Greetings!

Just because I am in such a good mood today...

Please choose:

Note: Any one item on this list can cause a cascade triggering some or all of the others. Looking for a "first cause" here...

I think Meteor Impact would make for the best television, but you've got to hand it to Avian Flu for sheer cultural sensitivity. What other horseman of the Apocalypse would come to Britain, the home of Monty Python, as a dead parrot?

Peter

Ugh.
I'm not voting.

/sticks head back in sand.

I picked overpopulation, because this is a first cause of many of the rest, such as pollution, global warming, etc.

If you want to worry, you've got to think about disease (not on your list). Particularly an airborne-contageous and deadly virus -- like an air spread HIV. A deadly antibiotic-reisistant bacterial pandemic (think antibotic-resistant plague) is another likely event.

Farmers have known for a long time that large monoculture ecosystems are extremely vulnerable to disease, because there is no biodiversity. We "control" that with nasty chemicals that we spray on crops or feed to livestock.

Nobody seems to discuss that human beings in large cities are essentially the same situation.

Jim

Well, pandemic is there, so disease is well covered as long as it is of global proportion.

I actually chose "other". After submitting the survey, I realized that stupidity (elected, oblivious, manipulated, etc.) is as dangerous as all of the others.

Note: This was just a reaction to the continued headlines on all of the major news sites, not that I think the world is going to end tomorrow. Still, it would be a good day for it...

Huh. So it is. That makes me feel pretty stupid. Well, that's my scenario: pandemic fueled by overpopulation.

Jim

You forgot "Seven-year tribulation followed by earth's destruction by fire" and "Giant mutant CowboyNeal"

Although the "Other horsemen" options does partially cover the former. I voted that one.

Perhaps these aren't meltdown scenarios, but you left off some of my personal favorites:

Alien invasion. Either short term (ie: "I regret to inform you... your planet has been scheduled for demolition. Have a nice day.") or long term (ie: failed political relationship with alien beings leading to war).

AI robotic revolution. With humanity's instinctive insatiable greed, they will repeat the history of slavery, but this time, with captives of immense ability.

My third favorite is a tie between overpopulation and pandemic, so I chose pandemic. I'd much rather see the "oh high and mighty human race" be crushed not by its own weight, but by simple multicellular organisims invisible to the naked eye... and by the foolish human politics which would prevent a cure from becoming available soon enough (up for a game of Deus Ex anyone?)

Another meltdown scenario, not in my list of favorites, but has almost happened enough times in our history:

Accident - Oops, mismanaged the nuclear reactor and started a chain reaction. Oops, left the outside air vent open while working with that 1918 flu virus. Oops, pushed a little to hard while cleaning the cheese stake stain off The Big Red Button. Bye bye world.

Nuclear accidents are horrific, but at least they aren't infectous...

Ultimately I think the most likely human extinction scenario is depletion of Earth's natural resources such that by the time we're technologically able to send a viable colony to a new planet, we haven't got the resources left to do so. That would come under "overpopulation", I guess. None of the other meltdowns, while horrific, sound to me like extinction events.

Peter

Well, it doesn't really need to extinguish all human life. It is actually very difficult to completely wipe out every human on the planet. But even if you were to knock out about 25%, just think of the chaos and anarchy that would ensue, and what it would do to civilization as we understand it today.

The continuing dumbing down of the planet continues as demonstrated by the popularity of reality TV and we all loose the ability to breath through sheer stupidity.

I chose "Economic Meltdown", not because it is the precursor of the others, but because it is the only choice that refers to an absolutely inevitable event.

We are headed for a global economic trainwreck that will make 1929 seem mild by comparison. If you think the government or any other entity can prevent it, you are living in a dream world. The bridge is already out and it is too late to stop the train.

And that's my optimistic scenario. Give just a little bit of thought to a tax base shrunk into non-existance, the failure of government services (does "Police" come to mind) and the fact that there are actually more guns in this country than there are people... Think Beirut in the 1980s.

And don't think you're safe because you don't live in the US. Economically speaking, when America sneezes the whole world catches cold.

tanstaafl.