years to come, it will be mass insanity that ends
the world.
The longer someone lives, the more likely they will be to develop feelings of loneliness
or a sense of despair.
Having people live to be 200 years old will have all kinds of ramifications on our world.
Social systems will have to change, and psychological health will need to be monitored much more
closely as people get into the later years of life.
Some researchers warn that lengthening human life could overload the brain and lead to
mass insanity in the older generations.
Doomsday cults might pop up in order to spread a new gospel of death.
The mental breakdown of society may even go as far as these cults literally trying to
end the world to reclaim what they see as the normal course of a human’s life.
As of right now, we don’t have much data on what happens to the mind if a person exceeds
100 years old, and we have no data on what will happen if someone reaches 200 years old.
Maybe, a sense of calmness washes over them, or perhaps they become paranoid and hell-bent
on ending the world.
The next world-ending scenario is probably one you’ve thought about a lot recently.
End of world scenario number 3: nuclear war and everything that comes with it.
Nuclear war tends to be in the back of everyone’s mind when we think of doomsday scenarios,
and for a good reason.
It feels like the world is constantly on the brink of nuclear war as countries disagree
with one another and ruthless dictators threaten to use nukes in various situations.
Nuclear war is not something that would only affect the countries involved but would likely
wipe out most life on Earth.
When a nuclear device detonates, it obliterates everything within 2 to 3 miles.
There are somewhere around 12,500 nukes on the planet right now, which is more than enough
to throw Earth into a nuclear winter.
When a nuke goes off, it kicks up debris and smoke into the atmosphere that can block out
the sun.
It’s estimated that if 4,000 nuclear devices were detonated at the same time, which is
only a third of the total supply on Earth, the planet could be thrown into nuclear winter
for years.
This means that a lot of sunlight will be blocked from reaching the surface.
Plants will die without their main energy source, which will cause a ripple effect through
ecosystems, causing mass extinctions.
There would definitely be some extremophiles that would survive, but for most species,
death would be on the horizon.
In the aftermath of a nuclear war, it’s estimated that the global temperature would
decrease by around 8 degrees Celsius or 46 degrees Fahrenheit.
And this doesn’t take into consideration the massive amount of radiation that would
spread across the globe, causing cancer and other diseases.
If nuclear war ever broke out, there would be little hope that the human species would
survive.
End of world scenario number 2: world-ending supervolcanic eruption.
There are around 20 known supervolcanoes on planet Earth.
Each one has the potential to cause massive amounts of death and destruction when they
erupt.
And that’s the thing; it’s not a matter of if these volcanoes will erupt but when.
The build-up of pressure in supervolcanoes will inevitably end in a massive explosion
that spews lava, chemicals, and huge quantities of dust and dirt into the atmosphere.
Around 74,000 years ago, a supervolcano called Mount Toba erupted in the Barisan Mountains,
north-central Sumatra, Indonesia.
The eruption deposited so much debris in the atmosphere that it’s hypothesized the Earth’s
global temperature decreased by several degrees Celsius.
This caused the mass extinction of many different plants and animals as the climates rapidly
changed.
Scientists theorize that supervolcanoes erupt every 17,000 years or so.
The last eruption is believed to have occurred around 26,500 years ago in New Zealand.
This means we are overdue.
Obviously, supervolcanoes don’t wipe out all life on Earth since we are still here,
but they can have disastrous consequences, and we have no idea how a massive eruption
would disrupt the world we live in today.
The problem with supervolcanic eruptions is that there is no way to predict them and plan
ahead.
There may be indications that an eruption will occur, but by the time signs begin to
show, it will be too late.
Something to keep in mind is that around 251.9 million years ago, a supervolcano erupted
in Siberia.
It caused what is known as the Permian-Triassic extinction.
At this point in Earth’s history, 95% of all life was wiped out.
So, it isn’t hard to imagine that a slightly larger supervolcano may be able to finish
the job of wiping out all life on Earth.
When a supervolcano erupts, it spews debris into the atmosphere blocking the sun.
Sulfurous gas is released, causing acid rains to fall across the planet.
The ozone layer is torn apart, and harmful radiation bombards the planet.
Basically, whatever isn’t destroyed in the initial eruption will be devastated by the
side effects of a supervolcano.
But the scariest and one of the more likely doomsday scenarios comes from the heavens.
End of world scenario number 1: asteroid armageddon.
You’ve seen it in movies and on TV shows.
A giant space rock comes hurtling towards Earth and threatens the entire world.
Unfortunately, for us, in reality, this world-ending scenario is all too real.
Like supervolcanos, it’s just a matter of time before an asteroid strikes Earth.
Space agencies try desperately to identify and track any asteroid that might cross paths
with Earth, but there is no way they can find them all.
And since the universe is filled with chaos, you never know when an asteroid will be knocked
off its current trajectory and plummet towards Earth.
Tiny meteorites slam into Earth’s atmosphere all the time, creating what we call shooting
stars.
Some of these meteorites make it to Earth, but they are too small to cause any real damage.
However, a larger space rock many miles across would be a different story.
As of right now, we have no way to deflect an incoming asteroid unless we have many years
to plan for it.
If we found out tomorrow that an asteroid was on an impact course with Earth, there
would not be enough time to stop it.
When the asteroid hit our planet, it would release an unfathomable amount of energy,
vaporizing anything in the vicinity.
The impact would kick up billions of tons of debris into the atmosphere that would coat
the planet’s atmosphere and block the sun.
This would send Earth into an ice age that could last for decades.
If the asteroid is large enough, the energy generated by the impact could cause wildfires
to spread across the globe, which would produce enough smoke to smother most life on the planet.
As of right now, astronomers think there are somewhere around 100,000 asteroids in the
Kuiper Belt that sits just outside our solar system that are over 50 miles in diameter.
Any of these space rocks would be enough to wipe out pretty much all life on Earth if
they slammed into the planet.
Between the massive explosion and resulting decimation of the landscape along with an
ice age that would freeze the planet for thousands of years, a large asteroid impact is one of
the most insane ways the world could end.
Now watch “Events That Will Cause the End of the World.”
Or check out “Insane Ways People Are Preparing for Doomsday.”