How the World Will End: Will Humanity Survive?

The following excerpt is from The Loom of God by Cliff Pickover, Sterling, 2009. Please read the rest of the book for more details and images. Click here for more information on book.

Four Recipes for a Doomsday Machine

We have so far been discussing Doomsday brought about by natural causes. But what about Doomsday Machines? The term "Doomsday Machine" refers to the class of hypothetical weapons specially designed to destroy all large lifeforms including humans. Could such a weapon be produced? Sadly the answer may be yes. Here are four recipes:

Cobalt Bomb Cluster. The easiest Doomsday Machine to construct is the cobalt bomb cluster. Each cobalt bomb is an ordinary atomic bomb encased in a jacket of cobalt. When a cobalt bomb explodes, it spreads a huge amount of radiation. If enough of these bombs were exploded, life on Earth would perish.
Wobble Bombs. In this recipe for Doomsday, large hydrogen bombs are placed at strategic locations on Earth and exploded simultaneously. As a result, the Earth may wobble on its axis. If placed at major fault lines, the bombs could trigger a worldwide series of killer earthquakes.
Asteroid Bomb. This Doomsday device was actually suggested by Dandrige Cole, a speculator for the General Electric Corporation. He postulated it is possible to capture one of the larger asteroids and send it crashing to Earth by exploding nuclear bombs at specific locations on the surface of the asteroid.
Botulis Bombs. Biological Doomsday Machines refer to biological weapons utilizing bacteria, viruses, or various biological toxins. For example, a few pounds of poison produced by the botulis bacteria is sufficient to kill all human life.

Other Ways to Die

"The universe faces a future extinction of endless cold or intolerable heat. The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless." - Steven Weinberg, The First Three Minutes

"Some say the world will end in fire. Some say in ice..." - Robert Frost

Many believe that the Earth is like an inmate waiting on Death Row. Even if we do not die by a comet or asteroid impact, we know the Earth's days are numbered. The Earth's rotation is slowing down. Far in the future, day lengths will be equivalent to 50 of our present days. The Moon will hang in the same place in the sky, and the lunar tides will stop.

In five billion years, the fuel in our Sun will be exhausted, and the Sun will begin to die and expand, becoming a red giant. At some point, our oceans will boil away. No one on Earth will be alive to see a red glow filling most of the sky. As Freeman Dyson once said, "No matter how deep we burrow into the Earth... we can only postpone by a few million years our miserable end."

Where will humans be, five billion years from now, at the End of the World?

Even if we could somehow withstand the incredible heat of the sun, we would not survive. In about seven billion years, the Sun's outer "atmosphere" will engulf the Earth. Due to atmospheric friction, the Earth will spiral into the sun and incinerate.

Here is our future:

Sun expands to engulf the Earth                 7 billion years
 
Stars cease to form.  All large stars           1 trillion years
have become neutron stars or black holes.
 
Longest-lived stars use up all fuel             100 trillion years

"And when he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour." - Book of Revelations (8:1)

Is There Hope?

If this page seems too dismal to you, perhaps we should ask if there is hope for humanity when the Sun expands to engulf the Earth in seven billion years. To give an answer, first consider that around four billion years ago, living creatures were nothing more than biochemical machines capable of self-reproduction. In a mere fraction of this time, humans evolved from creatures like Australopithecines. Today humans have wandered the Moon and have studied ideas ranging from general relativity to quantum cosmology. Once space travel begins in earnest our descendents will leave the confinement of Earth. Because the ultimate fate of the universe involves great cold or great heat, it is likely that Homo sapiens will become extinct. However, our civilization and our values may not be doomed. Who knows into what beings we will evolve? Who knows what intelligent machines we will create that will be our ultimate heirs? These creatures might survive virtually forever, and our ideas, hopes, and dreams carried with them. There is a strangeness to the loom of our universe which may encompass time travel, higher dimensions, quantum superspace, and parallel universes -- worlds that resemble our own and perhaps even occupy the same space as our own in some ghostly manner. Our heirs, whatever or whoever they may be, will explore these new regions of the loom. They will explore space and time. They will seek their salvation in the stars.

I conclude on an upbeat note from theoretical physicist Freeman J. Dyson:

"Goedel proved that the world of pure mathematics is inexhaustible; no finite set of axioms and rules of inference can ever encompass the whole of mathematics; given any finite set of axioms, we can find meaningful mathematical questions which the axioms leave unanswered. I hope that an analogous situation exists in the physical world. If my view of the future is correct, it means that the world of physics and astronomy is also inexhaustible; no matter how far we go into the future, there will always be new things happening, new information coming in, new worlds to explore, a constantly expanding domain of life, consciousness, and memory."

Return to Cliff Pickover's home page.

More Information on The Loom of God

THE LOOM OF GOD: Mathematical Tapestries at the Edge of Time, Sterling, 2009. Hundreds of illustrations. Purchase at Amazon.Com.

The Loom of God bridges the gulf that has so long divided mathematics and religion. In a blend of science, science fiction, history, and dazzling computer imagery, I help the reader understand mystical relationships between numbers, God, and the mathematical fabric of our universe. From the mysterious cult of Pythagoras, to the awesome mechanics of Stonehenge, to the fearsome gargoyles and glorious fractals created on the computer screens of today, I explain the power of numbers and their connection with the search for the ultimate meaning and Apocalypse of the universe.

"As far as I know, Clifford Pickover is the first mathematician to write a book about areas where math and theology overlap. Are there mathematical proofs of God? Who are the great mathematicians who believed in a deity? Does numerology lead anywhere when applied to sacred literature? Pickover covers these and many other off-trail topics with his usual verve, humor, and clarity. And along the way the reader will learn a great deal of serious mathematics." - Martin Gardner

"Pickover's lively, provocative travel guide takes readers into the fascinating realm of mystic math, from perfectly strange numbers to fractured geometries and other curious nooks and crannies of ancient worlds and modern times." - Ivars Peterson, Science News, Author of "The Mathematical Tourist: Snapshots of Modern Mathematics"

"Chock-full of mathematical treats, The Loom of God takes you on a trip which explores ideas in a totally non-threatening, enjoyable format. Entertaining and informative adventure of Pickover's fictional characters -- Theano and Mr. Plex -- bring to life such things as: the golden mean, spirals in hyperspace, the Inca quipus, string theory, the wild and diverse world of numbers. A must for the I-hate-math person as well as the mathematical explorer." - Theoni Pappas, author of The Joy of Mathematics

"Pickover has done it again, with a marvelously entertaining, historical romp through the unexpected connections between mathematics and mysticism." - Paul Hoffman, President/Editer-in-Chief, Discover magazine

"Without peer as an idea machine, Cliff Pickover proves equally adept at writing, The Loom of God is a well-crafted piece of mathematical science fiction." - Charles Aschbacher, Book Review Editor, Journal of Recreational Mathematics

"If you ever doubted that science and religion have commonality, this is the book for you. In The Loom of God, Cliff Pickover, in his irrepressible style, frolics through a forest of mathematical curiosities and historical tidbits, all skillfully woven into a futuristic fantasy, leaving you to wonder where he learned all that." - Julien C. Sprott, Professor of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Here is the book's Table of Contents:

1 Are Numbers Gods?
2 The End of The World
3 Pentagonal Numbers
4 Doomsday: Friday 13, November, A.D. 2026
5 666,666, Gnomons, and Oblong Numbers
6 St. Augustine Numbers
7 Perfection
8 Turks and Christians
9 The Ars Magna of Ramon Lull
10 Death Stars, a Prelude to August 21, 2126
11 Stonehenge
12 Urantia and 5,342,482,337,666
13 Fractals and God
14 Behold the Fractal Quipu
15 The Eye of God
16 Number Caves
17 Numerical Gargoyles
18 Astronomical Computers in Canchal de Mahoma
19 Kabala
20 Mathematical Proofs of God's Existence
21 Eschaton Now
22 Epilogue
Postscript 1. Goedel's Mathematical Proof of God's Existence
Postscript 2. Mathematicians Who Were Religious
Postscript 3. Author's Musings
Smorgasbord for Computer Junkies
Notes
References
About the Author

Topics covered in the Loom of God:
fractals eschaton Dyson eschaton Dyson doomsday doomsday comet comet Kabala Kabala Stonehenge Stonehenge Urantia Urantia 666 666 pentagonal numbers pentagonal numbers cults cults fractals Revelation Revelation death stars death stars gargoyles gargoyles mathematical proofs of God Ramon Lull Ramon Lull quipu quipu fractals eschaton eschaton doomsday doomsday comet comet Kabala Kabala Stonehenge Stonehenge Urantia Urantia 666 666 pentagonal numbers pentagonal numbers cults cults fractals Revelation Revelation death stars death stars gargoyles gargoyles mathematical proofs of God Ramon Lull Ramon Lull quipu quipu cosmology cosmology fractals eschaton eschaton doomsday doomsday comet comet Kabala Kabala Stonehenge Stonehenge Urantia Urantia 666 666 pentagonal numbers pentagonal numbers cults cults fractals Revelation Revelation death stars death stars gargoyles gargoyles mathematical proofs of God Ramon Lull Ramon Lull quipu quipu fractals eschaton Dyson eschaton Dyson doomsday doomsday comet comet Kabala Kabala Stonehenge Stonehenge Urantia Urantia 666 666 pentagonal numbers pentagonal numbers cults cults fractals Revelation Revelation death stars death stars gargoyles gargoyles mathematical proofs of God Ramon Lull Ramon Lull quipu quipu fractals eschaton eschaton doomsday doomsday comet comet Kabala Kabala Stonehenge Stonehenge Urantia Urantia 666 666 pentagonal numbers pentagonal numbers cults cults fractals Revelation Revelation death stars death stars gargoyles gargoyles mathematical proofs of God Ramon Lull Ramon Lull quipu quipu cosmology cosmology fractals eschaton eschaton doomsday doomsday comet comet Kabala Kabala Stonehenge Stonehenge Urantia Urantia 666 666 pentagonal numbers pentagonal numbers cults cults fractals Revelation Revelation death stars death stars gargoyles gargoyles mathematical proofs of God Ramon Lull Ramon Lull quipu quipu