The End of the World (As We Know It) part 1
Asteroid
Asteroids and other space objects hit the Earth on a regular basis. It is estimated that asteroids large enough to crush a city land every few hundred years. Furthermore, the type that could wipe out our civilization land every one hundred million years, so the type of asteroid that would do major devastation landing on Earth isn’t highly probable. NASA has assured us that there are no asteroids coming toward the Earth that can do any damage in the near future, so a near-term demise by asteroid is unlikely, at least as far as the Mayan prediction is concerned.
Chemical/Biological Weapon/Virus
This could happen a few different ways. If you have never had a chance to read The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, I would highly recommend it. In the book, the ebola virus is transported stateside by accident and nearly causes devastation. If there ever were an airborne version of ebola that has the ability to incubate and stay alive for an extended period of time, then that could certainly spell doom for humanity. This is something that could even occur naturally, based on the way that viruses mutate and replicate. If ebola or a variation can incubate for a while so that the symptoms are readily seen, then they could be inside of somebody as they travel by plan, train or automobile, giving them an opportunity to infect others in the process. The current way ebola spreads prevents it from being very wide-spread, however, if the virus went airborne, then the situation would dramatically change. The other aspect of ebola that prevents it from putting a serious hurting on humanity is that it doesn’t survive long. Give it a slower mortality, a longer incubation period and spreading through the air, then the world would be a dangerous place to be in. Right now, the two most dangerous types of viruses that we face are the avian flu and smallpox.
The more likely scenario is a doomsday device that is bio-engineered. Work has been done on developing these type of weapons. If terrorists were able to manipulate some seriously dangerous viruses, let’s say a combination of the avian flu and ebola, then that type of biological weapon could certainly wipe out humanity. This is another area that has always fascinated me. I touch on this in my debut novel, Two For Eternity, where that specific type of virus has been engineered to destroy humanity.
Asteroids and other space objects hit the Earth on a regular basis. It is estimated that asteroids large enough to crush a city land every few hundred years. Furthermore, the type that could wipe out our civilization land every one hundred million years, so the type of asteroid that would do major devastation landing on Earth isn’t highly probable. NASA has assured us that there are no asteroids coming toward the Earth that can do any damage in the near future, so a near-term demise by asteroid is unlikely, at least as far as the Mayan prediction is concerned.
Chemical/Biological Weapon/Virus
This could happen a few different ways. If you have never had a chance to read The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, I would highly recommend it. In the book, the ebola virus is transported stateside by accident and nearly causes devastation. If there ever were an airborne version of ebola that has the ability to incubate and stay alive for an extended period of time, then that could certainly spell doom for humanity. This is something that could even occur naturally, based on the way that viruses mutate and replicate. If ebola or a variation can incubate for a while so that the symptoms are readily seen, then they could be inside of somebody as they travel by plan, train or automobile, giving them an opportunity to infect others in the process. The current way ebola spreads prevents it from being very wide-spread, however, if the virus went airborne, then the situation would dramatically change. The other aspect of ebola that prevents it from putting a serious hurting on humanity is that it doesn’t survive long. Give it a slower mortality, a longer incubation period and spreading through the air, then the world would be a dangerous place to be in. Right now, the two most dangerous types of viruses that we face are the avian flu and smallpox.
The more likely scenario is a doomsday device that is bio-engineered. Work has been done on developing these type of weapons. If terrorists were able to manipulate some seriously dangerous viruses, let’s say a combination of the avian flu and ebola, then that type of biological weapon could certainly wipe out humanity. This is another area that has always fascinated me. I touch on this in my debut novel, Two For Eternity, where that specific type of virus has been engineered to destroy humanity.
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