Scientists: It’s the End of the World and We Know It
Scientists aren’t normally concerned about God. And they have often shunned apocalyptic speculation, leaving end-time scenarios to religious people. Science is normally based on observation and empirical evidence, not faith and revelation. But increasingly, some leading scientists have begun to think and talk about the end of the world.
Last year, Stephen Hawking, for instance wrote this: “Now, more than at any time in our history, our species needs to work together. We face awesome environmental challenges: climate change, food production, overpopulation, the decimation of other species, epidemic disease, acidification of the oceans. Together, they are a reminder that we are at the most dangerous moment in the development of humanity. We now have the technology to destroy the planet on which we live, but have not yet developed the ability to escape it.”
There are a number of concerns that keep them awake at night.
Climate change. With 2016 being the hottest year on record, they now speculate that the next few decades will see catastrophic climate change that will extend longer than the entire history of human civilization with all its social and economic consequences as well as ecological devastation. This, they claim will project into the future for many thousands of years.
Antibiotics and Superbugs. Antibiotics are used to prevent infections in every procedure from cancer, organ transplant surgeries and even childbirth. If viruses and other microbes develop resistance and we lose our ability to use anti-biotics, we lose 50 years of advancements in medicine. Margaret Chan, the director general of the World Health Organization, said, “antimicrobial resistance poses a fundamental threat to human health, development and security.” Scientists argue that the risk of a global pandemic is increasing because of the growth of megacities. With 66 percent of people living in cities by 2050, according to a UN estimate, the close proximity of people to each other will make the propagation of pathogens much easier. As it is, they travel from one location to another at literally the speed of a jetliner.
Combined with a warmer climate, scientists say, heat waves and flooding events will create “more opportunity for waterborne diseases such as cholera and for disease vectors such as mosquitoes in new regions.” Some public health researchers conclude that “we are at greater risk than ever of experiencing large-scale outbreaks and global pandemics,” and that “the next outbreak contender will most likely be a surprise.”
Acidification of Oceans. Scientists claim this is a catastrophe that doesn’t get the attention it needs. As ocean PH levels fall, it gradually destroys coral reefs (called bleaching). The rate of acidification has increased leading to mass extinctions of all manner of species, not just in the water, but on land and in the atmosphere.
Hawking’s dire warning that we live in the most perilous period of our species’ existence is quite robust. A number of other notable scientists to suggest that the collapse of global society could occur in the foreseeable future. The late microbiologist Frank Fenner, (famous for helping to eliminate smallpox) said “humans will probably be extinct within 100 years, because of overpopulation, environmental destruction, and climate change.” The Canadian biologist Neil Dawe said he “wouldn’t be surprised if the generation after him witness the extinction of humanity.” And the renowned ecologist Guy McPherson agues that humanity will follow the dodo into the evolutionary grave by 2026.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists recently moved the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock 30 seconds closer to midnight, largely because of U.S. President Donald Trump’s attitude toward climate change and nuclear proliferation. At two-and-a-half minutes before midnight, the Doomsday Clock is currently the closest to midnight than it’s been since 1953, after the U.S. and the Soviet Union had both detonated hydrogen bombs.
Emerging technologies. Biotechnology, synthetic biology, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence are considered by scientists to be some of the most dangerous threats to humanity. In general these technologies are becoming more powerful at an exponential rate, but increasingly accessible to small groups and even lone wolves. The result is that a growing number of individuals are being empowered to wreak unprecedented havoc on civilization. Given today’s technology trends, all it could take later this century is a single person or group to unilaterally end civilization forever.
Some risk experts are now specifying disturbingly high probabilities of global disaster in the future. For example, the philosopher John Leslie claims that humanity has a 30 percent chance of extinction in the next five centuries. An “informal” survey of experts puts the probability of human extinction before 2100 at 19%. Lord Martin Rees, co-founder of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at Cambridge University, argues that civilization has no better than a 50-50 likelihood of enduring into the next century. A child born today, then, has a good chance of living to see the collapse of civilization.
For those who believe the Bible, this dystopian view of the future is followed by a bright future in paradise, while for the atheistic scientist there is “nothing but darkness.” Scientists often tend to unwittingly verify revelation. The things they think will happen, and much more, are all part of the devastation that will fall upon human civilization at the second coming of Christ.
“It is at midnight that God manifests His power for the deliverance of His people. The sun appears, shining in its strength. Signs and wonders follow in quick succession… Everything in nature seems turned out of its course. The streams cease to flow. Dark, heavy clouds come up and clash against each other… There is a mighty earthquake, “such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great…” The firmament appears to open and shut… The mountains shake like a reed in the wind, and ragged rocks are scattered on every side. There is a roar as of a coming tempest. The sea is lashed into fury. There is heard the shriek of a hurricane like the voice of demons upon a mission of destruction. The whole earth heaves and swells like the waves of the sea. Its surface is breaking up. Its very foundations seem to be giving way. Mountain chains are sinking. Inhabited islands disappear. The seaports that have become like Sodom for wickedness are swallowed up by the angry waters… Great hailstones, every one “about the weight of a talent,” are doing their work of destruction. The proudest cities of the earth are laid low. The lordly palaces, upon which the world’s great men have lavished their wealth in order to glorify themselves, are crumbling to ruin before their eyes. Prison walls are rent asunder, and God’s people, who have been held in bondage for their faith, are set free. The Great Controversy, page 636.
Source References
- It’s the end of the world and we know it: Scientists in many disciplines see apocalypse, soon.
- Seven reasons we’re at more risk than ever of a global pandemic