So what will our final days bring us? This is probably not something many of us wish to think about much as it may apply to our individual lives. But let us expand our thinking. What will become of mankind on this planet? This is the topic for exploration here and I would suggest that the answer is not altogether clear. This is often the case with big questions and in this matter what becomes of us all is a product of different variables…different possibilities. More specifically, will our final days here on earth end by fire with the planet slowling become victim to a sun that is dying, yet expanding to incinerate us all. Or will the death of our planet be a frosty reception where cold and ice rule the day?The ultimate end to all things we know could be as a result of a nuclear exchange between waring nations here on earth. With so many nations armed with nuclear devices, this outcome may be the more probable near term end for our planet given the seeds of such destruction is already in place. While one may first think that such an event whereby there is a large scale exchange of nuclear devices would cause great destruction by fire and certainly there would be plenty of that. The more frightful ending would actually be triggered by various dusts kicked up high into our atmosphere in such a manner that the sun’s warming rays would ultimately be blotted out. Hence, our species would in that scenario would fall prey to what is called a nuclear winter. With no radiant heat, almost every living plant and animal would in wholesale fashion disappear from the face of the planet. A similar fate could occur if a large meteor or asteroid plunged into the earth. The destruction could be horrific, but the aftermath would be similar as described above with the earth falling into the grip of the mother of all winters. Another disaster scenario which is most likely not going to occur for a few billion years is when our sun gives out. It utilizes helium as its main source of fuel and when the sun exhausts it supply of energy it will over time turn into a red dwarf, but not before expanding out and engulfing the inner planets revolving in orbit around the sun. The earth would be obliterated by a scorching heat of the likes that we can barely even imagine. This is already cooked into the future prospects of earth’s long term future. My sense is that we will be long gone before that event unfolds. Either our species would be extinct or we might just leave earth before the going gets tough. So if we are able to avoid destroying ourselves and if we are fortunate to avoid large space objects hurling at earth with a direct or near direct flight path, then the future of our species may very well be in the hands of our own ingenuity which I suspect would involve travel to other planetary systems whose natural resurces can be harnessed. Maybe a series of space living stations. Living on earth is a crap shoot so to speak in cosmological terms (i.e. millions of years). If our species continues to evolve, we will need to depart this planet in the future….probably long in the future….but logic suggests our days here are numbered and death by fire or ice is in our destiny.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 17:42:39 +0000
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