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.”
