DANGERS AWAITING HUMANITY ON EARTH
(Some
guidance is taken from Times of India news paper dated 27-10-2015 of Hyderabad,
India)
Ever since the formation of the planet
Earth it is subjected to many impacts by space debris such as asteroids etc. It
is also understood that the Earth when it was in a molten state was collided by
another mass of its own size and as a result the two merged and the loose
debris was scattered into space to form Moon. Earth is usually hit by an
asteroid in every few hundred thousand years, sufficient to cause great damage
to Earth and life on Earth.
Modern world started about 10000 years
ago, and research on the probable dangers to Earth is well established. I have
already discussed about some dangers to Earth and life on Earth. Still there
are many more dangers to be discussed. Hence I like to give a brief summary of
all such dangers in this post.
DANGER FROM ROBOTS:
Artificial
intelligence in robots is increasing rapidly. It is also feared that killer
robots are being developed by some countries so that they may be used in war. These
robots are capable of thinking and acting and acting on their own accord. United
Nations recently called for a ban on development of killer robots. Inventor
Elon Musk is also of the opinion that artificial intelligence might be the
greatest existential threat to humanity. The world famous physicist Stephen
Hawking said “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the
end of the human race. Humans who are limited by slow biological evolution,
could not compete, and would be superseded.”
DANGER FROM GAMMA RAY FLASHES:
Gamma ray
flashes are caused by the merging of two collapsed stars. The energy liberated
in these explosions is many times the energy of Sun. Though these flashes are
many they are happening in the distant galaxies very far away. If this happens
nearer to our solar system, the ozone layer of Earth which is protecting us so
far gets destroyed, causing heavy damage to life on Earth. It is difficult to
detect double stars and hence the danger cannot be ascertained in advance.
Hence the danger can strike any moment either earlier or far away in time.
DANGER FROM MAGNETIC REVERSAL:
It is
observed that the Earth’s magnetic pole reversals occur at some intervals. In
the last million years there are about 170 magnetic reversals on Earth, at an
average period of about 588000 years of interval. The last reversal occurred
about 781,000 years ago . Hence the next magnetic reversal is likely in the
near future. In this process of magnetic reversal, the magnetic field dwindles
to nothing, and then over a century gradually reappears with the north and
south poles flipped. The latest observation by the European Space Agency (E S
A) indicates that the Earth’s magnetic field is weakening at a faster rate and
is likely to flip within the next 100 years. In the absence of strong magnetic
field of Earth, the cosmic rays from the Sun and other energetic particles from
space are likely to damage ozone layer, resulting destruction to life on Earth.
DANGER FROM BLACK HOLES:
A black hole
is a body that has a strong gravitational field to prevent even light escaping
from its gravity. Most galaxies have super massive black holes as massive as
several million Suns, at the centre. Even our galaxy, the Milky Way is full of
black holes at its centre. In July 2015, scientists from Durham University
discovered five previously unidentified super massive black holes, billions of
times the size of our Sun, increasing fears that one could come closer to Earth
than previously anticipated. In some others opinion, one such black hole
passing nearby could eject Earth from the Solar system and send us hurtling
into deep space. But in my view this may not be a possibility since the Solar
system is nearer to the edge of our galaxy, whereas the black holes are nearer
to the centre of galaxy.
DANGER FROM ALIEN INVASION:
The universe
is vast and our planet is only a speck when compared to the present size of the
universe. There is intelligent life on our planet. Our planet is revolving around the star, Sun. Many such habitable planets were discovered revolving around other stars. It is quite possible that a more intelligent life than on
Earth may exist there. Ours is carbon based life. Silicon has similar
properties to form silicon based life. Or there may be some other element not
existing on Earth to form life on exoplanets. If aliens come visit Earth can we
expect them to be friendly with us or they may act as our enemies is a matter
to be considered. Stephen Hawking thinks it more likely that such creatures
would come to Earth in search of resources and bent on our destruction. Other
cosmologists even support that extraterrestrial invaders might plunder a vital
natural resource, such as the water from our ocean, bring with them pests with
a taste for human flesh or upset our planet or solar system causing Earth’s
destruction.
DANGER DUE TO ERUPTION OF SUPER
VOLCANOES:
One of the
major dangers to earth from the Earth itself is from the eruption of super
volcanoes. About 252 million years ago an eruption of super volcano in Siberia
wiped out about 95% of all Earth’s species. A super volcano is discovered under
yellow stone National Park in Wyoming in America. It erupts at the interval of
about 600,000 years. The last eruption took place about 640,000 years ago.
Scientists have discovered that the ground in yellow stone Park is 74 cms.
Higher than it was in 1923, indicating a massive swelling underneath the Park.
If it explodes within minutes tens of thousands would be dead and the long term
effects would be more devastating. Such eruptions would result in planet wide
cloud of debris in atmosphere, obstructing sun light, destroying plant and
animal life on Earth, besides considerable loss in human life. Also
temperatures would go down by 21 degrees, rain would turn to acid.
DANGER FROM ASTEROID IMPACT:
Beyond the
orbit of planet Mars, there is asteroid belt. The largest of the asteroids in
this belt, Ceres in only of 600 miles in diameter. Some asteroids, such as
Hermes cross the orbit of Earth and are known as Potentially Hazardous
Asteroids (P H As). Future collisions with Earth cannot be ruled out. A
collision of asteroid of one mile in diameter is enough to wipe out civilization
on Earth, and such impact is possible once in million years or less, according
to experts. It is believed that the dinosaurs were wiped by a six mile wide
asteroid impact about 65 million years ago. The path of the asteroids is
constantly watched by astronomers. There are plans to divert the path of any
dangerous asteroid by using nuclear weapons, but it is doubtful whether a large
sized asteroid can be diverted by this process. There seems to be no danger
from the asteroid impact in the near future. It has been more than a century
since the large major asteroid impact took
place in a remote and uninhabited region of Siberia. It was powerful enough to
fell trees in an area of 800 square miles (2000 square kilometers). An asteroid
known as Apophis which is 984 feet (300 metres) across will pass much closer to
Earth than Moon, within the orbits of geostationary satellites only 22,236
miles (35785 kilometres) above the surface of the Earth, on Friday 13th
April 2029, but without any collision with Earth. Earth's gravitational pull may change its orbit, but nobody knows the likely changed orbit.
DANGER FROM GLOBAL WARMING:
Global
warming is the increase in Earth’s surface temperature due to effect of green
house gases such as carbon dioxide emissions by burning fossil fuels, or from
deforestation which trap heat that would otherwise escape from Earth. We will
soon see carbon dioxide concentration that have not been reached on Earth for
the past 50 million years. There is a total worldwide emission of carbon dioxide
of 22 billion tons to the atmosphere each year. About a third of it comes from
electricity generation and another third from transportation and a third from
all other sources. The concentration of carbon dioxide has increased by 60
times than it was in 1860. A rise of 2 to 3 degrees of celsius of temperature
in the polar region would have serious effect, where it would cause the
glaciers to melt. This can cause the rise in ocean levels by about 250 feet (75
metres). 50% of world population is in coastal areas. They will become homeless. Cities like
London, Newyork, Losangeles, Sydney, Tokyo, Hongkong, Bombay and Rio De Janeiro
etc. are likely to be submerged in ocean water. There are attempts to control global
warming, but how far it will be successful we have to wait and see.
DANGER FROM WORLD WAR III: (Please go through my post on world
war iii for details).
Many
scientists believe in the possibility of world war at any time. Most of the
countries have developed biological and chemical weapons as well as devastating
nuclear weapons. Besides this they are even training robots to take part in
world war for accurate bombing at a desired place. Currently 9 countries are
known to have nuclear capabilities. In 2006 the physics Today journal concluded
that the detonation of 100 nuclear bombs (which is only a negligible fraction
of the total number of available nuclear weapons) would bring about a “nuclear
winter” causing temperatures to drop to the lowest in 1000 years and “likely eliminate
the majority of the human population.” Even there is danger to humanity if the biological
weapons are used in the war. If anthrax was released into the air, it could
cause fatalities in 90% of the population exposed to it. There is astrological
tendency that the world war iii is likely to start in the year 2026 as a
biological war and is likely to turn into nuclear war. The war seems to cover
many years and most of the world population are likely to suffer heavily.
DANGER DUE TO PANDEMICS:
Throughout
history many deadly pathogens have emerged which have wreaked havoc on the
human race. The Black Plague killed one in every four Europeans in the 14th
century while in just two years the 1918 Spanish flu took at least 50 million
lives.
Recent
possible pandemics including SARS, bird flu and MERS, a corona virus which
originated in Saudi Arabia, have eventually died down, but experts say that it
is only a matter of time before one goes global. If nature was not enough to
worry about, scientists have been accused of engineering mutant versions of
diseases, which, if they escaped from the lab, could threaten the future of
humanity.
Last year
after researchers at the Wisconsin-Madison created a life threatening virus
that closely resembled the 1918 Spanish flu, many disease experts were
appalled. Simon Wain-Hobson a virologist at the Pasteur Institute in Paris,
said: “It is madness, folly. If society, the intelligent lay person understood
what was going on, they would say, “What are you doing?”
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