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Page added on May 9, 2016
what we will need to do to survive doomsday
CONCERNED scientists have revealed how we can prevent the human race from being wiped out — and it involves either changing our planet’s orbit or uploading ourselves into machines.
In around 500 million years, scientists believe that the Sun’s expansion will leave our planet completely uninhabitable, with conditions so unforgiving that the Earth will return to being the scorched, lifeless lump of rock it once was.
However, there is still hope for Earth’s future inhabitants, as researchers claim there are extreme measures we may be able to go to in humanity’s hour of need.
Columbia University astrophysicists Michael Hahn and Daniel Wolf Savin explain how life on Earth will slowly begin to decline in an essay entitled ‘How to Survive Doomsday’.
Assuming that humanity can avoid a self-inflicted nuclear apocalypse or a deadly asteroid strike, our species has less than 500 million years left on the planet.
However, before we’re wiped out for good, our distant descendants may be able to save the species by physically moving Earth’s orbit.
“If we fired a 100km wide asteroid on an elliptical orbit that passed close to the Earth every 5,000 years, we could slowly gravitationally nudge the planet’s orbit farther away from the sun, provided that we don’t accidentally hit the Earth,” the scientists responsible for the prediction wrote.
We could always just turn ourselves into robots like they suggest.Source:AFP
An alternative way to keep the earth within the Sun’s habitable zone is to attach a giant solar sail to the planet, which would need to be at least 20 times the diameter of Earth.
This would theoretically drag our planet away from the expanding Sun in the same way a regular sail uses the wind to move a boat.
“Strategies like these could, in principle, keep the Earth in the habitable zone until the sun expands into a red giant,” the astrophysicists explain.
Perhaps the strangest survival option involves humans uploading themselves into machines.
While this is far beyond our current abilities, researchers claim that the idea may be feasible in the future.
The reason for this distant doomsday scenario is all due to the expansion of the Sun, which will probably completely melt the Earth in 6 billion years’ time.
However, the Earth will be rendered uninhabitable long before that, with our planet decreasing its natural levels carbon dioxide as the Sun grows brighter.
With our star becoming brighter at a rate of roughly 10 per cent every billion years, there’s still a long way to go before the Earth runs out of carbon dioxide — something which will result in the death of all plant life on the planet.
With most other species relying on plants to turn carbon dioxide into oxygen, this would spell trouble for the rest of us, unless we can employ the drastic measures recommended by scientists.
15 Comments on "what we will need to do to survive doomsday"
claman on Mon, 9th May 2016 2:22 pm
Tribal survival is the thing of the day. Keeping the tribal boundaries is the task of the day.
Newfie on Mon, 9th May 2016 4:04 pm
“our species has less than 500 million years left”
Ha ha ha ha. That’s hilarious.
Our species has less than 500 years left.
Maybe not even 50 years.
Cloud9 on Mon, 9th May 2016 4:33 pm
What do you think the walking dead is so popular? People are gaming these scenarios
apneaman on Mon, 9th May 2016 5:19 pm
“scientists believe that the Sun’s expansion will leave our planet completely uninhabitable”
Yes astrophysicists.
What about the other scientists? You know the ones with much shorter timelines and different scenarios for wiping stupid humans out? Scenarios that have already happened over a dozen times in the history of life on this rock. Given there are a number of ways humans can go bye bye, wouldn’t a rational human adult start with the one’s that were the most pressing and already underway? They would if such a thing as a rational human adult (other than me) existed.
Humans could be among the victims of sixth ‘mass extinction’, scientists warn
The world is embarking on its sixth mass extinction with animals disappearing about 100 times faster than they used to, scientists warn, and humans could be among the first victims of the next extinction event.
“Not since the age of the dinosaurs ended 66 million years ago has the planet been losing species at this rapid a rate, a study led by experts at Stanford University, Princeton University and the University of California, Berkeley said.
The study “shows without any significant doubt that we are now entering the sixth great mass extinction event,” co-author and Stanford University professor of biology Paul Ehrlich said.
And the study, which was published in the journal Science Advances on Friday and described by its authors as “conservative”, said humans were likely to be among the species lost.
“If it is allowed to continue, life would take many millions of years to recover and our species itself would likely disappear early on,” lead author Gerardo Ceballos of the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico said.
The analysis was based on documented extinctions of vertebrates, or animals with internal skeletons such as frogs, reptiles and tigers, from fossil records and other historical data.”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-20/sixth-mass-extinction-impact-humans-study-says/6560700
Better get Elysium up and running in the next few decades – the hour is short.
makati1 on Mon, 9th May 2016 5:35 pm
I understand that the sun going nova is about 7 billion years in our future. Time for Mother Nature to develop several new ecologies before it happens. We humans will never have to worry. We will likely not see the next century.
Apneaman on Mon, 9th May 2016 9:01 pm
One in five of world’s plant species at risk of extinction
“The biggest factors threatening plant species with extinction are the destruction of habitats for farming (31%) – such as palm oil production and cattle ranching, deforestation for timber (21%) and construction of buildings and infrastructure (13%).
Climate change is currently a smaller factor – 4% – but is likely to grow.”
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/10/one-in-five-of-worlds-plant-species-at-risk-of-extinction
Apneaman on Mon, 9th May 2016 9:08 pm
Florida Reefs Begin to Dissolve Much Sooner Than Expected
Reefs are disappearing decades ahead of schedule
“It wasn’t supposed to happen this fast.
Some of the reefs around the Florida Keys are dissolving. They may have crossed a tipping point due to increasing ocean acidification, raising the alarm that climate change impacts in the ocean are continuing to happen at a much quicker pace than scientists previously suspected.
Rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are making seas more acidic. That makes it harder for coral to build up their skeletons.”
“The loss of these reefs is a very real concern for people living the region. According to the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, the reefs there provide an estimated $2 billion in income and 70,400 jobs. They are home a variety of fish and provide protection against storm surge to the millions of residents in southeast Florida.”
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/florida-reefs-begin-to-dissolve-much-sooner-than-expected/
“Sooner Than Expected”
“It wasn’t supposed to happen this fast”
I guess Mama is on her own scheduled.
A chemo therapy treatment scheduled to rid herself of a cancerous two legged naked ape.
Apneaman on Mon, 9th May 2016 9:35 pm
Global Temperature Death Spiral (GIF)
1850 – 2016
https://grist.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/resizedspiral.gif?w=660&h=710
Sissyfuss on Mon, 9th May 2016 9:53 pm
Oh great, Apeman. You had to go and quote Erlich. Now Kenz 3.0 is going to lock himself in the bathroom with a copy of “The Population Bomb” and copious amounts of KY Jelly. He won’t reappear until the news breaks that Paul Ryan is the love child of Shillary the Donald.
Apneaman on Mon, 9th May 2016 11:28 pm
Kenz is a hopey dopey liberal and they are only slightly less delusional than denier conservatards. Liberals (not actual liberal anymore – just use the language) still believe their fearless leaders like Obama and Hillary are actually doing something to help because of the words that come out when their lips move make them feel all warm N fuzzy. What else would you expect from a generation raised on hope pimps like Oprah? Kenz and friends don’t get it. Hope is not a plan.
Apneaman on Mon, 9th May 2016 11:36 pm
Mama says, I’m gonna wash that cancer right out of my hair.
State climatologist: Houston rains are getting worse
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-weather/article/texas-floods-rain-climate-change-impacts-7423458.php?t=c476943765
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odcCzb-h3Fo
Anonymous on Mon, 9th May 2016 11:40 pm
I probably have less than 60 years left myself, give or take, who knows?, regardless of what happens to ‘the world’. So Ill try not to get too worked up about what ‘might’, ‘could’ happen to the rest of the world 499,999,940+- years from now.
Nor am I worried to much about skynet taking over anytime soon. With 1000s of poorly trained, ill disciplined and ignorant americans over-seeing thousands of rusting nukes their insane christo-zionist commanders are just itching to use, well…
If the world ends that way, it wont be because of ‘smart machines’, but incredibly stupid amerikants.
makati1 on Tue, 10th May 2016 12:05 am
Houston floods and a few thousand miles away, a forest firestorm that will burn for months without rain. Welcome to the new normal. Anyone who thinks they are safe from climate change better think again and prepare.
Apneaman on Tue, 10th May 2016 12:29 am
Nuclear costs roll onwards and upwards
“Financial burden
The authorities at Ignalina say the whole decommissioning process, including the decontamination of thousands of tons of equipment and building materials, is likely to cost at least €3 billion.
Much of the cost has so far been funded by the EU. But Lithuania − one of the less economically developed countries within the EU, with under three million people − will in future have to take on more of the financial burden of dismantling the plant.
A plant spokeswoman says the decommissioning process will take the 2,000 workers at present on site until 2038 to complete. In addition, there is the problem of the disposal of long-term nuclear waste, initially to be stored on site in a series of steel casks.”
http://climatenewsnetwork.net/nuclear-costs-roll-onwards-and-upwar/
Davy on Tue, 10th May 2016 6:17 am
“I probably have less than 60 years left myself, give or take, who knows?” The exaggerations and wishful thinking of youth. It is possible we have much less than 60 years for society. Probably less than 10 years for globalism status quo. The best way to guess your new life expectancy in our brave new world is divide it by pi and add 5 years.