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Can you name the 20 ways the world could end, according to Discover Magazine?
created by
micktravis
Enter a scenario in the box below
Correctly named scenarios will show up below
Answers do not have to be guessed in order
Source:
Discover Magazine
Also try:
It's the End of the World As We Know It
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Natural disaster
Human-triggered disaster
Willful self-destruction
A greater force is directed against us
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333 comments
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(Warning: comments may contain spoilers)
Ways the World Could End Quiz
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Created by
:
micktravis
-
Contributed
: October 5th, 2009
Published
: February 19th, 2010
Category
:
Just For Fun
Plays
: 199,044
Tags:
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Archived comments:
show them
CharlieBrown
:
Oct 5th, 2009 at 14:07 GMT
75 points
You'll be sorry when the robots take over.
micktravis
:
Oct 5th, 2009 at 14:37 GMT
11 points
If you read the article, you'll see that some of these scenarios are a little flippant, but they're still based on real scientific speculation (the "robots take over" one discusses AI and cybernetics, for instance). The quiz is obviously reductive in this way, but I thought it could be fun. If people think it belongs more in Entertainment or Miscellaneous, I'll move it...
Kaleb
:
Oct 5th, 2009 at 16:58 GMT
29 points
This is a cool one, I approve! I think maybe you should allow "God" for divine intervention.
Comment below threshold:
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nyo
:
Oct 5th, 2009 at 17:27 GMT
-19 points
@khaleb you'd have to allow for other religions as well, not just god.
micktravis
:
Oct 5th, 2009 at 18:17 GMT
5 points
I don't want the quiz to be too hard (some of the answers are obscure enough as it is), so I agree with you both. I'll try to add some major deities, as well as some deities and religious concepts specifically associated with the end of the world. Thanks for the suggestion!
Blaise
:
Oct 5th, 2009 at 23:03 GMT
98 points
Where is "The Cubs win the World Series"?
newenglander
:
Oct 6th, 2009 at 01:51 GMT
5 points
our society would be a pretty bad dream
bballa103
:
Oct 6th, 2009 at 02:06 GMT
2 points
not my society, i don't know what country you're from
Ourboros313
:
Oct 6th, 2009 at 21:41 GMT
5 points
Do zombies count as "biotechnology disaster?" Also, I think you should allow "robot uprising" and "machine uprising" for robots take over.
micktravis
:
Oct 6th, 2009 at 21:50 GMT
3 points
I see no reason why they shouldn't. :) Thanks for the tips!
adal
:
Oct 6th, 2009 at 23:11 GMT
21 points
How come they don't consider global cooling a possibility? Just because warming seems to be the way it's going now, doesn't mean it can't swing back the other way at some point, does it? Also, what do they mean by the end of the world? I would have defined it as the destruction of the universe, but obviously they define it as the end of human civilisation, or the end of all life on earth or something similar.
micktravis
:
Oct 6th, 2009 at 23:23 GMT
3 points
I agree that there are definitely some issues with the article this quiz was based on. Their definition of "end of the world" does seem to be the destruction of human civilization/life on Earth, for the most part. My first idea was to make an original list of scenarios, maybe with more precise definitions and separating "civilization ending" scenarios from "Earth ending" and "universe ending" scenarios...gonna take a lot more work though! :)
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iceman1731
:
Oct 7th, 2009 at 15:59 GMT
-10 points
I don't think a dream is actual science neither is divine intervention.
Loona
:
Oct 8th, 2009 at 01:17 GMT
4 points
@nyo: If we must be pedantic, God applies to multiple religions because it's a general term. But I guess the more notable variations of it could be used. @the quiz itself: I would've thought global warming would be under the natural disaster as well.
Pyrophorus
:
Oct 8th, 2009 at 03:14 GMT
22 points
Missing the one that's pretty much inevitable: in a few billion years the Sun will expand. First, Earth will lose its atmosphere and oceans. The Sun will continue expanding and will likely swallow Earth and vaporize it. And reversal of Earth's magnetic field is thought to have occurred before - it happens on a regular basis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_reversal). Both Earth and the life on it survived. I've heard it predicted that the only effect would be a higher amount of radiation on Earth's surface, but not enough to wipe out all life. If the magnetic field were to disappear though, we'd be in trouble. The solar wind would start stripping away the atmosphere.
Thalia
:
Oct 9th, 2009 at 00:21 GMT
9 points
Shouldn't robots be under human-triggered disasters? I mean unless someone programs the robots to take over, it's an accident, not "willfull." But honestly I was just pleased when I typed in robots and actually got one.
simpleerrors
:
Oct 9th, 2009 at 00:59 GMT
0 points
if its under science, they need more broad terms. gravity problems didnt count, and both can end the world. collapse of sun, freeze/burn, parallel universe. and "a greater force" has to be more specific. I thought of parallel universes with a "greater force". Change that to "something dumb happens" lol mass insanity
Neostinker
:
Oct 9th, 2009 at 10:49 GMT
4 points
this was awesome, maybe you could accept virus for epidemic.
micktravis
:
Oct 9th, 2009 at 14:07 GMT
4 points
Again: the categories and terms are taken from the article in Discover Magazine. I've added lots of alternates for the answers, but beyond that I'm not going to mess with the setup. I was sure I had virus as an alternate...it's in now, anyway!
andrewd
:
Oct 10th, 2009 at 05:36 GMT
8 points
Signs the world will actually end in ecosystem collapse: the fact that it's 2nd most missed on this quiz. It's probably one of the most serious problems facing our generation, yet the public remains unaware of the global ramifications we're causing by blights such as overfishing, invasive species (mediated through human movement), deforestation, mass extinctions...
Caedus
:
Oct 10th, 2009 at 19:34 GMT
14 points
Where's Cthulhu?
Polymer
:
Oct 12th, 2009 at 04:47 GMT
4 points
May I suggest "nova" or "supernova" as a synonym for giant solar flares? I know they aren't literally exactly the same thing, but Pyrophorus makes a great point - our sun going nova certainly seems as if it belongs on the list. I'm guessing the editors at Discover didn't include it because they had a more fascinating/surprising story about the solar flares and didn't want to include two similar items in their list.
Jono_
:
Oct 12th, 2009 at 06:07 GMT
1 point
the earth will very likely be gone long, long, long before the sun supernovas. The earth would end long before that even happened. In about 1.5 billion years, the earth will no longer be in a habitiable orbit. Not like humans will be around Earth at that time, if we've even survived that long, or can even still be considered to be human. A solar flare is completely different.
squid_pro_quo
:
Oct 13th, 2009 at 04:34 GMT
5 points
I like how zombies comes up as "biotechnology disaster"
MetaphysicalMan
:
Oct 14th, 2009 at 22:57 GMT
3 points
Pleasantly surprised that 'grey goo' was accepted!
fm_
:
Oct 15th, 2009 at 03:22 GMT
2 points
Very cool quiz. I was trying to get the "Reversal of Earth's magnetic field," you might want to add some other alternates for that. Specifically, I tried "magnetic field reverses" and "magnetic field reversal."
micktravis
:
Oct 15th, 2009 at 12:18 GMT
2 points
Space for alternates is limited, but I've taken out some of the less likely ones and added your suggestions!
Grapefruit
:
Oct 16th, 2009 at 05:24 GMT
4 points
I love the last one.
BobLaRice
:
Oct 17th, 2009 at 17:30 GMT
17 points
A little disappointed that "not with a bang but a whimper" wasn't on here.
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Drofter:
Oct 18th, 2009 at 19:37 GMT
-37 points
Human Caused global warming is a fading hypothesis. Something like 20 times as many "mainstream" scientists as signed the UN document doubt that humans have a significant effect on the climate.
miko
:
Oct 20th, 2009 at 14:02 GMT
3 points
Very fun quiz, but I had a lot of trouble expressing my guesses correctly.
Osprey39
:
Oct 21st, 2009 at 02:40 GMT
2 points
"Wrath of god" should be acceptable.
amorris525
:
Oct 21st, 2009 at 22:58 GMT
5 points
thanks for taking cern for partical collider mishap.
thelargeone
:
Oct 25th, 2009 at 15:10 GMT
6 points
if the world has to end i am hoping for the mass insanity one, sounds the most interesting.
HardcoreTomas
:
Oct 26th, 2009 at 14:57 GMT
3 points
i love this quiz
web250
:
Oct 27th, 2009 at 12:06 GMT
2 points
Accept "Geomagnetic reversal" or "magnetic reversal" for "reversal of Earth's magnetic field"
davidr
:
Oct 27th, 2009 at 18:17 GMT
1 point
Nice quiz, though I'm not sure it really counts as `science'. I agree that many of the predictions are science-based but it doesn't seem to be a quiz about science to me. I'd prefer to see this under miscellaneous but, you know, it wouldn't end the world if it came out under science...
davidr
:
Oct 27th, 2009 at 18:23 GMT
7 points
@Drofter: Absolutely not! Human-caused global warming is the only widely-accepted hypothesis in the field. Period. And you're making an apples and oranges comparison. Yes, there are lots of scientists who don't believe in human-caused global warming (though vanishingly few of them are climate scientists) but there are many, many, many scientists who do believe in human-caused global warming but did not sign the letter!
Timothy
:
Nov 4th, 2009 at 02:55 GMT
1 point
I'm pretty sure it actually is all a dream. I've "woken up" a few times, thankfully been able to go back to sleep each time though.
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