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9 Ways the World Might End (or not)

Posted: 04/19/2012 10:26 am
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As the twenty-first century enters its tween years, we are faced with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of scenarios for how the world might end--and Hollywood, cable television, and the nightly news work together to ensure that the apocalypse is rarely far from our minds.

Yet as we argue in our new book The Last Myth: What the Rise of Apocalyptic Thinking Tells Us About America (Prometheus Books, $18), these daydreams of doomsday are coming between us and our ability to confront real global challenges, and understanding how apocalyptic thinking has become intertwined with real problems has never been more urgent.

To that end, we put together this slideshow of some of the more common apocalyptic scenarios encountered in the media and online, and rated them on both their probability and impact.

Planet X Sideswipes Earth
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Probability: Non-existent.
Impact: None.

Among the more bizarre and esoteric notions to be melded to the idea that the Mayans predicted the end of our world this December is the belief that a mysterious Planet X, up to four times the size of Earth, will pass so close to our own planet that the Earth will be knocked off its axis, sending the oceans surging around the globe and devastating human civilization in a series of tsunamis. The problem with such a notion is that an approaching planet four times the size of Earth would already be visible to the naked eye. Believers in Planet X counter that it's been hiding behind the Sun. Problem solved; belief maintained.
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As the twenty-first century enters its tween years, we are faced with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of scenarios for how the world might end--and Hollywood, cable television, and the nightly news w...
As the twenty-first century enters its tween years, we are faced with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of scenarios for how the world might end--and Hollywood, cable television, and the nightly news w...