Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Many hypothetical doomsday devices are based on salted hydrogen bombs creating large amounts of nuclear fallout.. A doomsday device is a hypothetical construction — usually a weapon or weapons system — which could destroy all life on a planet, particularly Earth, or destroy the planet itself, bringing "doomsday", a term used for the end of planet Earth.
A global catastrophic risk or a doomsday scenario is a hypothetical event that could damage human well-being on a global scale, [2] even endangering or destroying modern civilization. [3] An event that could cause human extinction or permanently and drastically curtail humanity's existence or potential is known as an " existential risk ".
Doomsday scenarios are possible events that could cause human extinction or the destruction of all or most life on Earth (a "true" or "major" Armageddon scenario), or alternatively a "lesser" Armageddon scenario in which the cultural, technological, environmental or social world is so greatly altered it could be considered like a different world.
One stems from history, where the limited size of historical pandemics is evidence that larger pandemics are unlikely. This argument has been disputed on grounds including the changing risk due to changing population and behavioral patterns among humans, the limited historical record, and the existence of an anthropic bias .
Gray goo (also spelled as grey goo) is a hypothetical global catastrophic scenario involving molecular nanotechnology in which out-of-control self-replicating machines consume all biomass (and perhaps also everything else) on Earth while building many more of themselves, [1] [2] a scenario that has been called ecophagy (the literal consumption of the ecosystem). [3]
For premium support please call: 800-290-4726 more ways to reach us
An existential risk is "one that threatens the premature extinction of Earth-originating intelligent life or the permanent and drastic destruction of its potential for desirable future development". [67] Besides extinction risk, there is the risk that the civilization gets permanently locked into a flawed future.
The end of (one) year and start of another can be an exciting time. For kids, it means Christmas, with presents under the tree. For adults, New Year's Eve parties and bottles of champagne.