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[mercenar1e]

A 3 mile wide asteroid isn't as huge as the 15 mile one that killed the dinasaurs but it would fuck the food supply and cause environmental changes that would kill millions.. Prob billions


An estimate of the population by 2030 is 8 billion... Can't imagine what it would look like 600 years from now

 

[Canis lupus]

Don't we have rockets to shoot em up.

 

[mercenar1e]

Don't we have rockets to shoot em up.

You think the Americans haven't thought about that?

 

[coldvein]

Terraforming. An end goal no matter how long it will take. Because say it takes us centuries to find the secret to make a previously inhospitable planet able to house a sizable population, then it's better to start that process BEFORE we're given a time limit.

If we were given news tomorrow that an asteroid the size of Europe was on a direct collision course with Earth and will DEFINITELY hit ninety years from now, I guarantee you that we wouldn't be sitting on our asses, but instead exploring every single option available to us.

i see what you're saying. i was looking at this as a "we just found out we could've been destroyed by asteroids THIS WEEKEND" ie no time for terraforming (which i assume takes a long time).

so you're suggesting terraforming mars so that "we" can fly off to it when this planet is wrecked?

 

[V_Arnold]

what do you mean? i'm p drunk but i think my argument is sound.

all of a sudden, our planet is dead

where can we go? a bunch of other planets that are dead

Your argument is flawed by the premise: an Earth that was "just hit" by a large meteor has so much debris and dirt in the atmosphere for years(?) that the conditions on it is largerly worse than an "already dead" Mars. And that is not factoring in the local effects caused by the impact - an altered seismic structure, effects that that might trigger in the short/midterm, etc.

An estimate of the population by 2030 is 8 billion... Can't imagine what it would look like 600 years from now

Overpopulation is not a problem. It is one of the parameters that can fuck us up, but only if other things match as well. An overpopulation of heavy meat-eaters, for example, is much, much worse than an overpopulation with a large enough percentage of vegetarians Not to mention that countries with better living condition stop overpopulating, so we should look there for starters. And of course, healing a continent or two, so we can have more food if needed. Not an impossibility, just "not profitable(tm)" as of now.

 

[Trevelyon]

The fact that humanity as a whole is investing so little in space exploration/technology nowadays when our entire species could be exterminated basically at any moment by an asteroid is depressing to say the least.

Yah, the coverage of near earth objects is scarily low, like under 10% of our entire sky iirc. Who knows what potentionally planet fucking things are constantly floating in around the neighborhood.

 

[SCULLIBUNDO]

i see what you're saying. i was looking at this as a "we just found out we could've been destroyed by asteroids THIS WEEKEND" ie no time for terraforming (which i assume takes a long time).

so you're suggesting terraforming mars so that "we" can fly off to it when this planet is wrecked?

I'm suggesting beginning the processes that will firstly lead to the possibility of terraforming. Then terraform whatever fertile ground will have us. All our eggs in one isolated basket is honestly just the scariest and most naive thing about our species.

 

[coldvein]

Your argument is flawed by the premise: an Earth that was "just hit" by a large meteor has so much debris and dirt in the atmosphere for years(?) that the conditions on it is largerly worse than an "already dead" Mars. And that is not factoring in the local effects caused by the impact - an altered seismic structure, effects that that might trigger in the short/midterm, etc.

you're right. i'm not a scientist. i'm just using my common mans logic here. i can breathe on earth (right now). i can't breathe on mars (right now). if earths atmosphere is somehow crippled tomorrow, ill be able to breathe for a little while, but not very long.

all i'm saying is that right now, there isn't some glowing jewel of a planet that we can escape to.

 

[raindoc]

Good driving, earth!

 

[V_Arnold]

all i'm saying is that right now, there isn't some glowing jewel of a planet that we can escape to.

That statement is right. So we have two options:
1) Research non-linear travel methods so we can escape the trap that is "speed of light"
1.b) Hope that in this process, we go to places which are glowing jewels for us
2) Research technologies that can change any planets (or, even better, moons of planets) into environments that can sustain and feed us. This is currently being done.

 

[Trevelyon]

We're gonna get coldcocked one day and end up on a galactic version of WSHH.

 

[SolarPowered]

I'm suggesting beginning the processes that will firstly lead to the possibility of terraforming. Then terraform whatever fertile ground will have us. All our eggs in one isolated basket is honestly just the scariest and most naive thing about our species.

I wouldn't say naive. The space age only began forty something years ago when humans first landed on the Moon. That is less than the average human lifespan. It's not like we are robots. This stuff takes a ridiculous amount of resources, expertise and time. I'd say the people who don't consider space travel important AT ALL are naive, but the species? A little much. If extra-solar travel and a transformed Mars are something regular within 500 years I would say that is a raging success.

you're right. i'm not a scientist. i'm just using my common mans logic here. i can breathe on earth (right now). i can't breathe on mars (right now). if earths atmosphere is somehow crippled tomorrow, ill be able to breathe for a little while, but not very long.

all i'm saying is that right now, there isn't some glowing jewel of a planet that we can escape to.

We only get one. We'll be making our own "jewels" in order to build more "nests" for humanity. Don't forget that it took 3.5 billion years for us to make it this far. Just a couple of wrong turns and we could have been the modern day chickens or pork for our Dino overlords. We are a specialized species despite how many nooks and crannies we've managed to squeeze our way into on this planet.

 

[Wallach]

Yah, the coverage of near earth objects is scarily low, like under 10% of our entire sky iirc. Who knows what potentionally planet fucking things are constantly floating in around the neighborhood.

That's certainly the case for any planet in our solar system, though.

It's not like there's some safe place to up and move life to. Changing our species' life to be one of nomadic planet-hopping just means we would need incredible detection ability to know when and where to move. If we had that... we probably have the means to just develop a system of mitigating or avoiding collisions with particular bodies altogether.

 

[Red UFO]

I just wanna play video games, I don't want to worry about the extinction of the human race

 

[SCULLIBUNDO]

I wouldn't say naive. The space age only began fifty something years ago when humans first landed on the Moon. That is less than the average human lifespan. It's not like we are robots. This stuff takes a ridiculous amount of resources, expertise and time. I'd say the people who don't consider space travel important AT ALL are naive, but the species? A little much. If extra-solar travel and a transformed Mars are something regular within 300 years I would say that is a raging success.

The rate we're going I don't think you'll see a transformed (meaning even a thousand people can live there) Mars in the next 500 years, let alone 300.

 

[Riposte]

- 5259480 Hours Remain -

 

[V_Arnold]

I just wanna play video games, I don't want to worry about the extinction of the human race

No worries, we just need to wait until a spiritual and/or technological ascension compresses our consciousness into a quantum computer, and then we can play all dem games till the end of eternity : )

 

[Always-honest]

Well done Earth!!!

 

[coldvein]

That statement is right. So we have two options:
1) Research non-linear travel methods so we can escape the trap that is "speed of light"
1.b) Hope that in this process, we go to places which are glowing jewels for us
2) Research technologies that can change any planets (or, even better, moons of planets) into environments that can sustain and feed us. This is currently being done.

agreed! we should be looking into all of those things. maybe we are.

this is all looking very far into the future. other things that i would suggest as far as our survival as a species go: just make sure that we keep this planet as hospitable as it is today. don't shoot a bunch of nuclear bombs at eachother. don't change the environment to a point where agriculture can't sustain us.

my opinion (it may well be wrong) is that we will destroy this planet before some giant meteor hits us. it's up to us to keep that from happening. when a nuclear war goes down james cameron isn't gonna be able to do shit.

 

[Dreavus]

About as comforting as knowing we could be hit by a gamma-ray burst at some point in the future (unlikely, but possible) by stars within the required proximity (also unlikely). Devastating radiation effects and there's basically shit all we could do to stop one. Fucking awesome being on a giant rock hurtling through space!

 

[KevinRo]

This just made me realize when the human species populates other planets that we will be the lucky few that were born on Earth before it turned to absolute shit.

I like that. Kinda makes me feel special.

 

[SolarPowered]

The rate we're going I don't think you'll see a transformed (meaning even a thousand people can live there) Mars in the next 500 years, let alone 300.

I edited my post to 500 without even looking at yours. It seems like we at least agree on the pessimistic side of things.

 

[Raist]

 

[CurlySaysX]

if there is one there has got to be more, bigger ones trailing it.
2012 confirmed.

 

[Conor 419]

I would be so pissed off if the world ended, because there'd be no way to explain to the 2012 gang that it was a coincidence.

 

[SCULLIBUNDO]

if there is one there has got to be more, bigger ones trailing it.
2012 confirmed.

These two asteroids were just the scouts!

 

[Kiraly]

Why isn't the sky fully monitored? I'm going to guess small budget and short sighted governments.

Well, our object collison budget's a million dollars. That allows us to track about 3% of the sky, and beg'n your pardon sir, but it's a big-ass sky.

 

[antonz]

Mayans are laughing maniacally. "You dodge two but thirds the charm bitches!"

In 6 days NASA will report we are 2 days from being hit lol

 

[Vagabundo]

In 6 days NASA will report we are 2 days from being hit lol

I'd say the odds are pretty good we're getting hit on the 21st.

It would be hilarious if the Mayan calendar is based on some sort of asteroid tracking and we get a huge mother of one skimming through our atmosphere. I would genuinely lol.

 

[vareon]

eeewwww of all the Asterix covers.

 

[Javaman]

I had a nightmare about a rogue planet hitting us and knocking Earth out of orbit. A quarter of Earth broke off and our planet froze over as it left our solar system.

If it's any consolation, none of us would survive the initial impact.

 

[Blue Ninja]

They only discovered it days before? That's reassuring.

EDIT: Good thing it's not the bigger one. I don't think an asteroid 20 meters long could do much damage.

 

[harmonize]

Wait, it was my understanding that the asteroid was discovered decades ago.

 

[strafer]

I never been so happy to be alive.

Thank you.

 

[Log4Girlz]

How do we get so lucky? Must be god.

God created asteroids to destroy scientists 600 years from now.

 

[Raist]

eeewwww of all the Asterix covers.

Well the title is quite relevant, no?

 

[DECK'ARD]

That was a close shave!

 

[Raist]

That was a close shave!

~Half a million kilometers is a close shave?

 

[harmonize]

~Half a million kilometers is a close shave?

Some chicks think stubble is sexy.

 

[DarkFlow]

~Half a million kilometers is a close shave?

in space, yes.

 

[Redford]

I was sitting in a Tim Hortons late Tuesday night and was struck with the thought of how fucked it would be if at that moment the sky lit up without warning. Barring some subliminal hearing I think I can safely say I'm psychic.

Also pretty crazy that GAF is the first place I'm hearing about this.

 

[Devolution]

God created asteroids to destroy scientists 600 years from now.

Seems like his style to be honest.

 

[Agnostic]

If it's any consolation, none of us would survive the initial impact.

I was on a space station and survived.

 

[GhostWriter24]

So when this shit happens, we're not going to know about it?

It will just be posted on NeoGAF two days later :lol

 

[Vagabundo]

Also pretty crazy that GAF is the first place I'm hearing about this.

Media suppression by our giant elected lizards.

 

[Zaptruder]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_Crater

The other one was over three miles wide.

The other one is 3 miles wide, though.

That's actually less then I thought it would be. I mean devastating from our perspective, but on a global planetary scale is like an inadvertant fart.

As for the 3 mile one... if it missed us by 17 moon to earth lengths, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Like... the world would have to be 5,000 times larger (by volume) than it is now to be hit.

 

[Mrs. Manky]

Obelix is holding the one named Toutatis, of course.

 

[GhostWriter24]

That's actually less then I thought it would be. I mean devastating from our perspective, but on a global planetary scale is like an inadvertant fart.

Wiping out a massive chunk of the human population, changing earth's course slightly, fucking up our atmosphere and ocean water levels is an inadvertant fart?

 

[Amagon]

If we die, we die.

 

[Insaniac]

apocalypse averted, everyone can calm down now