I currently believe that the best thing that can happen to our planet is to be struck by a gamma ray burst. I’m not an astrophysicist, but I presume that most of the atmosphere would be boiled off into space, and that over half of the planet’s surface would be fried. Thus most people would be cooked, and the rest would suffocate. I daresay a few lucky individuals and groups would get into bunkers in time, but these people could never repopulate the planet; rather, they would merely eek out a claustrophobic and rodent-like existence for as long as their oxygen and tinned supplies could last.
(Remark. It would not be as though the human race never existed, because innumerable artifacts and records would survive, so alien visitors in the future could piece together our story and add us to the galactic database.)
3 comments
except for the galactic database part, I’d like for this to happen as well. best thing for the planet, chemo the cancer that is humanity
As a young person from 10 till I was 26 years old I would wake up every day and think is this the da that the NUKES are let loose. Would I be near an epicenter where isnatnt daeth would be assured or somehwere to far away to be killed. Then the thought would be, how to survive the nuclear falllout (none) find food and die an aweful death.
A gamma ray burst would be simular, very quick radiation detahs, lack of oxygen, the inability to grow food.
An indirect hit would be survivable, by some.
The planet will alwyas have somemlife forms, its almost certain that humans will be gone from here soon than we all think. 100 years tops left. Know that would be cool for me as a human to return 10,000 years after humans had died off.
You’re bleaker than me, tphg!
@caucajun. Yes, a worldwide nuclear holocaust would be good too – that possibility had slipped my mind. I’m interested by your 100 year timescale, because I’ve heard other people say we might be gone in 20-30 years because of technology (cf. the rise of Skynet in the Terminator films).