World Apocalypse

[Ilena]

Hello, i was just thinking today if earth gets hit by a big comet or other large space rock, or if we destroy the Ozone layer to the point where if you are out in the sun for a few minutes you will die kinda thing,

The ocean would be the last place humans could really survive. I mean if you build it well enough to survive an 8 point on the richter scale and say 100 meters down at least, you are protected from anything on the surface, and most things in the water, a tidle wave wont bother you if you have it built well, you can get all your water from the ocean by evaporating the water and recollecting, uv radiation doesnt go deep into the water, you have food right outside basicly.

The only real problems would be power and fuel and for now oxygen. Sure if a comet were to hit earth and hit right near the underwater colony it will be destroyed but thats a very slim chance, i think people could adapt to underwater living,

I also kinda wonder what humans would look like in like 50 million years if they continue to live like that, what do you all think, if in a situation of radical life change, via any real method that has a reasonable chance of happening in this daynage how would humans try to survive?

[CrazedGoblin]

I honestly think that humans would move off world or into orbit

[Crow]

Geothermal power would be pretty nice for an underwater city.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

World Apocalypse: Yes.

Now, to actually read the thread...

If a comet or whatever hit right above us, do you know what would happen?

All the water will be pushed away from the comet, baring the ocean floor.
The sea would actually boil upon contact with the super-heated rock.
Bad things would happen.

[Lupy]

If an apocalypse happened I think that building a giant bubble city and shooting it into space would work out nicely. The problem with your underwater city is this: submarines would be needed for travel and to mine, but how would we maintain them in such a hostile environment.

If something actually happened then we would just build anti UV domes over towns and cities and not leave them without special clothing. Maybe I don't understand UV rays, but wouldn't that work?

[Ranis]

Is a man not entitled to the sweat on his own brow, the fruits of his labor?

I ask you, my friends: Do we make our choices, or do our choices make us?

[Ilena]

Well with the subs, underwater isnt TOO terribly hostile, and you can always raise the sub out of the water, that is pretty easy to do, factories could be setup and so forth, with raising an anti UV dome over a city, it could work, as they have sunglasses that reflect uv radation, and it could be done,

and with a comet hitting the water, if you are around that ya you are a goner, but say it hits the other side of the world, all you are going to get is earthquakes and a tidle wave, and that shouldnt bother you underwater very much.

[Lupy]

Or superdomes over groups of cities, like in Azimov's robot books.

[Lupy]

Operation Lupy:

Have the military enforce a daytime curfew while National Guardsmen in special suits build domes over major cities and the areas around them. The guard will then distribute materials to UV proof rural homes, allowing the people to come out at night to tend crops and work. Over time domes will be built over smaller cities, and hopefully towns. Trade and transport between cities will be conducted by Trains and aircraft without windows. Children will go to school at night, and adults will work at night. Anti UV suits will be kept on call for emergency units and available for sale to civilians at low prices. Oceans will be crossed on barges and mankind will become nocturnal.

[Ilena]

Ah but the plants would die from the uv radiation so they would have to be covered during the day ... and rain would not fall inside dome citys thus everything would be dry and arid and plants will not grow unless constantly watered ...

[InABanana]

I actually think that we will move to Mars and destroy that planet. But living underwater is also a possibilty. But where would the smoke from factories go. We would pollute the ocean much faster then when we live on land. And in 50 million years, if were still living there in our bubble i don't think much will havve happened.

[Jack Squat]

I actually think that we will move to Mars and destroy that planet. But living underwater is also a possibilty. But where would the smoke from factories go. We would pollute the ocean much faster then when we live on land. And in 50 million years, if were still living there in our bubble i don't think much will havve happened.

nah, it'd just float up to the surface. The water wouldn't fare all too much worse. Remember, Smoke is mostly air. also, factories mostly produce water vapor.


As to what I think would happen in 59 million years...remember Kevin Costner in WaterWorld?

You know what, just picture all of WaterWorld and you've got a pretty good idea.

[Inhuman Bot]

Is a man not entitled to the sweat on his own brow, the fruits of his labor?

I ask you, my friends: Do we make our choices, or do our choices make us?

That quote was bound to happen -.-

A man chooses! A slave obeys!

[mikeejimbo]

Actually I'm pretty sure the apocalypse will be caused by a massive zombie attack.

[AslanCross]

I saw a show on Discovery Channel that explains what's likely to happen if a very large comet (similar to the one that killed the dinosaurs) hits the Earth.

1. Mass panic screws up a lot of people before it hits.
2. The impact vaporizes whatever it hits. Any land will become a superheated desert for a long time afterward.
3. An EMP from the impact will fry all our electronics. Older-model cars are the only things that will still work since they don't use electronics.
4. Burning fallout will blanket the earth, raising temperatures to several hundred degrees. Any creature caught on the surface is likely to die. The only living things that will survive are those who burrowed underground.
5. Then the temperature drops as the sun is blotted out for years. It may not necessarily be a winter all over the world, but it will be too cold and too dark for plant life.
6. Tribal communities who survive the impact are likely to recover much more quickly since they don't rely heavily on technology.

[Wizard of the Coat]

Actually I'm pretty sure the apocalypse will be caused by a massive zombie attack.

Nope, it will be me...don't know how yet, but I've got this nagging feeling I will doom us all. Probably when pressing the wrong button and exclaiming 'D'oh!'


I doubt waterworld as such will happen, though it's quite possible that if the ocean's temperature rises and water expands that sea levels will increase somewhat.


I saw a show on Discovery Channel that explains what's likely to happen if a very large comet (similar to the one that killed the dinosaurs) hits the Earth.

1. Mass panic screws up a lot of people before it hits.
2. The impact vaporizes whatever it hits. Any land will become a superheated desert for a long time afterward.
3. An EMP from the impact will fry all our electronics. Older-model cars are the only things that will still work since they don't use electronics.
4. Burning fallout will blanket the earth, raising temperatures to several hundred degrees. Any creature caught on the surface is likely to die. The only living things that will survive are those who burrowed underground.
5. Then the temperature drops as the sun is blotted out for years. It may not necessarily be a winter all over the world, but it will be too cold and too dark for plant life.
6. Tribal communities who survive the impact are likely to recover much more quickly since they don't rely heavily on technology.

I think fallout shelters stand a good chance if the right people are selected. Like me and a bunch of hawt chicks!!!

[Glawackus]

Is a man not entitled to the sweat on his own brow, the fruits of his labor?


No, says the man in Washington, it belongs to the government.

No, says the man in Moscow, it belongs to everyone.

No, says Doctor Jones, it belongs in a museum!

(I am so sorry.)

[FoE]

Is a man not entitled to the sweat on his own brow, the fruits of his labor?

I call dibs on the plasmids! :smalltongue:

[Felixaar]

If theres still people alive, then is it really the Apocalypse?

[Thanatos 51-50]

So-Called Tidal waves wouldn't be a problem at ALL!
Assuming, for instance that you're referring to Tsunamis, and not actual tidal waves (Basically your difference between high and low tides :smallsigh:), the energy doesn't get to be a problem until the water is shallow enough for the wave to break against the shore.

[Dave Rapp]

Is a man not entitled to the sweat on his own brow, the fruits of his labor?

I ask you, my friends: Do we make our choices, or do our choices make us?

Oh yeah, THAT utopia lasted a long time. Great plan. :smallannoyed:


I saw a show on Discovery Channel that explains what's likely to happen if a very large comet (similar to the one that killed the dinosaurs) hits the Earth.

1. Mass panic screws up a lot of people before it hits.
2. The impact vaporizes whatever it hits. Any land will become a superheated desert for a long time afterward.
3. An EMP from the impact will fry all our electronics. Older-model cars are the only things that will still work since they don't use electronics.
4. Burning fallout will blanket the earth, raising temperatures to several hundred degrees. Any creature caught on the surface is likely to die. The only living things that will survive are those who burrowed underground.
5. Then the temperature drops as the sun is blotted out for years. It may not necessarily be a winter all over the world, but it will be too cold and too dark for plant life.
6. Tribal communities who survive the impact are likely to recover much more quickly since they don't rely heavily on technology.

How on earth does a comet generate an EMP? And if it did, how big a comet would it have to be to generate one big enough to wipe out ALL electronics on earth? And aren't most of our really important electronics (like the ones that control power grids and jets) shielded or grounded, or whatever the term is?

[Destro_Yersul]

Would you kindly not point out Rapture's flaws? :smallbiggrin:

As for EMP, I can't find anything to suggest a comet would cause one. It would probably scatter a hell of a lot of dust into the atmosphere though, and depending what kind of dust it was, that could short electronics out easily enough. It would just have to get inside the casing.

If the comet was big enough, it would even affect the whole planet.

[Atomsized]

I saw a show on Discovery Channel that explains what's likely to happen if a very large comet (similar to the one that killed the dinosaurs) hits the Earth.

1. Mass panic screws up a lot of people before it hits.
2. The impact vaporizes whatever it hits. Any land will become a superheated desert for a long time afterward.
3. An EMP from the impact will fry all our electronics. Older-model cars are the only things that will still work since they don't use electronics.
4. Burning fallout will blanket the earth, raising temperatures to several hundred degrees. Any creature caught on the surface is likely to die. The only living things that will survive are those who burrowed underground.
5. Then the temperature drops as the sun is blotted out for years. It may not necessarily be a winter all over the world, but it will be too cold and too dark for plant life.
6. Tribal communities who survive the impact are likely to recover much more quickly since they don't rely heavily on technology.

I'm not too familiar with end-of-the-world-comet mechanics, but if such a comet was heading towards the Earth, wouldn't it be possible to detect the comet (which I'm assuming is very very large) a few years ahead of time anyways and create a solution to change it's course?

[fraud]

it could work because by the time we need to do that we might have the tecnology to solve all the issues. It would be better than living on Mars where there's no food but I believe our best chance is to try and save this world.

[mikeejimbo]

Nope, it will be me...don't know how yet, but I've got this nagging feeling I will doom us all. Probably when pressing the wrong button and exclaiming 'D'oh!'

How do you know you won't cause a zombie outbreak? :smallwink:

[Wizard of the Coat]

How do you know you won't cause a zombie outbreak? :smallwink:

It would require me in a lab...oh wait...I do work in a lab... D'oh!!!

[AslanCross]

How on earth does a comet generate an EMP? And if it did, how big a comet would it have to be to generate one big enough to wipe out ALL electronics on earth? And aren't most of our really important electronics (like the ones that control power grids and jets) shielded or grounded, or whatever the term is?

I'm not exactly sure. I can't remember. My guess is that any explosion THAT big (come on, it's much more energy than all of our nuclear weapons combined) would destabilize the Earth's magnetic field enough. If I'm not mistaken, all you need to generate an EMP is an electromagnetic field (which the Earth naturally has), and a large enough burst of energy (supplied by the impact). Not an expert on this, so I hope someone more knowledgeable in the subject would shed more light on this.


I'm not too familiar with end-of-the-world-comet mechanics, but if such a comet was heading towards the Earth, wouldn't it be possible to detect the comet (which I'm assuming is very very large) a few years ahead of time anyways and create a solution to change it's course?

Comets are easier to detect, if I'm not mistaken, since they begin to glow when they get close enough to the Sun. Asteroids are much harder to detect since they don't really emit or reflect much light. In either case, the docudrama did begin with a countermeasure: a nuclear weapon was launched at the comet. It failed. The weapon's strength has to be just right: too weak and the NEO (Near-Earth Object) won't budge, too strong and you'd end up with a cloud of radioactive debris hitting the Earth.

[Killersquid]

I think our best bet would be colonization of the Moon and Mars. However, its pretty preposterous a comet would hit us, we have missiles and satellite defense systems.

[Glawackus]

The problem with missiles and meteors, I'd like to point out, is that you can't shoot a nuclear missile at one...one meteor turns into many small, radioactive meteors. I suppose if you fired the missile while it was still some distance away, maybe you'd have some success...I don't know how far those things can go once they're out of the atmosphere.

[Om]

Interesting fact, the Doomsday Clock currently stands at five minutes to midnight. This is the closest we've been to Armageddon since the early eighties. It also serves as a reminder that if humanity ever is destroyed it will only have humanity itself (or specifically a half century nuclear arms race) to blame


I'm not too familiar with end-of-the-world-comet mechanics, but if such a comet was heading towards the Earth, wouldn't it be possible to detect the comet (which I'm assuming is very very large) a few years ahead of time anyways and create a solution to change it's course?You mean sending a crew of misfit mavericks to plant a nuclear devise on the object and blow it up before it reaches Earth?

[rankrath]

Ah but the plants would die from the uv radiation so they would have to be covered during the day ... and rain would not fall inside dome citys thus everything would be dry and arid and plants will not grow unless constantly watered ...

Wouldn't UV radiation actually help plant life grow? Or at least some forms of it?

On the subject of comet detection/prevention, well, we can detect comets easier than asteroids, but remember, a chunk of space rock only needs to be about five miles in diameter to really screw us over. Anything over ten miles in diameter and we're dead, period. Objects of this size are actually incredibly hard to detect in time to do anything about them, as we'd need to come up with a way to deflect them, which would take a few years. (No nuclear weapons would not work, at best we just turn the asteroid into a gravel pile, same effect) The leading plan on how to deflect a NEO is to land some rocket boosters on it and push it off course enough that it missed us.

[Mr. Mud]

Like... mole people? No, sorry, I have 13 levels in ranger, and 4 levels in "complete jerk"... not to mention that my natural enemy is mole people. I'd have to kill everyone :smalltongue:.

Seriously though, do you really think people... Human Beings... could cooperate like that? And what about cave-ins... and animals drilling through it... and spiders :smalleek:. I hate spiders :smalleek:.

[Lupy]

Operation Lupy has been revised:

Blast the crap out of the astroid before it hits. :smallamused:

USING THE M. D. DEVICE!!! :smallbiggrin:

[randman22222]

Music? Suitable? This one thinks so.

Here it is. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0nit4p3QMQ)

[Mr. Mud]

Operation Lupy has been revised:

Blast the crap out of the astroid before it hits. :smallamused:

That makes a big asteroid have little asteroid babies, which instead of hitting just the empire state building, it hits the chrysler building, the huge Toys 'r' Us building, and that empty warehouse where all the crypts hang out too.

We should get Barry Bonds some more HGH, and make him blast it back into the sun. :smallamused:

Nevermind, If its the M. D. Device it should work fine :smallwink:.

[Collin152]

The problem with missiles and meteors, I'd like to point out, is that you can't shoot a nuclear missile at one...one meteor turns into many small, radioactive meteors. I suppose if you fired the missile while it was still some distance away, maybe you'd have some success...I don't know how far those things can go once they're out of the atmosphere.

Many small rocks burn up easier in the atmosphere than one big rock.
Plus, seeing how much notice we would get on a large, relativley slow rock heading towards earth... We could get a loooot of really big bombs.

[Destro_Yersul]

I'm not exactly sure. I can't remember. My guess is that any explosion THAT big (come on, it's much more energy than all of our nuclear weapons combined) would destabilize the Earth's magnetic field enough. If I'm not mistaken, all you need to generate an EMP is an electromagnetic field (which the Earth naturally has), and a large enough burst of energy (supplied by the impact). Not an expert on this, so I hope someone more knowledgeable in the subject would shed more light on this.

Well, there's always the other wiki... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse)

[Ilena]

Just the thing is, sure we can see it if its coming from behind on out dark side, because we can use our telescopes to see them, but if it is coming from the sun side, we would never see it until its litterally burning up in our atmosphere, and at that point we are royaly screwed if its of any size, the only thing is, if what scientists say is true, then something this size hit the earth 65 million years ago, and not since, not sure about anything before that but if only one thing has hit the earth in over 200 million years its a very small chance we will be hit but its always possible, and didnt a big asteroid pass inbetween us and the moon (or is currently doing so)? Something like 10 miles wide?

[Tempest Fennac]

In regards to what humans could look like, you may find this book interresting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gal%C3%A1pagos_%28novel%29 .

[Victor Thorian]

everybody knows we won't see 2013 =P

[Tempest Fennac]

What do you think will happen (if anything in particular)? I've heard theories about a red dwarf called Nibiru causing huge pole-shift based disaters in the past.

[DigoDragon]

And what about cave-ins... and animals drilling through it... and spiders :smalleek:. I hate spiders :smalleek:.

And Deep Crows! Don't forget the Deep Crows!! (http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/3/21/) :smalleek:


Regarding the "Throw a nuke at the space rock" scenario, I've seen a lot of back and forth over the efficiency of blowing up an incoming asteroid using a nuclear missile. "A" nuclear missile? Heck, Americans know how to blow stuff up, lets launch at least a DOZEN missiles! :smallbiggrin:
I'm reminded of the movie Meteor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_(movie)) where the US and Russia launch dozens of missiles off orbiting platforms to deal with an incoming asteroid.

Will it work? I have no idea. :smallsmile: But if if the Earth's surface was destroyed by some catastrophe I don't know if we could feasibly live under the ocean waves. Maybe we'd be cave dwellers and live underground? Evolve pale gray skin, white hair, carry two scimitars around all the time... :smallwink:

[Tempest Fennac]

According to "A Brief History of Almost Everything" by Bill Bryson, launching nuclear missiles at an asteroid would result in several radioactive rocks heading for Earth, so it may not help even if they broke up a lot.

[Ilena]

Dont forget purple eye color ...

[Emperor Ing]

According to "A Brief History of Almost Everything" by Bill Bryson, launching nuclear missiles at an asteroid would result in several radioactive rocks heading for Earth, so it may not help even if they broke up a lot.

Billions of meteors come at earth annually, only like a thousand of them make it through the atmosphere, and even then, a good majority of them are microscopic.
So I doubt small radioactive rocks coming at earth are that big a problem.

and we're all gonna die in 12/21/12 anyway. :smallconfused:

[Tempest Fennac]

My concern is that the radioactive rocks would spread out over a large area before poisoning people. The Mayan Calendar only goes up to that date, and I think some other prophersies have claimed that 2012 is going to be improtant for some reason.

[Ilena]

Ya, ive felt that year will be as well even before i learned anything saying that 1212 is going to be doom and so forth, and that is part of the reason im begining to exercize now is that if something DOES happen, i want to have the best chance to survive it, and right now, if i had to run for longer then 5 mins ... id be dead

[Tempest Fennac]

Why did you feel that that is the case? I'm just curious due to never thinking about it before I heard that it was supposedly going to be the end of the world.

[Ilena]

Im clairvoiant, i have seen the future before ( just random things in my life, like going to a pond ive never been before and catching tadpoles, then going there a few months later and so forth), this ive not seen anything with but its a feeling, now i could be wrong, the future is always changing expecially something 4 years down the road, but i feel it has a good chance of happening, whatever it is that gives me this feeling, now im not saying the world is going to end, but who knows what will happen, maybe i may get sick and die and thats what im feeling but who knows,

[Emperor Tippy]

World Apocalypse could happen but it wouldn't wipe out humanity. Nothing short of the complete destruction of the earth could do that, a plague with the right abilities might be able to as well.

And even if it did, with about 5 years warning humanity could save its self. Technology beats the asteroids and comets, even those that took out the dinosaurs. If you want a more detailed discussion on this point feel free to IM me.

[Destro_Yersul]

Could also be that aliens will invade or some secret cache of lost technology will be discovered on Mars. And that would be cool. If it does end though, that'd be a great big load off my mind. Whatever happens, I shall approach it in the same way I approach everything else: general indifference punctuated with enthusiasm.

Wouldn't it just be the crowning irony if it was a cosmic version of 'rocks fall, everybody dies?'

[Ilena]

Yes, the great GM hates us, we annoyed him/her :P Well, time to roll up new lives .. i mean ... dam ...

[Collin152]

We need a small, reptilian savior, as only he can elude the wrath of anythign an angry DM can throw at him.

[Mx.Silver]

My concern is that the radioactive rocks would spread out over a large area before poisoning people. The Mayan Calendar only goes up to that date, and I think some other prophersies have claimed that 2012 is going to be improtant for some reason.

The reason being: the Mayan calendar only goes up to that date and it's famous for doing so. For practically every year that human civilisation has existed someone has been proclaiming that the end is just around the corner. Hell, we had the same hysterics in June '06 and (surprise surprise) nothing happened. I'll personally be glad when 2013 rolls around and people will stop spouting the old '2012 = end of everything nonsense'. Not that they'll admit that its wrong of course, we'll all have just 'misread the signs' and that it really says the end is coming in [insert vague approximation of a date here].


If we do get hit by a big rogue asteroid then the thing most of will do is expire. Why? Simply because we don't have a very clear picture of all the asteroids that could be a threat to Earth so the chances are if one hits we'll only find out about it way too late to do much about it. There's not really any point getting worked-up about it.

[ForzaFiori]

and we're all gonna die in 12/21/12 anyway. :smallconfused:

We better not. I'll be damned if i'm dieing 9 days before I turn 21.

[Gem Flower]

Hell, we had the same hysterics in June '06 and (surprise surprise) nothing happened.

Heh heh, I remember that. My friends were all completely hysterical.:smallamused:

[Dave Rapp]

If we had advanced enough warning that a comet was comic, I suspect we could do something about it. I'm sure that if everyone on earth was working together for us to not die, we'd come up with something. A comet could probably just be melt somehow. Maybe a huge mirror or lazor beam or something.

An asteroid, though, would be a lot harder. In theory if we blasted enough nukes at it we'd just have a bunch of radioactive dust hit our planet. That would be bad for us, but we'd live. Failing that, who knows, maybe we'd just blastoff to Mars.

[Alleine]

Has anyone even been trying to figure out why the Mayan calendar stops there? I never hear anything about it...

Personally, I'd rather just wait till it happens instead of going ZOMG T3H END IS H34R!!! RUNNN!!!shift+1!!
Of course, I am largely known for my laziness and lack of motivation to do anything except eat sammiches and skittles.

[Lupy]

This is what we do:
Nuke the crap out of it, then kill each other to deny it the chance.

[Jack Squat]

Has anyone even been trying to figure out why the Mayan calendar stops there? I never hear anything about it...


It's Mayan mythology.

I'm not quite sure if it counts as a real-world religion here, as I don't believe there's still any active Mayan cultures...but I'm going to stay on the side of caution. If you want to learn more, search about the setting of the fifth sun.

[Alleine]

What I meant was, doesn't anyone attempt to recreate the Mayan calendar using whatever they used? I'm guessing they had some mathematical way of calculating everything to make a super good calendar since all the cool extinct cultures of the world did crazy things like that.
I will definitely look that up now...

[Jack Squat]

It was probably something based on their great abilities of astrology. This backs the astroid killing us all theory, however since they couldn't look at more than the moon, sun, stars, and planets, I personally doubt they'd be able to predict an astroid collision that way.

It doesn't help that a.) the Spanish decided to burn all records of Mayan history, so all we really have to work off of is what's written in stone, and b.) there's controversy over whether or not we actually lined up the calendars right, as the only real thing that could be used was comparing astrological events.

[Alleine]

Ahhh, ok.

What I'm reading on wikipedia is making sense. That count was the end of a previous cycle. If I'm reading this right, that means nothing really special except the end of the current cycle and following that, the start of the next one.

My my, all the mayan words and the numbers being thrown around on the pages are starting to get confusing...

[Mx.Silver]

It was probably something based on their great abilities of astrology. This backs the astroid killing us all theory, however since they couldn't look at more than the moon, sun, stars, and planets, I personally doubt they'd be able to predict an astroid collision that way.

I think you mean Astronomy. If they were great astrologers then one would have expected them to pick-up on the whole conquistador thing and subsequent downfall of their society, which their calendar doesn't seem to have done very well.

Also, there's the point that most asteroids are invisible without some seriously powerful telescopes. Which they didn't have.

[DigoDragon]

Has anyone even been trying to figure out why the Mayan calendar stops there? I never hear anything about it...

I figure probably for similar reasons early computer programmers only used two digits to represent the year before 2000 rolled around. :smallsmile: That is to say people who make dated systems like calendars don't believe their system will be used anymore after several decades. Possible, as an example the school computer system I use here at work only goes up to the year 2099. Chances of the system being replaced by then is pretty good.