Today I had the opportunity to learn about the very “troubling” state of our solar system. Apparently there is a black hole located in the middle of our galaxy, and in the year 2012 the planet earth will the closest it has ever been to the black hole. So it begs the question of will our planet earth be engulfed into this gravitational monster or will the earth go on spinning as it has been for the last 4.5 billion years? I personally wish to think so and hope that the planet earth will live out its remaining 5.5 billion years until the sun collapses into itself, but many would disagree with me and prefer to surround themselves in the mass paranoia of our soon to be destruction.
There are so possible ways the world is predicted to end, I can tell you this because I have done the research. The Mayan civilization, which is famed for being the comprehensive masters of time in the universe with a calendar which far surpasses our modern day one, made the end of their calendar on December 21, 2012; which many see as the end date of the earth. This may seem like complete lunacy to believe a civilization who were decimated by a mere flu virus, but their prediction does align with the estimated time in which the earth will be it closest to the black hole in the center of our galaxy; coincident? Perhaps not.
But what if we simply turn away from this ancient theory and turn to science for the answer, surely that would be more reassuring, right? Scientists have predicted numerous ways in which our world could end, each with some scientific bases which make them that much more probable. It could the asteroid impact 1000 times more powerful than an atomic bomb, a giant solar flare which destroys our ozone layer and fries the planet, the reversal of the earth magnetic poles which occurs every 780,000 years or the eruption of a super volcano which has occurred every 650,000 years effectively causing an ice age and we are several years overdue for. Science just seems to make the end of our planet so much more plausible and scary, but can we really believe everything we hear? Such colossal events should have occurred on their periodic cycle regardless of our presence on the planet, but have we somehow altered the timing of these doom day scenarios?
Finally, if that hasn’t scared you then we can just consider the destruction of our planet at our own hands. Let’s begin with the Large Haldron Collider, which took over 20 years to complete and cost billions which is located under Geneva, Switzerland. Will our pursuit to find the “God” particle lead to creation of a black hole which will destroy our planet? Some pessimists speculate that this is a very real possibility. Or perhaps it will be the good old fashion nuclear holocaust that will be our ultimate dismay. Just recently Iran and North Korean have began massive nuclear proliferation programs and regardless of UN criticism continue to stock pile nuclear arms to deal with their enemies in the “near future”; WWIII?
So many ways in which we can die is rather mind blowing however the pure true of the matter is there is very little we can do. The flipping of the magnetic flows, eruption of a super volcano or massive gamma solar flare from the sun are far beyond the prevention measures of any technology we posses. All we can do is continue to live and hope that we will actually still be alive long enough have the “drastic” effects of global warming put an end to us.
