Why The World Is Ultimately Doomed (And Sooner Than You Think)

[Deleted]

Exhibit A: David Hahn, also known as the boy scout who made a nuclear reactor 1994.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55D7qcME_no

Hahn diligently amassed radioactive material by collecting small amounts from household products, such as americium from smoke detectors, thorium from camping lantern mantles, radium from clocks, and tritium (a neutron moderator) from gunsights. His "reactor" was a bored-out block of lead, and he used lithium from $1,000 worth of purchased batteries to purify the thorium ash using a Bunsen burner.

Let's think about it for a moment, this kid managed to make a whole room have 1000 times the normal background radiation with a very low-budget. And this was in 1994 when you couldn't simply read stuff on the Internet easily... and it was a kid doing it. Maybe brighter than usual, but still a kid.

Technology is becoming insanely more dangerous each year and many things that only military and secret agents had are now more easily available to civilians who have a little know-how.

The dark web will probably in time make the sharing of dangerous technology more common.

3D printers - can create a lot of issues in the future. One could potentially build WMDs in his backyard. (Eventually, with enough centuries, we will get there, it's only a matter of time till someone can basically get some raw materials + some computer script off google and create mini nukes or whatever.)

Now, we can handle local threats, but anything that does large-scale destruction or spreads radiation - that's game over, they can make entire plots of land uninhabitable for generations. The cost of policing will rise exponentially and it only takes 1 slip up for the whole world to go to shit.

AI can potentially create a Skynet scenario. No computer should be able to have anything close to human free will


Now I'm not the "technology run amok" naysayer, but:

1. some things will need to be regulated
2. most importantly we can no longer tolerate anti-social ideologies in the name of "freedom", it only takes 1 disgruntled man with the tech to ruin it for everyone, I never understood why we have to respect the "freedom" of people who clearly are either very reckless or very determined to disrespect ours. Freedom and tolerance work when there is mutual understanding, if not, then anything goes. Tolerating intolerance is for suckers. If someone truly hates society to such an extent they wish to see it all burn, then it's only fair that they should be invited to step out (in the woods), they were the aggressors first, we're simply defending our way of life.

All these 5th columns, weird cults etc. need to be reigned in instead of being allowed to operate freely under the guise of "freedom", enough tolerating intolerance.

[Communism will Win]

OP is an American white male with right wing leanings who frequently watches television.

This statement might look unrelated but I am convinced that it explains your post ten times better than any wall of text I could produce to debunk your 3D printed mini nukes paranoid nonsense.

[Deleted]

OP is an American white male with right wing leanings who frequently watches television.

This statement might look unrelated but I am convinced that it explains your post ten times better than any wall of text I could produce to debunk your 3D printed mini nukes paranoid nonsense.

I'm sure that in 1850 if you told people that about 95 years later a human made device could create a giant fireball and wipe out a city, they'd also call you 'paranoid'.

All it takes is time, tech advances very rapidly, usually faster than the ethics of the planet and even with that, we are approaching a point where a few disgruntled members of society can create way too much destruction.

[The Dwarf]

Climate change is probably the biggest man-made threat we're facing right now. Also nuclear war, but everyone seems to be behaving for right now.

[Kokolums]

I've been on the internet for a long time and that sort of stuff was on there before 1994. He probably got the information off of some usenet group.

[haxartus]

Let's think about it for a moment, this kid managed to make a whole room have 1000 times the normal background radiation with a very low-budget.

1000 times the background radiation is basically a CT scan. If he goes a million times the background radiation, it may kill one person... eventually.

[StayTuned]

Yes, be afraid of the battery powered, 3D printed tactical atomic bomb.

Very afraid.

[Aphrel]

The big danger isnt in "mini nukes". Getting your hands on refined radioactive material is hard.
The greatest threat as far as i see is the ability to create bioweapons. In a near future, say a few decades, 3d printing biologiacal code will be possible. When this happens, any1 with a computer, bio-3d printer and a big pastebin link will be able to create a supervirus.

The thing that makes this so much more dangerous than nuclear weaponds is that it will be much harder to track. Enriched uranium is and by the looks of it will continue to be very hard to come by in the future, because to create it you need powerful centrifuges containing hard to get materials like Maraging steel wich are closely monitored.

[Phlegethon]

E
Now I'm not the "technology run amok" naysayer, but:

1. some things will need to be regulated
2. most importantly we can no longer tolerate anti-social ideologies in the name of "freedom", it only takes 1 disgruntled man with the tech to ruin it for everyone, I never understood why we have to respect the "freedom" of people who clearly are either very reckless or very determined to disrespect ours. Freedom and tolerance work when there is mutual understanding, if not, then anything goes. Tolerating intolerance is for suckers. If someone truly hates society to such an extent they wish to see it all burn, then it's only fair that they should be invited to step out (in the woods), they were the aggressors first, we're simply defending our way of life.

All these 5th columns, weird cults etc. need to be reigned in instead of being allowed to operate freely under the guise of "freedom", enough tolerating intolerance.

Your title is wrong. You need to change "world" to "humanity". Earth does not care if we're on it or not. The world is not doomed, well it is, but it's a few billion years away, when the sun blows up...

[Daws]

The most likely outcome of anyone trying to cobble together a homemade weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is they fail and kill themselves. It literally takes a military with a huge budget to make reliable WMD's. Whilst I agree more controls are needed to better asses new tech I don't think we should be afraid of the next uni bomber or whack job cult that comes along as typically they are incredibly inept.

Also pushing the boundaries of technology is the only way our species will actually survive (and also the most likely way we kill ourselves, ironic right?). Sometime in the next few centuries we need off this rock we call a planet and start populating as many planets as possible to ensure no single event can wipe out our species (except the death of the universe but if we make it that far I'd say we won).

[PL-Cibo]

Exhibit A: David Hahn, also known as the boy scout who made a nuclear reactor 1994.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55D7qcME_no

Wow, paranoia meets an absolute lack of knowledge. No, David Hahn never made a nuclear reactor, he just tried it, and he had a lot of help from real professionals. No you can't print a WMD, you can't even print a pistol without the most important parts being supplied from somewhere else. The rest is US political bullshit which i don't really care about.

And the World is not doomed. The mass of weapons to annihilate the planet earth is staggering. What you mean is the destruction of the human race. and believe me, you don't need new technology for that.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm sure that in 1850 if you told people that about 95 years later a human made device could create a giant fireball and wipe out a city, they'd also call you 'paranoid'.

All it takes is time, tech advances very rapidly, usually faster than the ethics of the planet and even with that, we are approaching a point where a few disgruntled members of society can create way too much destruction.

they already can, see your president.

[Daedius]

OP, when you perish on Doomsday make sure to strike a dignified pose for the humans, or aliens, in the next million years later to have them think they found a great specimen!

[Najnaj]

Exhibit A: David Hahn, also known as the boy scout who made a nuclear reactor 1994.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55D7qcME_no



Let's think about it for a moment, this kid managed to make a whole room have 1000 times the normal background radiation with a very low-budget. And this was in 1994 when you couldn't simply read stuff on the Internet easily... and it was a kid doing it. Maybe brighter than usual, but still a kid.

Technology is becoming insanely more dangerous each year and many things that only military and secret agents had are now more easily available to civilians who have a little know-how.

The dark web will probably in time make the sharing of dangerous technology more common.

3D printers - can create a lot of issues in the future. One could potentially build WMDs in his backyard. (Eventually, with enough centuries, we will get there, it's only a matter of time till someone can basically get some raw materials + some computer script off google and create mini nukes or whatever.)

Now, we can handle local threats, but anything that does large-scale destruction or spreads radiation - that's game over, they can make entire plots of land uninhabitable for generations. The cost of policing will rise exponentially and it only takes 1 slip up for the whole world to go to shit.

AI can potentially create a Skynet scenario. No computer should be able to have anything close to human free will


Now I'm not the "technology run amok" naysayer, but:

1. some things will need to be regulated
2. most importantly we can no longer tolerate anti-social ideologies in the name of "freedom", it only takes 1 disgruntled man with the tech to ruin it for everyone, I never understood why we have to respect the "freedom" of people who clearly are either very reckless or very determined to disrespect ours. Freedom and tolerance work when there is mutual understanding, if not, then anything goes. Tolerating intolerance is for suckers. If someone truly hates society to such an extent they wish to see it all burn, then it's only fair that they should be invited to step out (in the woods), they were the aggressors first, we're simply defending our way of life.

All these 5th columns, weird cults etc. need to be reigned in instead of being allowed to operate freely under the guise of "freedom", enough tolerating intolerance.

Home made nuclear devices are probably not a very big threat if ISIS can't manage to make one. Statements like the highlighted text on the other hand are scary. How do you manage to type that out and not say "hey, wait a minute!"

[slime]

Climate change is probably the biggest man-made threat we're facing right now. Also nuclear war, but everyone seems to be behaving for right now.

I'd say a close third is a dependence on power/electricity for everything. These power grids are easy targets.

I remember one year in high school - the power went out in the building early morning. Within one minute my high school was actually rioting. One kid was stabbed... (very urban school) - imagine this on a country-wide scale.

[Deleted]

Oh well, we had a nice ride though.

Nothing lasts forever I guess.

[Ghostpanther]

I'd say a close third is a dependence on power/electricity for everything. These power grids are easy targets.

I remember one year in high school - the power went out in the building early morning. Within one minute my high school was actually rioting. One kid was stabbed... (very urban school) - imagine this on a country-wide scale.

Our rural area was without power for 8 days due to a ice storm once. There was no rioting, robbing or threats from anyone during that time. Even at the Mom & Pops gas station and grocery store, with a large group of people standing in line trying to get stuff. We got along fine because most out here are prepared and we are just about all armed as well.

[zenkai]

Our rural area was without power for 8 days due to a ice storm once. There was no rioting, robbing or threats from anyone during that time. Even at the Mom & Pops gas station and grocery store, with a large group of people standing in line trying to get stuff. We got along fine because most out here are prepared and we are just about all armed as well.

Same here, we had a bad ice storm about 8 years ago, some people didn't have power for a week+, no riots, no crime sprees. I remember a lot of stories of people helping other people out, especially the disabled and the elderly.

I remember my neighbor, a young girl, saying oh no what am I going to do, I just bought all these groceries. I told her grab a tub and pack it full of snow, it won't go bad. then she's like "oh yeah!" lol

[slime]

Our rural area was without power for 8 days due to a ice storm once. There was no rioting, robbing or threats from anyone during that time. Even at the Mom & Pops gas station and grocery store, with a large group of people standing in line trying to get stuff. We got along fine because most out here are prepared and we are just about all armed as well.

Sounds like a big city and very urban, as my example described. I have no doubt that hicks will still live fine like hicks if something like this happens.

[Machismo]

So, the OP is pushing an authoritarian crackdown on beliefs he doesn't like, and thought policing on a massive scale. All the while, he's pushing radical beliefs of his own. He's looking more and more like the average ISIS supporter every day.

[Ghostpanther]

Sounds like a big city and very urban, as my example described. I have no doubt that hicks will still live fine like hicks if something like this happens.

Being prepared also helps a person not to panic when the shit hits the fan. I always have extra gas on hand to last as a min, a week running my generator. So I do not freak out when the power goes off. But even people who live in the big cities can be prepared to some degree. Many are not however and that is their fault. We are talking about a short term event of a couple weeks at the most however. Long term of months, even most rural people would have a very rough time.

Myself, I could survive better than most in the event of a long term power outage because of some vital factors. My water comes from a spring which is gravity fed into the basement of my home and I have a airtight wood stove in the basement and over 4 acres of woods for fuel and the woods are heavy and thick out here were I live. We also have lots of wild game out here and I have enough ammo to last for a very long time of hunting. But let's face it, in the event of a very long term of power outage, civilization as we know it now, would become a nightmare.