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Is there a chance that there's something out there so fast that we wouldn't see it coming early enough, and big enough to significantly impact us? Like 2023 BU
by barbazoo 4y ago
Is there a chance that there's something out there so fast that we wouldn't see it coming early enough, and big enough to significantly impact us?
Like 2023 BU earlier this year that almost hit us less than a week after discovery.
- 20after4 4y agoYes it's one of the most significant existential threats to life on earth. Probably #2 after self-inflicted environmental destruction.
- theyamo 4y agoNuclear war is probably more likely.
- wahern 4y agoThe chance is >0, but beyond that it's just speculation--some of it very fancy, but speculation all the same. For example, for awhile there was a theory that mass extinction events were correlated to the solar system's orbit as it passed through the galactic plane. That model, which is now largely rejected (per Wikipdia), predicted periodic relative increases and decreases in event rates across time spans down to several millions of years, but pinning down hard numbers was highly suspect even then--among other reasons, our solar system has only completed a couple dozen orbits since forming. We just don't know enough to be able to say anything reliable except in broad, abstract terms with little meaning or substance. I'm squarely in the multi-planet advocacy camp, but IMNSHO if I or anyone else starts throwing around figures, conclusions, or even deductions, beware.
- barbazoo 4y agoWhat you're saying is it could be over at any moment. Cool, cool, ...
- deafpolygon 4y agoThere's a chance it already has, and we're just ghosts walking around unaware of our own demise.
- barbazoo 4y agoThat would explain so much