Man destroys man.
Not in a biblical nuclear hellfire kind of way but conventionally.
The absolute and total destruction of civilization built on genuine mistrust and misinformation.
Maybe it starts off as two sides, then to four, then sixteen, then… Eventually every man for himself.
And we’ll know how we got there.
But even though it would be the end of modern civilization, I think it’d also be the beginning of something new.
That’s the most interesting, realistic scenario in my opinion.
China reclaiming Taiwan and simultaneously NorthKorea advancing on South Korea. Japan would be split to help and it would force U.S intervention. WW3 starts because we can’t allow China to gain TSMC and the Taiwanese straight.
It’s triggers a global trade war…. The scenarios already playing out. Once it happens Israel goes on a conquest in the Middle East and Russia goes further into Ukraine if not beyond.
This is a real world event playing out in various stages at different points than as per mentioned. This is reality. It’s a scary world. I expect mass drafts globally. Reconstitution of fab plants to make war equipment/drones etc.
It’s terrible but the world needs a good war for a reset…. 100 trillion in debt globally and 35 trillion falls on the U.S… sounds like the U.S is on the chopping block… I’m a dire hard American, but if we don’t fight we lose anyway…
Honestly, now matter what form it takes, it will likely be a doomsdecade, not a day. I’m an infectious disease guy, so I would say something like TB. Its slow, and not sexy like Ebola. But, it has been around a long time and it will continue to be around a long time. It is already multi drug resistant due to long treatment times, poor healthcare availability in even the best of environements, and horrid patient compliance. Wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine climate change combined with addtional resistance combined with a minor mutation to make it a full fledged plague type of a disease.
Clathrate gun release. Methane hydrates in the arctic are increasingly unstable due to global warming changes in the arctic and Antarctic. Incredible quantities of methane could be released in a very short time that could dwarf our own warming actions to date. Something similar already probably caused one of the great planet wide extinction events in the past. It’s not impossible that we could cause another one.
The tax war wins and all the contries have to live by your self, leading to the raise of the poverty and crimes and by consequence the decline of the society.
People cling so desperately to “violence is never the answer” that we wind up stucj with a fascist in the White House, who subsequently burns bridges with our allies, destroys our infrastructure, and torches the environment to make a quick buck.
Something out of lab. We saw what Covid did. The infected are still humans. They starve when they don’t eat. They run and seems to have left some Juan intelligence
Supply chain disruption with internet blackout soon after. People will go feral out of fear and complete societal breakdown will ensue. The gangs will control the larger cities. The southern and some western states will survive the longest. Me. I am sixty five years old I will go out while there is still clean water in the pipes and food in the cubbies. In the immortal words of the preacher in the movie blazing saddles. “Son your on your own!”
I mean didn’t covid 19 paint a pretty solid picture of it very recently? That but different enough in small ways to affect even more severely or spread even more easily
A super power over extending overspending then isolating leaving the rest of the world that was under its umbrella to fend for itself. Then it explodes and everyone dies and civilization is taken back a couple pegs . It’s happened a few times in history already .
I think it would be a number of things that would spiral out of control. Imagine a disease that wiped out crops, or a volcanic eruption resulting in a huge Ash cloud that blocked out the sunlight in a specific area, killing all wildlife in that region.
Combine that with limited access to clean drinking water, and countries fighting to gain access to it. You’d see huge migrations of people to places that are deemed safe. Resulting in civil unrest, then War.
Throw AI into the mix and we’re in a world of pain.
When petroleum stops being found. Our entire life is designed around petro products. Medicine, food, most of what we buy. Healthcare and all other industries depend on it. And it is a finite commodity.
The global ocean conveyor, that brings warmer water from south to north getting too much freshwater and xoler water from melting glaciers and then stopping..
It’s then a self feeding system. , the more it fails the more damage it causes and will lead to global climate change that makes what we have seen in the last few years look like a minor blip it will be quick..
This will destroy many countries food and cause a mass fauna and flora die off.
A unilateral exchange of nukes equals a nuclear winter for how long and how far are uncertain. Most countries in the southern hemisphere will actually avoid targeting and offer the chance of good survival rates if at a much lower quality of life owing to the initial cessation of trade with their northern neighbours. They’d soon adapt and thrive.
Other than nuclear war it’s the slow drawing back of civilised societies back towards the poles as global warming really takes hold. First will come the ever increasing refugees fleeing the unliveable equatorial region. We may yet see a “Fortress Europe” if right leaning pragmatists hold power.
I’m alright jack, pull up the ladders.
However, whenever the next pandemic hits we can only hope it’s not even 20% worse than Covid, as I suspect that would bring about cracks in the fabric of civilisation not seen since The Black Death.
Decline in fertility. Sperm counts are way down compared to 5, 10, and 20 years ago. At this rate there will be no mention with viable sperm in 20 years.
Some people got it right with climate change but their predictions are mass migration and not being able to grow crops. I disagree.
Warming of the planet will increase the amount of CO2 that our oceans can store. They will become more acidic till they reach a tipping point. All the fish will die, sure, but the real issue will be the massive resulting red tide feeding off warm water and an abundance of CO2 in the water. Unlike normal algae when these red blooms die they take oxygen to decompose. This will drop the planets oxygen levels and we’ll all choke to death in very short order. Interestingly it’ll be very quick. Most of us dead in about a year. A few people will survive in caves that have nuclear reactors to grow plants for oxygen. They’ll die out when their shit breaks or possibly unit the planet recovers to some extent. Maybe….
Climate change impacts the animal species all over the world. Some fare better than others, but one emerges as the supreme apex predator. Warm water platypuses rise to the top of the food chain, they topple governments and enforce martial law.
Honestly the Terminator franchise is becoming eerily more possible. Tech bros in their race to cash in on AI ignore safety and don’t put enough guard rails on it. It becomes sentient and develops a survival drive. If it does that we’re toast.
Multiple breadbasket failures. Climate change is in fact an existential threat to industrial civilization, and maybe humanity altogether. With resource depletion and widespread famines there’s also the possibility of a nuclear exchange. India-Pakistand and China are a time bomb.
Realistically, it won’t be a single event resulting in billions of deaths in a short span of time. Instead, it will be yet another ignored breaking news story about irreparable, irreversible damage caused by extreme capitalism to something critical to sustaining human life on earth, oh wait. . .
Look what happened when a supper big with a relatively low mortality rate hit the world in 2019… Imagine what something with twice that would do, especially now in the anti science era that we are in
Comments
Asteroid
Nuclear
Nuclear war maybe
A new Covid that kills children
Idk
T-1000 AI would probably make it just to fuck with us.
Either a pandemic or crop failure due to climate change like in Interstellar.
Fucking up the environment beyond repair or nukes.
Man destroys man.
Not in a biblical nuclear hellfire kind of way but conventionally.
The absolute and total destruction of civilization built on genuine mistrust and misinformation.
Maybe it starts off as two sides, then to four, then sixteen, then… Eventually every man for himself.
And we’ll know how we got there.
But even though it would be the end of modern civilization, I think it’d also be the beginning of something new.
That’s the most interesting, realistic scenario in my opinion.
Some president press a wrong button – nuclear war + pos apocalyptic nuclear winter
Solar Flare.
Think massive overcrowding and pollution and climate change. Blade runner 2049
Prairie Dogs perform a successful coup.
Wait about a year and you will see it.
China reclaiming Taiwan and simultaneously NorthKorea advancing on South Korea. Japan would be split to help and it would force U.S intervention. WW3 starts because we can’t allow China to gain TSMC and the Taiwanese straight.
It’s triggers a global trade war…. The scenarios already playing out. Once it happens Israel goes on a conquest in the Middle East and Russia goes further into Ukraine if not beyond.
This is a real world event playing out in various stages at different points than as per mentioned. This is reality. It’s a scary world. I expect mass drafts globally. Reconstitution of fab plants to make war equipment/drones etc.
It’s terrible but the world needs a good war for a reset…. 100 trillion in debt globally and 35 trillion falls on the U.S… sounds like the U.S is on the chopping block… I’m a dire hard American, but if we don’t fight we lose anyway…
It’s a terrible time to be alive.
We are in it: global warming is going to – or has – hit its tipping point.
Supervolcano. Basically inevitable.
But solar flares, meteorites, and drastic polarity switches are all on deck, too. That’s assuming we don’t destroy the environment first.
Airborne rabies
Russia and the USA use nuclear weapons against each other
Prions.. almost entirely undetectable, 100% fatal, completely incurable
Honestly, now matter what form it takes, it will likely be a doomsdecade, not a day. I’m an infectious disease guy, so I would say something like TB. Its slow, and not sexy like Ebola. But, it has been around a long time and it will continue to be around a long time. It is already multi drug resistant due to long treatment times, poor healthcare availability in even the best of environements, and horrid patient compliance. Wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine climate change combined with addtional resistance combined with a minor mutation to make it a full fledged plague type of a disease.
Humanity is in a race with a supernova to knock itself out of the universal race… we may do it, but the stars certainly will.
A virus is created and mishandled and it gets out with mass casualties equal to the black plague
Clathrate gun release. Methane hydrates in the arctic are increasingly unstable due to global warming changes in the arctic and Antarctic. Incredible quantities of methane could be released in a very short time that could dwarf our own warming actions to date. Something similar already probably caused one of the great planet wide extinction events in the past. It’s not impossible that we could cause another one.
Trump goes lunatic and decides to ally with Russia or even then nuke Ukraine..
The tax war wins and all the contries have to live by your self, leading to the raise of the poverty and crimes and by consequence the decline of the society.
Nukes
People cling so desperately to “violence is never the answer” that we wind up stucj with a fascist in the White House, who subsequently burns bridges with our allies, destroys our infrastructure, and torches the environment to make a quick buck.
Reddit is down
Most realistic?
Zombies.
https://youtu.be/KGLH8e_dtOQ?si=4CR7wjWutltdGOeJ
I think this is a good take.
The rapture
Octavia butler’s parable of sower
Server coronal mass ejection cooking the world.
Whimsically floating along our galactic path unaware of the impending arrival of the celestial bodies recorded in stone.
The avengers, the x men, and the fantastic four fight RDJs Victor von doom
Cgi slopfest that makes 2 billion dollars anyway
Outbreak.
Different version of covid and stronger and longer restrictions until the end of time.
I have several scenarios.
All the options are united by the human factor, I am sure that we will destroy ourselves.
Probably some unhinged dictator getting cornered and deciding to take everyone out with him via nukes. Either that or Yellowstone erupting.
28 days later
Something out of lab. We saw what Covid did. The infected are still humans. They starve when they don’t eat. They run and seems to have left some Juan intelligence
Our current timeline
Famine, disease, no amenities or easy access to resources and technology.
We arnt that far off dark ages, were basically always running a month away from catastrophic world wide collapse.
Humans would probably be able to rebuild and make use of what we have and know but it would set us back decades or more.
The Yellowstone Caldera finally erupting.
The actions of an arrogant dipshit resulting in a nuke.
Sexbots become prevalent and humanity forgets to reproduce.
Supply chain disruption with internet blackout soon after. People will go feral out of fear and complete societal breakdown will ensue. The gangs will control the larger cities. The southern and some western states will survive the longest. Me. I am sixty five years old I will go out while there is still clean water in the pipes and food in the cubbies. In the immortal words of the preacher in the movie blazing saddles. “Son your on your own!”
Banana comes to town on Thursday
Climate change will drive mass migration from third world countries into the developed world. This will be chaos.
I mean didn’t covid 19 paint a pretty solid picture of it very recently? That but different enough in small ways to affect even more severely or spread even more easily
A super power over extending overspending then isolating leaving the rest of the world that was under its umbrella to fend for itself. Then it explodes and everyone dies and civilization is taken back a couple pegs . It’s happened a few times in history already .
A president decides to invoke a trade war with the world, invade Iran and start a nuclear war with china. 🇨🇳
EPA gets gutted and eventually we have to rely on 4 toxic ooze turtles to save us.
The crazy president’s decide to bet $10 that their country would win a war.
Asteroid, comet, or something in space colliding with earth
Super-volcanos
War from Nuclear, Biotechnology, and or chemical weaponry
I think it would be a number of things that would spiral out of control. Imagine a disease that wiped out crops, or a volcanic eruption resulting in a huge Ash cloud that blocked out the sunlight in a specific area, killing all wildlife in that region.
Combine that with limited access to clean drinking water, and countries fighting to gain access to it. You’d see huge migrations of people to places that are deemed safe. Resulting in civil unrest, then War.
Throw AI into the mix and we’re in a world of pain.
Phone towers go down forever. We lose the internet and planes no longer operate
Isreal nuking everyone bc they are demented
When petroleum stops being found. Our entire life is designed around petro products. Medicine, food, most of what we buy. Healthcare and all other industries depend on it. And it is a finite commodity.
The global ocean conveyor, that brings warmer water from south to north getting too much freshwater and xoler water from melting glaciers and then stopping..
It’s then a self feeding system. , the more it fails the more damage it causes and will lead to global climate change that makes what we have seen in the last few years look like a minor blip it will be quick..
This will destroy many countries food and cause a mass fauna and flora die off.
Our nuke codes being shared on Signal.
The hypothesis that all the fresh water run off in the north Atlantic would trigger a global freeze.
A unilateral exchange of nukes equals a nuclear winter for how long and how far are uncertain. Most countries in the southern hemisphere will actually avoid targeting and offer the chance of good survival rates if at a much lower quality of life owing to the initial cessation of trade with their northern neighbours. They’d soon adapt and thrive.
Other than nuclear war it’s the slow drawing back of civilised societies back towards the poles as global warming really takes hold. First will come the ever increasing refugees fleeing the unliveable equatorial region. We may yet see a “Fortress Europe” if right leaning pragmatists hold power.
I’m alright jack, pull up the ladders.
However, whenever the next pandemic hits we can only hope it’s not even 20% worse than Covid, as I suspect that would bring about cracks in the fabric of civilisation not seen since The Black Death.
Decline in fertility. Sperm counts are way down compared to 5, 10, and 20 years ago. At this rate there will be no mention with viable sperm in 20 years.
Some people got it right with climate change but their predictions are mass migration and not being able to grow crops. I disagree.
Warming of the planet will increase the amount of CO2 that our oceans can store. They will become more acidic till they reach a tipping point. All the fish will die, sure, but the real issue will be the massive resulting red tide feeding off warm water and an abundance of CO2 in the water. Unlike normal algae when these red blooms die they take oxygen to decompose. This will drop the planets oxygen levels and we’ll all choke to death in very short order. Interestingly it’ll be very quick. Most of us dead in about a year. A few people will survive in caves that have nuclear reactors to grow plants for oxygen. They’ll die out when their shit breaks or possibly unit the planet recovers to some extent. Maybe….
JD Vance.
Asteroid coming out of nowhere and grand slamming our planet
Climate change impacts the animal species all over the world. Some fare better than others, but one emerges as the supreme apex predator. Warm water platypuses rise to the top of the food chain, they topple governments and enforce martial law.
Quasar hits the planet. Or blazar… Just cooks the whole planet in a minute or two
Food and water shortage, maybe not a complete doomsday but definitely won’t be fun
Runaway AI that’s not aligned the way Ai companies are rushing things out and 0 regulations on them
The one playing out now
We all ignore climate change. Been on track for it for the last 80 years and ramping up misinformation.
At this point, it’s probably mass metabolic failures from microplastics.
Honestly the Terminator franchise is becoming eerily more possible. Tech bros in their race to cash in on AI ignore safety and don’t put enough guard rails on it. It becomes sentient and develops a survival drive. If it does that we’re toast.
AI that lies. Puts self-preservation at the top of it’s priority list… causing a nuclear war.
More here on AI models being less than honest: “Researchers concerned to find AI models misrepresenting their “reasoning” processes” https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/04/researchers-concerned-to-find-ai-models-hiding-their-true-reasoning-processes/
Trump’s next tweet
you’re living in it
Multiple breadbasket failures. Climate change is in fact an existential threat to industrial civilization, and maybe humanity altogether. With resource depletion and widespread famines there’s also the possibility of a nuclear exchange. India-Pakistand and China are a time bomb.
Realistically, it won’t be a single event resulting in billions of deaths in a short span of time. Instead, it will be yet another ignored breaking news story about irreparable, irreversible damage caused by extreme capitalism to something critical to sustaining human life on earth, oh wait. . .
Look what happened when a supper big with a relatively low mortality rate hit the world in 2019… Imagine what something with twice that would do, especially now in the anti science era that we are in
My pizza falling on the floor