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Author Topic:   How did earth die?

BorgBTD posted 12-08-98 11:31 PM ET
Was it: A. lack of resources
B. world war 3
C. pollution
D. A & B
E. B & C
F. A & C
G. A, B, & C
Brother Greg posted 12-08-98 11:36 PM ET
T'was the apocalypse, and the Unity was Noah's Ark II.
And the Spice Girls turned out to be the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Drakenred posted 12-09-98 01:57 AM ET
actualy all of the players of Civ II jumped onto the Alph Centauri ship and left Civ II to be played by the nuke-happy AI untill poof.
<EG>
DJ RRebel posted 12-09-98 02:02 AM ET
Actually, if you want some good ideas explained in plain English as to how our destruction might be forecoming, read Carl Sagan's Billions & Billions, I'm half way through the book, and it is extremely interesting !!!
I think he gives a fair assessment for both sides of each debate !!!
DCA posted 12-09-98 02:53 AM ET
Lung cancer from excessive smoking.
Kurn posted 12-09-98 02:53 AM ET
Thanks for the recommendation DJ, I read Contact (movie sucked!). I was wondering what else he wrote.
CClark posted 12-09-98 01:08 PM ET
Actually, I think the premise behind Fallout and Fallout 2 is pretty much going to be accurate.
As the population increases, there are more and more users of consumer goods. Eventually, oil and natural gas reserves begin to run dry. Nations start to use military might to control the last remaining oil wells. Eventually, all-out war breaks out in a big fight to get the last resources. (Of course, the ironic part is that the war will wind up using up the resources that the nations are fighting for!) Eventually, somebody figures out that there won't be any resources left by the end of a conventional war and everyone goes nuke happy. Bye bye Earth.
Not having been old enough to understand the oil crisis in the 70's, I still get a little nervous when I wonder "So, just what's going to happen when the oil and natural gas wells run out?".
DJ RRebel posted 12-09-98 01:50 PM ET
At the current rate, we are using 2% of the worlds reserves of oil/nat gas etc per year ... so at this rate, we will have depleted all know supplies in 50 years (more or less depending on consuption, prob sooner though) ... although, there are still many possible sites we don't know of yet, the problem with these, is that they are harder to find if we haven't found them already, so, because of their locations or depth, they will be much more costly to harvest!!! (this is the type of thing in Billions and billions)
As for Billions and Billions, it is an excellent book on the current state of the world !!! A warning, it starts off really slow, but it gets interesting soon enough !!!
Pasi posted 12-09-98 02:40 PM ET
That trend is not a new one, the same has been going all the time: in the beginning only a fraction of the resources of the oil wells could be used, now it's something like 50-60%. So when the techniques improve once again, it will be worth sucking the oil from old, used wells. IMHO, we have a bit more than 50 years to learn the truth, and we need it...
I think that we humans have made a huge mistake by depending purely on oil and oil-based products. Well, it was the way where the fence was the lowest. But at the same time it's like a story of a country with only one export product, and when the market dives, the country dives deeper... only this time we just might not reach the surface again.
Fortunately the technology tree is wide (like in AC=)) so we still have alternatives, but it does not mean that the consumption could grow or even stay close at todays level.
Arnelos posted 12-09-98 03:54 PM ET
Concerning those who have not read Sagan's many books and and other media and are interested:
COSMOS (Non-Fiction: TV series that ran for several years in the early 1980s and was run on re-runs for years aferward. The most popular popularization of science ever).
(I've seen them, hasn't everyone sat throught at least 2 in Freshman high school science class?)
CONTACT (Fiction: Book writen by Sagan about a possible success of the SETI program, the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. The movie wasn't entirely faithful to the book).
(both read book and seen movie. Quite honestly, the book was better)
1994:
PALE BLUE DOT (Non-Fiction: Discusses Humanity's future in space and just why we should go there).
(Read it, great book)
1997:
DEMON HAUNTED WORLD: SCIENCE AS A CANDLE IN THE DARK (Non-Fiction: An EXCELLENT book. Discusses the place of science in society and how why science is important. Debunks many new age religious beliefs, UFO theories, magic, ant-science, and other wierd stuff. Sagan speaks about the importance of the scientific method, skepticism, and a good education in general.)
(Read it, GREAT BOOK)
1998:
BILLIONS AND BILLIONS (Non-Fiction: Discusses Humanity's situation as we approach the 21st Century. Discusses global warming, space, nuclear war, science and religion, and afterlife and his own fall toward death. An epilogue is writen by Ann Druyan, his wife.)
(Read it last month, great book)
1989:
DRAGONS OF EDEN (Non-Fiction: Award Winning Book. Discusses the evolution of Humanity.)
(Never read it)
1992:
SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS (Non-Fiction: Discusses the Evolution of the Human Mind and the Evolution of Humanity at large. Talks about the future of Humanity.)
(I've got it sitting right here waiting for when I finish Plato's Republic and a biography of Gladstone)
1993:
BROCA's BRAIN (Non-Fiction: Never read it and I don't know.)
(Never read it)
There are some others that I'm forgetting of course, but that covers all the big recent ones. I HEAVILY suggest reading Sagan, he writes the most interesting and compelling non-fiction that I've read. It really is facsinating.
MikeH II posted 12-09-98 04:15 PM ET
Everyone bought SMAC and starved to death (they were going to eat after one more turn.)
Lee Johnson posted 12-09-98 07:04 PM ET
To accommodate the exponential growth of posting in the SMAC forum, Origin/EA added more and more disk arrays to the SMAC web server--until, one day, the server's extreme mass caused it to collapse and implode, forming a black hole. This black hole then proceeded to sink to the centre of the Earth, where it eventually swallowed up the entire planet. The End.
Kirel posted 12-10-98 03:37 PM ET
A new hyperspace-freeway was to be constructed,and earth was in the way.
It's all described in "Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy" by Douglas Adams.(Was that spelling right?)
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Author	Topic: How did earth die?
BorgBTD	posted 12-08-98 11:31 PM ET Was it: A. lack of resources B. world war 3 C. pollution D. A & B E. B & C F. A & C G. A, B, & C
Brother Greg	posted 12-08-98 11:36 PM ET T'was the apocalypse, and the Unity was Noah's Ark II. And the Spice Girls turned out to be the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Drakenred	posted 12-09-98 01:57 AM ET actualy all of the players of Civ II jumped onto the Alph Centauri ship and left Civ II to be played by the nuke-happy AI untill poof. <EG>
DJ RRebel	posted 12-09-98 02:02 AM ET Actually, if you want some good ideas explained in plain English as to how our destruction might be forecoming, read Carl Sagan's Billions & Billions, I'm half way through the book, and it is extremely interesting !!! I think he gives a fair assessment for both sides of each debate !!!
DCA	posted 12-09-98 02:53 AM ET Lung cancer from excessive smoking.
Kurn	posted 12-09-98 02:53 AM ET Thanks for the recommendation DJ, I read Contact (movie sucked!). I was wondering what else he wrote.
CClark	posted 12-09-98 01:08 PM ET Actually, I think the premise behind Fallout and Fallout 2 is pretty much going to be accurate. As the population increases, there are more and more users of consumer goods. Eventually, oil and natural gas reserves begin to run dry. Nations start to use military might to control the last remaining oil wells. Eventually, all-out war breaks out in a big fight to get the last resources. (Of course, the ironic part is that the war will wind up using up the resources that the nations are fighting for!) Eventually, somebody figures out that there won't be any resources left by the end of a conventional war and everyone goes nuke happy. Bye bye Earth. Not having been old enough to understand the oil crisis in the 70's, I still get a little nervous when I wonder "So, just what's going to happen when the oil and natural gas wells run out?".
DJ RRebel	posted 12-09-98 01:50 PM ET At the current rate, we are using 2% of the worlds reserves of oil/nat gas etc per year ... so at this rate, we will have depleted all know supplies in 50 years (more or less depending on consuption, prob sooner though) ... although, there are still many possible sites we don't know of yet, the problem with these, is that they are harder to find if we haven't found them already, so, because of their locations or depth, they will be much more costly to harvest!!! (this is the type of thing in Billions and billions) As for Billions and Billions, it is an excellent book on the current state of the world !!! A warning, it starts off really slow, but it gets interesting soon enough !!!
Pasi	posted 12-09-98 02:40 PM ET That trend is not a new one, the same has been going all the time: in the beginning only a fraction of the resources of the oil wells could be used, now it's something like 50-60%. So when the techniques improve once again, it will be worth sucking the oil from old, used wells. IMHO, we have a bit more than 50 years to learn the truth, and we need it... I think that we humans have made a huge mistake by depending purely on oil and oil-based products. Well, it was the way where the fence was the lowest. But at the same time it's like a story of a country with only one export product, and when the market dives, the country dives deeper... only this time we just might not reach the surface again. Fortunately the technology tree is wide (like in AC=)) so we still have alternatives, but it does not mean that the consumption could grow or even stay close at todays level.
Arnelos	posted 12-09-98 03:54 PM ET Concerning those who have not read Sagan's many books and and other media and are interested: COSMOS (Non-Fiction: TV series that ran for several years in the early 1980s and was run on re-runs for years aferward. The most popular popularization of science ever). (I've seen them, hasn't everyone sat throught at least 2 in Freshman high school science class?) CONTACT (Fiction: Book writen by Sagan about a possible success of the SETI program, the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. The movie wasn't entirely faithful to the book). (both read book and seen movie. Quite honestly, the book was better) 1994: PALE BLUE DOT (Non-Fiction: Discusses Humanity's future in space and just why we should go there). (Read it, great book) 1997: DEMON HAUNTED WORLD: SCIENCE AS A CANDLE IN THE DARK (Non-Fiction: An EXCELLENT book. Discusses the place of science in society and how why science is important. Debunks many new age religious beliefs, UFO theories, magic, ant-science, and other wierd stuff. Sagan speaks about the importance of the scientific method, skepticism, and a good education in general.) (Read it, GREAT BOOK) 1998: BILLIONS AND BILLIONS (Non-Fiction: Discusses Humanity's situation as we approach the 21st Century. Discusses global warming, space, nuclear war, science and religion, and afterlife and his own fall toward death. An epilogue is writen by Ann Druyan, his wife.) (Read it last month, great book) 1989: DRAGONS OF EDEN (Non-Fiction: Award Winning Book. Discusses the evolution of Humanity.) (Never read it) 1992: SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS (Non-Fiction: Discusses the Evolution of the Human Mind and the Evolution of Humanity at large. Talks about the future of Humanity.) (I've got it sitting right here waiting for when I finish Plato's Republic and a biography of Gladstone) 1993: BROCA's BRAIN (Non-Fiction: Never read it and I don't know.) (Never read it) There are some others that I'm forgetting of course, but that covers all the big recent ones. I HEAVILY suggest reading Sagan, he writes the most interesting and compelling non-fiction that I've read. It really is facsinating.
MikeH II	posted 12-09-98 04:15 PM ET Everyone bought SMAC and starved to death (they were going to eat after one more turn.)
Lee Johnson	posted 12-09-98 07:04 PM ET To accommodate the exponential growth of posting in the SMAC forum, Origin/EA added more and more disk arrays to the SMAC web server--until, one day, the server's extreme mass caused it to collapse and implode, forming a black hole. This black hole then proceeded to sink to the centre of the Earth, where it eventually swallowed up the entire planet. The End.
Kirel	posted 12-10-98 03:37 PM ET A new hyperspace-freeway was to be constructed,and earth was in the way. It's all described in "Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy" by Douglas Adams.(Was that spelling right?)