What is the most likely Extinction Level Event?
An event that could cause human extinction or permanently and drastically curtail humanity’s potential is known as an existential risk….Risk estimates.
| Risk | Estimated probability for human extinction before 2100 |
|---|---|
| Nuclear war | 1\% |
| Nanotechnology accident | 0.5\% |
| Natural pandemic | 0.05\% |
| Nuclear terrorism | 0.03\% |
How destructive would a nuclear war be?
1 A single nuclear weapon can destroy a city and kill most of its people. Several nuclear explosions over modern cities would kill tens of millions of people. Casualties from a major nuclear war between the US and Russia would reach hundreds of millions.
What qualifies as an Extinction Level Event?
An extinction event (also extinction-level event, ELE) occurs when a large number of species die out in a relatively short period of time. Since life began on Earth, a number of major mass extinctions have greatly exceeded the background extinction rate present at other times.
Is an extinction level event possible?
Extinction level events or ELEs are calamities that result in the annihilation of most species on the planet. Scientists can predict some ELEs, but most are neither predictable nor preventable. Even if some organisms survive all other extinction events, eventually the Sun will eradicate life on Earth.
What would happen in a full scale nuclear war?
Besides the immediate destruction of cities by nuclear blasts, the potential aftermath of a nuclear war could involve firestorms, a nuclear winter, widespread radiation sickness from fallout, and/or the temporary (if not permanent) loss of much modern technology due to electromagnetic pulses.
What would happen if there was a nuclear winter?
While it is impossible to precisely predict all the human impacts that would result from a nuclear winter, it is relatively simple to predict those which would be most profound. That is, a nuclear winter would cause most humans and large animals to die from nuclear famine in a mass extinction event similar to the one that wiped out the dinosaurs.
What would happen if there was a nuclear war on Earth?
Once in the stratosphere, the smoke (predicted to be produced by a range of strategic nuclear wars) would rapidly engulf the Earth and form a dense stratospheric smoke layer.
What would happen if there was a global nuclear famine?
Global nuclear famine would ensue in a setting in which the infrastructure of the combatant nations has been totally destroyed, resulting in massive amounts of chemical and radioactive toxins being released into the biosphere.
How big can a nuclear Firestorm get?
Following the detonation (in conflict) of US and/or Russian launch-ready strategic nuclear weapons, nuclear firestorms would burn simultaneously over a total land surface area of many thousands or tens of thousands of square miles.