Aliens
Okay, so you don’t wear a tin foil hat, but bear with us. Most scientists agree that the probability of extra terrestrial life is pretty high. Also, it’s most likely more advanced than us. It is for precisely this reason that people like Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk have advocated against sending messages into space via the SETI program (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence). If they’re smart enough to understand our message, they’re either as smart as us…or a lot, lot smarter. The more probable scenario being the latter.
Solar Storms
Although most solar storms are relatively harmless, they’ve already been known to fry transformers and negatively impact our power grid. How much damage would a major storm cause? We won’t know until it happens, but if it’s strong enough, it could easily send the world into chaos.
Mercury
No, not the element…the planet. Scientists have noted that there is a 1% chance its orbit could be made unstable by Jupiter’s gravitational pull. Simulations lead to four possible outcomes: ejection from the Solar System, falling into the Sun, colliding with Venus, or colliding with Earth.
Global Warming
AKA burning to death. This wouldn’t be a fun way to go, but unfortunately our climate shows no intention of getting any cooler in the next thousand years.
Asteroid
There are actually quite a few other rocks out there besides our Earth, and if you know anything about the dinosaurs…they can be deadly. Of course, humanity may be able to deflect potential threats (assuming we’re not too busy fighting each other).
Mega-tsunami
With climate change comes instability. One of those instabilities is the possibility of mega-tsunamis. Although these would be unlikely to destroy all life, they may be strong enough to disrupt things and cause a downward spiral.
Super-volcano
This is highly unlikely, and even if it did happen we’d probably be able to work our way around it, but pride comes before a fall…
Siri
This may sound like a silly sci-fi show right now, but if Siri ever became self aware…well, you’ve seen the movies.
The End of Pax Americana
During periods of empire, the world tends to be at peace because empires enforce global order. First, it was Pax Romana (Peace of the Roman Empire), then Pax Britannica (Peace of the British Empire), and now Pax Americana (Peace of the American Empire). Although Pax Americana has ushered in the most peaceful time in human history, Paxes don’t seem to last long. With resistance to America’s global influence both within and outside the country, it’s highly likely that the United States will eventually become more inward focused. What happens then? It’s anyone’s guess, but most experts agree that decline and disorder is the likely path.
Post Truth
Although this is a direct effect of the marketplace of ideas (the liberalization of human thought) being crossed with easy access to information (the internet), the irony is that the same forces leading to post-modernism and relative truth have led to post-post-modernism and post-truth. Will humanity find its way out of this slippery slope, or will we just kill each other out of paranoia? Who knows? You can’t even confirm whether or not what we just wrote is true…
