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What Is your Most Likely Apocalyptic Scenario?

Humor 75 Comments

Now that I’m done with my internship and ready to take on OSAlert again, I figured it’d be nice to start off with something light-hearted. I just read that Google bought an unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with a camera, ready to photograph whatever it flies across. We may consider Google’s biggest threat to be privacy, but with all this computing power they have, their Street View cars, and now, unmanned flying drones, they look more and more like SkyNet to me. So, what’s your most likely apocalyptic scenario?

There’s all sorts of apocalyptic scenarios people ponder over – from SkyNet-like machines to alien invasions – but I’m curious what scenario you find most likely to occur, what you’re planning to do about it, and how elaborate your preparations are. I’ll obviously start.

The zombie apocalypse. It’s going to happen eventually – I’m sure of it. It’ll most likely be caused by some mutated virus or biological weapon (who knows what crazy stuff the Americans and Russians have stacked away), but when it does happen, we’re pretty much doomed. The virus will sweep across the world at breakneck speed, and only those who have taken the necessary preparations will be able to hold out.

First and foremost, you’re going to need instructional videos. Several have been made about this topic, but I’d advise against any of the classics by George A. Romero – for the simple reason that his hypothesis of slow-moving zombies will only facilitate complacency. It’s better to simply assume the zombies will be fast and agile like in the Dawn Of The Dead remake or last year’s Zombieland – this way, you’ll be prepared for anything. Other decent instructional videos are 28 Days Later, the more child-friendly (light-hearted and all) Shaun Of The Dead, and the upcoming comprehensive survival guide The Walking Dead.

During the zombie apocalypse, Americans, Canadians, and other people with similar loose gun laws will be at a distinct advantage, due to the relatively ready and widespread availability of bullets and firearms. In more decadent countries like The Netherlands (where I’m from), we’ll have to resort to rolling up our sleeves and going all Woody Harrelson on zombies’ bums. Be sure to focus on longer melee weapons to avoid blood and/or saliva-induced infections.

If you do manage to procure a gun in these types of countries, don’t waste the few bullets you’ll have on zombies – save them for when things go tits-up. Do the children first. If you find a shotgun, it is customary to hand it over the prettiest girl in your group, since this greatly increases your chances of survival. We don’t know why – it just does, okay?

As for my personal plans – a group of my friends and I have already developed our plan of action for the inevitable. We have found our place of refuge somewhere in Amsterdam – it has the best defensive traits, and a deep supply of food and improvised weaponry. We obviously can’t reveal this location, since that would harm our odds of survival. I do have to travel quite a bit (destination on this Google Maps search is random) before I get there, though, but I’m confident in my ability to star in the ass-kicking business.

Right, what’s your most likely apocalyptic scenario? What are you doing to prepare yourself?

About The Author

Thom Holwerda

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75 Comments

  1. 2010-08-09 11:07 am
    WereCatf

    I don’t know about most likely doomsday scenario, but I’ve always been deeply intrigued by zombies and (eventual?) zombie invasions. As such I’ve put quite a lot of thought into this thing.

    First, I’d scour for a long, blunt weapon, heavy enough to cause a big kinetic impact and thus smack the zombie back a bit, but not too heavy for me to wield well. No knives or swords or such as they just do flesh-wounds and minimal kinetic impact, and as we all know, zombies don’t really care about wounds. It’s better to be able to keep them at a distance than to be able slice them and get eaten.

    Secondly, I’d head straight for nearest hospital or apothecary and get heaps of common antibiotics, antiseptics etc. They will sooner or later save your life.

    Third, I’d head out to some clothing shop with leather items. Leather is very tough material, not easy to break or get through, and as such cutting up some heavy leather jacket and wrapping around arms and legs would provide quite good protection. Especially arms and legs below knee are important to protect as those areas will be easy to zombies to reach.

    Fourth: Find a secure location, preferably a warehouse or similar with fortified windows and strong metal doors. Won’t be easy getting in there, damn those zombies!

    Fifth: Travel only during daytime, always protect your eyes and mouth with something, for example a welding mask is quite good for temporary protection and then a motorcycle helmet or similar for less-temporary one.

    Sixth: Find a portable generator somewhere, scour for gasoline, get a large car with lots of room beneath the car so you can get over obstacles if necessary. If possible, get two or three of everything so you always have a spare if something breaks!

  • 2010-08-09 2:54 pm
    Tuishimi

    As such I’ve put quite a lot of thought into this thing.

    I don’t know why but this does not surprise me! ;)

  • 2010-08-09 4:37 pm
    xiaokj

    Third, I’d head out to some clothing shop with leather items. Leather is very tough material, not easy to break or get through, and as such cutting up some heavy leather jacket and wrapping around arms and legs would provide quite good protection. Especially arms and legs below knee are important to protect as those areas will be easy to zombies to reach.

    +1: leather is edible.

    I would rather build a tesla coil and tune it to the natural frequency of the Earth and charge up the Earth itself with AC resonating strong enough to take out the entire Earth’s power supply. No form of intelligent life will threaten to attack me then — I would protect my installation with a Faraday cage and that tesla coil would attack everything else that comes close.

    There are tales of St. Elmo’s fire out in the lawn I don’t know how long in radius from Tesla’s own laboratory when he did that stunt. Widespread power outage when he turned off his contraption to answer the door — the police were trying to notify him of the weird phenomenon.

  • 2010-08-09 4:52 pm
    Zifre

    Secondly, I’d head straight for nearest hospital or apothecary and get heaps of common antibiotics, antiseptics etc. They will sooner or later save your life.

    You would probably want to take lots and lots of hydrogen peroxide. It is very useful both as an antiseptic and for synthesis of a number of useful chemicals.

    One use would be for grenades. Mix acetone (which can be found in many household products such as nail polish remover) and hydrogen peroxide in the presence of a strong acid (I would use sulfuric acid from a car battery) to make triacetone triperoxide, a high explosive. Then blow the zombies into smithereens. ;)

    • 2010-08-10 2:32 pm
      fukudasan

      As a published analytical chemist, I recommend acid bleach (sodium chlorate(I) solution) for pretty much anything peroxide-related. Not only is it a powerful enough oxidant (probably) to cause explosions a la peroxide, liberal sloshing over infectable surfaces will prevent many diseases you might need antibiotics for lol!

      Gets organic crud from inside e.g. coffee machines and leaves them shining, too . . .

  • 2010-08-10 1:32 pm
    sbenitezb

    Better not to fight them. I would get as many provisions I could, a motorcycle and go live middle of nowhere.

  • 2010-08-09 11:49 am
    ShadesFox

    A brief comment on your scenario, manufacturing a gun isn’t that hard. You can just build a full working gun out of a metal garbage can and the trash inside.

    As for my most likely scenario, I’m thinking rise of the robots. I think it will be google’s fault. Really, think about it for a second. They want to index everything. You cannot index everything if there are people constantly creating new things. So I’m thinking that some of Google’s hardware will come to the conclusion that the only way to actually index everything is to destroy it all right after being indexed.

    • 2010-08-09 12:48 pm
      righard

      But what do we use as munition, A friend knows somebody who said he once saw a bullet, but I don’t know if that’s true ;)

      Edited 2010-08-09 12:49 UTC

      • 2010-08-09 2:05 pm
        Zifre

        But what do we use as munition, A friend knows somebody who said he once saw a bullet, but I don’t know if that’s true ;)

        If you can find anything explosive (like gunpowder), you can combine that with small bits of metal or rocks.

        You can also make triacetone triperoxide if you can find any actetone, hydrogen peroxide, and some strong acid (I doubt that organic acids like acetic acid from vinegar would work well). This is a highly unstable explosive that you would want to make in the barrel of your homemade gun so that any accidental explosions would only fire the gun.

        Around where I live, there would be no need for all this. Guns and bullets are highly widespread, mainly for hunting.

    • 2010-08-09 1:58 pm
      Coxy

      Mayb not for you, I’m sure I would have problems building one though. And would it still be easy when you have to worry about Zombies? I don’t think so.

      • 2010-08-10 4:17 am
        ShadesFox

        Just look up the Chechnyan Borz. It was the gun I was talking about in the OP. Someone you know could make that. In just about any situation where you can find a waste bin.

        Edited 2010-08-10 04:18 UTC

  • 2010-08-09 11:58 am
    theTSF

    I have always like Asteroid impact myself. Instant death and dieing knowing there wasn’t anything you really could have done to stop it and no one to blame.

    However I thing the way it will happen would be climate change will create some super virus that will kill us rather slowly and painfully.

    • 2010-08-09 1:33 pm
      flanque

      However I thing the way it will happen would be climate change will create some super virus that will kill us rather slowly and painfully.

      Um, it’s already here – it’s called Bieber Fever.

  • 2010-08-09 12:15 pm
    Kroc Silver Supporter

    We’re living it. It’s called 1984. (Or Brazil, as another good example)

    Where no man is allowed to question how any part of the system, because that makes him a terrorist. Privacy is a crime because we’ve been told that only terrorists have something to hide. Corporations own everything, including your identity; nothing is truly yours.

    • 2010-08-09 3:43 pm
      David Adams

      I agree with you. However, if you think we’re even close to how bad it could eventually be, you’re in for a rude awakening. A few more terrorist attacks and the craven and cowardly populace will practically beg their leaders to trample their civil rights.

      I think there’s a possibility you could get a 1-2-3 punch with a police state designed to protect people from imaginary terrorist attacks rising in power, widespread civil unrest as a result of the next economic collapse, then skapegoating of illegal aliens. Each of these phenomena of course reinforces the other, as illegal aliens are mistrusted because of terrorism and because they take “our” jobs, and civil unrest prompting the government to clamp down civil rights further. The worldwide economic crisis would result in more illegal immigration and superpowers projecting their power beyond their borders in order to lay claim to natural resources, prompting more terrorism.

      • 2010-08-09 4:40 pm
        Zifre

        I think there’s a possibility you could get a 1-2-3 punch with a police state designed to protect people from imaginary terrorist attacks rising in power, widespread civil unrest as a result of the next economic collapse, then skapegoating of illegal aliens. Each of these phenomena of course reinforces the other, as illegal aliens are mistrusted because of terrorism and because they take “our” jobs, and civil unrest prompting the government to clamp down civil rights further. The worldwide economic crisis would result in more illegal immigration and superpowers projecting their power beyond their borders in order to lay claim to natural resources, prompting more terrorism.

        I think this pretty accurately describes what is happening to the USA right now. However, I agree that it could be a lot worse. (And I think it’s going to come eventually.)

    • 2010-08-09 4:03 pm
      jack_perry

      …except that we are, in fact, allowed to question the system (as you are doing right now, and no one is calling you a terrorist), that we have solid systems that allow us more privacy than we’ve ever had before (and you can always go live in a log cabin in the wilderness if you want more).

      What’s different now, from what I can see, is that people question the system, and when someone disagrees with them, instead of complaining that they’re being called anarchist or communist or imperialist, they complain that they’re being called terrorist — even when no one does anything of the sort.

      • 2010-08-09 4:17 pm
        Novan_Leon

        …or racist. People throw around the racist moniker so much that it has become a joke. I doubt if most people in this generation even know what real racism is like.

        Usually throwing out labels is just a way to neutralize an opposing ideology and/or justify your own, including the actions you take to support it.

        I think an overreaching government holds more of a threat at this time than a meteor strike or climate change.

        • 2010-08-09 5:10 pm
          chmeee

          I agree with this completely. Maybe in a few hundred years the climate, an asteroid, or our own god complex will kill us, but for now the biggest threat to us is our own governments trampling over our rights, liberties, and free will.

      • 2010-08-09 5:07 pm
        Kroc Silver Supporter

        I think the loop is being closed though, using technology. http://camendesign.com/writing/privacy – The Price That Cannot Be Bartered.

        • 2010-08-09 5:45 pm
          Novan_Leon

          Interesting article, but I don’t understand all the paranoia with corporations. Corporations don’t have even a micro-fraction of the power or influence that the government has.

          • 2010-08-09 6:01 pm
            Kroc Silver Supporter

            Follow the money trail. The corps rake in massive profits, the governments are wracked by debt.

          • 2010-08-10 3:21 am
            Novan_Leon

            But the government controls the money, and ultimately, the ability to seize and do whatever they want with the corporations. Corporate money is good for bribing lobbyists and politicians personal bank accounts, but ultimately the government has all the power (hence the bribes). Corporations are just dogs like the rest of us (albeit, slightly bigger dogs).

          • 2010-08-10 6:21 am
            Kroc Silver Supporter

            In the dark ages the king had the authority, but it was the church that had all the power. Now that had flipped that the state has the authority, but the corporations have the power. Money has more influence over us than government. Who I am has been shaped by commercialism far more than laws that are present that most people don^aEURTMt break anyway. The government defines the outer boundary, and the corps define what happens in the middle.

          • 2010-08-10 1:42 pm
            Novan_Leon

            I can’t think of a single situation where a corporation has determined how I live my life. They may have influence via media exposure and money (after all, I’m payed by a corporation), but I’ve always had full control in all my interactions with corporations, and ultimately the choice whether or not to deal with them or not. On the other hand, my interactions with the government are all completely one-sided. I have no choice when dealing with the government (other than to leave the state or country that I live). The government has full authority and power to determine how I’m allowed to live my life or inflict punishment on me however they see fit.

            Edited 2010-08-10 13:43 UTC

          • 2010-08-10 4:47 pm
            Zifre

            In the dark ages the king had the authority, but it was the church that had all the power. Now that had flipped that the state has the authority, but the corporations have the power. Money has more influence over us than government. Who I am has been shaped by commercialism far more than laws that are present that most people don^aEURTMt break anyway. The government defines the outer boundary, and the corps define what happens in the middle.

            I think this is a perfect summary of exactly what is happening to the world.

          • 2010-08-10 9:08 pm
            Novan_Leon

            I’m just curious. Can you give me an example of a non-monopoly corporation having power over your life without you having a say in the matter?

            Edited 2010-08-10 21:10 UTC

          • 2010-08-10 11:08 pm
            Zifre

            I’m just curious. Can you give me an example of a non-monopoly corporation having power over your life without you having a say in the matter?

            For the most part, no single corporation has all that much power over a person. However, their collective power is huge. You can decide, “I’m not going to deal with Walmart at all”. But you can’t decide, “I’m not going to deal with any stores at all”. And if you don’t have the money or time to go to the better, more specialized store (or if that store went out of business because of Walmart), then you might just have to deal with Walmart anyway. Even so, corporations rarely have a large influence on an individual – it’s their collective influence on our culture that is too large. The main problem is that most people don’t care if their money, power, and rights are taken away by corporations – as long as they can continue to buy their cheap junk.

          • 2010-08-11 12:13 am
            Novan_Leon

            But that’s exactly the point of my question; what rights are corporations taking away? If collectively all the Wal-Mart stores make it easier to purchase goods, that doesn’t make the purchasing of goods a right. If you decided to give up Wal-Mart and all other big box stores (which you’re quite capable of doing), you’d simply be giving up convenience, not a personal right.

    • 2010-08-10 1:25 pm
      sbenitezb

      We’re living it. It’s called 1984. (Or Brazil, as another good example)

      Where no man is allowed to question how any part of the system, because that makes him a terrorist. Privacy is a crime because we’ve been told that only terrorists have something to hide. Corporations own everything, including your identity; nothing is truly yours.

      I disagree. That may be true in USA and other terrorist countries, but surely not everywhere. I’m allowed to question whatever I want to question about the system here, except it couldn’t probably matter to much people.

      As of privacy, you can get as much privacy as you want in your own home. No one is watching you (go check for hidden mics). If you are thinking of privacy in public areas, well, they are public areas, there’s no guaranteed privacy anywhere outside your own house. Big brother could be watching you while you drive home, as any other person around you could, for that matter. So what you might be thinking is not about privacy, but public disclosure of your public activities.

      • 2010-08-11 7:04 am
        Kroc Silver Supporter

        The society we live in is brain-dead enough to put an ad up like this and think it alright:

        http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10929203

        And where is the opt-out for CCTV? If you went to someone^aEURTMs home and they did have cameras in it^aEUR”and they were fine with that, but you were not^aEUR”where would the opt-out be for that?

        Things are changing on the whole gradually, and through that the changes are becoming impossible for the one individual to reverse. Everybody has to go with the flow.

  • 2010-08-09 12:25 pm
    alcibiades

    Always have a bulb of garlic and a cross with you. After all, what is better? To have them and not to need them, or to need them and not to have them?

    Follow the precautionary principle at all times, no matter how small the risk, if there is even the smallest chance of becoming waylaid by the undead, so small a precaution obviously pays off.

    Stop emitting CO2, while you are at it. It lures them.

  • 2010-08-09 12:50 pm
    sakeniwefu

    After the first intelligent computer is created Luddites will raid Google HQ and then other IT companies.

    Computers will be banned and destroyed and anyone suspected of being able to understand hexadecimal summarily executed.

    By extension anything resembling a computer such as books, scientists, soccer balls, mathematicians and secretaries will be burnt. Every human in the world but a few lost Amazon tribes will die from disease or starve shortly afterwards.

    However, runaway global warming will turn their jungle into a desert and these tribes will die off as well by 2100.

  • 2010-08-09 1:02 pm
    jabbotts

    There may be a very small percentage of legall firearms in Japan but I bet they won’t have trouble finding something sharp and pointy to work with. ;)

  • 2010-08-09 1:17 pm
    No it isnt

    Oh, you said most likely apocalyptic scenario.

  • 2010-08-09 1:52 pm
    savid

    The earth’s population seems to be getting more obese, and there are more of us each day. Even with all of the trash we’re launching into space, the earth must be gaining weight. This will tip the delicate gravitional balance with the moon’s orbit and the moon will crash into the earth. Save the earth, save humanity, don’t ‘supersize’ that meal.

    • 2010-08-09 5:06 pm
      siride

      You do realize that all the weight gained by people is just being redistributed from material already in the Earth, right?

      • 2010-08-09 5:10 pm
        Kroc Silver Supporter

        The problem isn’t so much weight as where it’s being placed. Our cities are becoming so big and heavy (hundreds of millions of tons all concentrated into a few miles) that they are pushing down on the tectonic plates and causing earthquakes. Mexico city is quite literally sinking under its own weight.

        • 2010-08-09 5:32 pm
          siride

          Those are only localized issues. It’d take a lot more to start seriously affecting rotation or orbit or the moon.

    • 2010-08-09 6:56 pm
      lordepox

      While the scenario is good for a SyFy channel movie, anything we use on the earth stays on the earth in some form or another, mass is lost through matter to energy conversion (like burning fossil fuels), but new matter is gained every day as micro meteors rain down onto the earth. However, if the earth did suffer say, an apocalyptic asteroid impact that increases the Earth’s mass substantially, then maybe it could work.

  • 2010-08-09 2:10 pm
    Coxy

    … that will blow off a part of the crust and shift the earths orbit so that we flyout in to space, or in to the sun.

    • 2010-08-09 7:42 pm
      d.marcu

      no need for that dramatic.if a few a few nuclear power plants blow up there will be enough radiations to kill everyone slowly but surely

  • 2010-08-09 2:32 pm
    unix_joe

    Nullification of the US Constitution leading to civil war. To prepare, exercise your right to bear arms liberally and keep an old carbureted 4×4 vehicle around so that you can convert it to be fueled by alcohol.

    • 2010-08-10 1:40 pm
      sbenitezb

      Where’s the apocalyptic part?

      • 2010-08-10 5:09 pm
        Morgan Silver Supporter

        Perhaps the rush by other nations (China, NK, Japan, some Middle Eastern states at the very least) to step in and take over, either covertly (we’re here to help!) or overtly with force. This will lead to global chaos as everyone tries to get a piece of the American pie.

        I think that’s the direction the TV show Jericho was headed before it was cancelled.

  • 2010-08-09 2:52 pm
    Tuishimi

    I only have 2 pistols and not enough ammo to take on a large horde of zombies. Unless the real zombie invasion is some sort of computer virus that creates zombie processes. ;)

    I need a shotgun. That will be next on my list I think.

    And I am with Kroc… not to sound conspiratorial but, we live in a society that is designed to keep our rights, will and knowledge at a minimum. The corporations own everything (even the gov’t) and the gov’t does its best to maintain the status quo and further their (super wealthy) agenda.

    • 2010-08-09 2:52 pm
      Tuishimi

      …oh, and a rifle would be nice… something fairly powerful to pick them off at a distance.

  • 2010-08-09 3:01 pm
    bugjacobs

    Killshot from the sun in 2012.

  • 2010-08-09 3:36 pm
    ferrels

    Oh please…. Malevolent governments are more a threat to our privacy than any corporation. So Google has bought a UAV with a camera. How many governments have done this same thing but you’ve raised no alarm about them? Or do you expect us to believe that when a government buys UAVs to monitor its citizens that they have our best interest in mind?

    Sounds to me as if you’ve invested money in Yahoo or another corporate entity that competes with Google and you’re trying to drive Google’s stock down.

    • 2010-08-09 3:45 pm
      David Adams

      I think the whole point of this article is to poke fun at anyone who considers Google’s UAV something to be paranoid about.

  • 2010-08-09 3:45 pm
    dvhh

    I vote for the space collision, or nuclear warfare.

    Space collision is more convenient because there would be no finger pointing (not that much, repent sinners!!!).

    My less likely one is ending up as the native indians in the US, if we are to meet a superior alien race.

    • 2010-08-09 6:06 pm
      bugjacobs

      Theyre already here Doing rectal probes ..

      • 2010-08-10 4:00 am
        dvhh

        rectal probe is a mosquito bite compared to what people did to the native american :p

  • 2010-08-09 3:56 pm
    parrotjoe

    I agree with Thom’s original statement – virus.

    Direct impact by astroid would be a spectacular way to go!

  • 2010-08-09 4:12 pm
    jack_perry

    Terrorists will take over and deny us our Creator-given rights to a big-screen TV with 24-hour reruns of The Prisoner.

    Just kidding. Disinformation for partisan purposes, cynicism, and increasing selfishness (extreme individualism, warped notions of privacy, greed, and disdain for human rights) will lead to further breakdowns in community and demographic decline. Insulation from different points of view (weblogs, cable “news”, etc.) and natural human tendencies amplified by these phenomena will shut us off from different points of view.

    Worst of all, life will go on the way it has for centuries, if not millennia: improving for the vast majority of human beings, while they complain bitterly louder and louder, trying to silence the whispers of their consciences that they enjoy more luxury than their ancestors would ever have dreamed, and just a small bit of gratitude towards those ancestors who made it possible wouldn’t be too much of a burden, now would it?

  • 2010-08-09 4:22 pm
    Novan_Leon

    I actually think a Chinese invasion within the next 100 years is likely. Whether its a peaceful invasion (increasing flow of Chinese into the US) or an aggressive one I don’t know. I’m pretty sure at the rate things are going we wouldn’t be able to stop them either way.

  • 2010-08-09 4:33 pm
    Zifre

    I don’t know if this is likely, but I think this would be an interesting apocalyptic scenario:

    A rogue nation or corporation or really rich person or large volcano could release large amounts of sulfate aerosols into the upper atmosphere causing global cooling by many degrees leading to a mass extinction.

    Some other possible things that could happen would be small pox being released into the wild again, nuclear war, etc.

  • 2010-08-09 6:07 pm
    Nex6

    the “zombie” is the most interesting. one of the most key decision points is weather to stay in the city and “survive” or flee in the deep mountains/woods.

    considering, a zombie scenario would be a 5-30 year one as once the zombies died off they would not be replaced, unless where talking infectious blood or something.

    so, in most cases its would hell on earth for a very short amount of time, then civilization could start to rebuild. from that point it would be better to “stay” in the city, and survive.

  • 2010-08-09 6:30 pm
    OSNevvs

    It would be Google going down all of the sudden.

  • 2010-08-09 6:56 pm
    drstorm

    The Apocalypse already happened. The machines took over the world and we’re all living in the Matrix.

    What do I plan to do about it? Nothing. Enjoy my stay in the prison that I cannot smell, or feel, or touch and perhaps try to awaken occasionally.

  • 2010-08-09 7:48 pm
    vivainio

    I don’t know what the apocalypse scenario will be, but I’m pretty sure that it can be avoided by preventing any instance (corporate, financial, technical or political) from gaining too much power. Power needs to be distributed enough to prevent blatant abuse.

  • 2010-08-09 8:05 pm
    Zifre

    I always like to point out – zombies do exist. They are people/creatures with rabies.

    If the rabies virus somehow mutated so that it was not deadly, and left them in their deranged state for years, it could cause a true zombie apocalypse.

  • 2010-08-09 8:54 pm
    orfanum

    Since I am going there for my vacation, a crazed North Korean assault on South Korea, followed by the USA going nuclear on KJI’s ass, and China joining in, while Japan hazards an attack on mainland China so as to limit that growing superpower’s potential gains from the post-conflict situation. Iran then exploits the world’s attention being drawn to the Far East to hit Tel Aviv with its first (and last) atomic weapon. India out of a sense of zealous precautionary logic lobs tens of warheads at Pakistan, in case that failing state has a mind also to gain from the momentary state of panic and confusion on the world stage.

    Russia stays on the sidelines and the world is subsequently under the yoke of Vladimir Putin.

    If only this, like zombies, was merely someone’s interesting fantasy…

  • 2010-08-09 8:59 pm
    Anonymous Penguin

    Not many real news in a hot summer day? ;)

    Anyway, what I hope is that something really happens and changes this miserable planet where we are living. (21 12 2012, perhaps?)

    Just a couple of examples:

    1)Governments which lie to us every day, and govern in the best interest of the big corporations, while the divide between the have and the have-not keeps growing, in the western world.

    In the poorest countries there are one billion people at risk of starvation.

    2)Pollution: I don’t believe for a moment that in 2010 we should still be using oil derivatives, and happily destroy our home. I wonder if we are already past the point of no return.

    Edited 2010-08-09 21:10 UTC

  • 2010-08-10 3:23 am
    MadRat

    I particularly like the zombie infestation. First there will be World War Z, then a scientist will invent a shock collar that controls their urge for human flesh, and finally we’ll figure out a way to tame them as servants! Everybody will have two or three around the house. Just watch out for old people… they cannot be trusted!!

    (See IMDB’s database for ‘Fido’)

    Edited 2010-08-10 03:24 UTC

  • 2010-08-10 7:14 am
    _QJ_

    Much more frightening than zombies, a massive and loooong power outage.

    No more telecommunications, no more social computing, no more GSM, heater does’nt even start, no TV, no radio…

    No-thing ! It will be like a doomsday…

    Only one thing to do to survive: Do babies… ;-P

    So… As Tom Said: Go back there: http://images2.fanpop.com/image/photos/10000000/Emma-Stone-Zombiela…

    Edited 2010-08-10 07:20 UTC

    • 2010-08-10 1:59 pm
      sbenitezb

      Looks interesting from a cultural point of view. People would actually have to go out see each other more frecuently. Many big corporations would go broke (who needs a TV/PC/car/electronics/etc when there’s no power), many people would have to find a way to survive, and probably leave the big cities and start farming and doing hand work again. It would be tragic for most families, and only the strong and decided ones would survive.

      Crime would rise and laws wouldn’t apply, as there probably no way to enforce them with all the confusion. Governments would probably crash, as there would be no way to maintain sovereignity without communication. Evil people would profit from the situation.

  • 2010-08-10 4:33 pm
    vodoomoth

    I’m surprised nobody mentioned the oil shortage that’s been announced for several decades now.

    Each time I look outside my windows, I can see an 800 places parking lot full with cars that sip oil as if it was tequila. Two questions then haunt me. Where does all that oil come from and how much is left? How come we still haven’t all been chocked to death from all the carbon dioxide that’s released when it burns? I can’t even imagine the amount that’s released each day.

    Anyway, back to the topic, the only thing I can see is an oil shortage leading to unrest, riots and wars. Because, by that time, and due to active oil and lobbies, we would have found no viable energy source that’s just as convenient as oil and its derivatives are today.

    No energy. The economy does not only slow down, it stops. What happens when agricultural machines starve of diesel? No food. We starve. Because there’s no way going back to manual crop growing will be enough for the number we are now and the comfort and squandering we’ve been used to.

    Most likely? Energy and food shortage aggravated by climate change and natural catastrophes. Ever since the indian ocean tsunami in december 2004, I keep wondering whether the end of times has come. Way more probable than a bio-engineered virus or an alien disease.

    Finally, I don’t think the human race would still be around in 2200.

    • 2010-08-10 5:57 pm
      Zifre

      I’m surprised nobody mentioned the oil shortage that’s been announced for several decades now.

      Wow, I can’t believe I, and nobody else, though of that. That is basically the one apocalypse that we know is going to happen…

      How come we still haven’t all been chocked to death from all the carbon dioxide that’s released when it burns?

      Because there is only roughly 385 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere – you would need at least three times that to have any effect at all, and even concentrations up 0.5% are generally safe. Basically, by the time that CO2 concentrations become toxic, the earth will have warmed by so much that it wouldn’t matter.

      Finally, I don’t think the human race would still be around in 2200.

      This is a common, but flawed, belief. Even if our entire economy shut down, every government crumbled, and we lost all oil and electricity, people would still be around. Most people would die, but at least a few million would still live spread out around the world, living off the land. And civilization would rebuild pretty quickly. Hopefully, with all the knowledge, information, buildings, and machines left over from the past, they would learn from their mistakes do it the right way.

      • 2010-08-10 6:23 pm
        vodoomoth

        Hopefully, with all the knowledge, information, buildings, and machines left over from the past, they would learn from their mistakes do it the right way.

        Wouldn’t it be better to learn from those mistakes NOW before billions die? Maybe those mistakes haven’t been identified?

        • 2010-08-10 8:12 pm
          Zifre

          Wouldn’t it be better to learn from those mistakes NOW before billions die?

          Of course. But that is a lot harder than it sounds. Try telling people to just stop using oil. It’s not going to happen until we run out of oil.

          Here are some of the major mistakes that I think we have made:

          – materialism

          – consumerism

          – using oil and coal

          – religious fanaticism

          – corporate control over people

          – creating a culture that favors stupidity

          – politicians listening to lobbyists and not being well informed

          – non-democratic government (being fixed already around the world)

    • 2010-08-11 12:20 am
      MamiyaOtaru

      yeah, peak oil followed by oil crash is by far the most likely, as we have passed the first and are plunging into the second already.