VIDEO: End of the World Theories

Nobody knows what Earth’s lifespan is, but we can all agree that this planet is not going to be here forever. At some point, probably in the distant future, the world will end. We don’t know how, we don’t know why and we are probably not going to find out any time soon.

Anyone can write on Evonews. Start writing!

We should enjoy our beautiful planet and we should enjoy our absolutely amazing lives just the way they are! We are lucky to have been born!

However, the end of the world has always fascinated people.

According to Wikipedia, the apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; natural, such as an impact event; man-made, such as nuclear warfare; medical, such as a plague or virus, whether natural or man-made; or imaginative, such as zombie apocalypse or alien invasion.

The story may involve attempts to prevent an apocalypse event, deal with the impact and consequences of the event itself, or may be post-apocalyptic, and be set after the event.

The time frame may be immediately after the catastrophe, focusing on the travails or psychology of survivors, the way to maintain human race alive and together as one, or considerably later, often including the theme that the existence of pre-catastrophe civilization has been forgotten (or mythologized).

Post-apocalyptic stories often take place in a non-technological future world, or a world where only scattered elements of society and technology remain.

The fear of the world’s end is about as old as civilization itself. In a 1967 study Frank Kermode suggests that the failure of religious prophecies led to a shift in how society apprehends this ancient mode.

Scientific and critical thought supplanting religious and mythical thought as well as a public emancipation may be the cause of eschatology becoming replaced by more realistic scenarios. (Post)apocalyptic fiction conveys the fears and anxieties of societies.

Such works often feature the loss of a global perspective as protagonists are on their own, often with no or sparse knowledge of the outside world. Furthermore they often explore a world without modern technology whose rapid progress may overwhelm people as human brains aren’t adapted to contemporary society but evolved to deal with issues that have become largely irrelevant such as immediate physical threats.

Such works depict worlds of less complexity, direct contact, and primitive needs, threats and behavior. According to Professor Barry Brummett it is often the concept of change as much as the concept of destruction that causes public interest in apocalyptic themes.

Such fiction is studied by social sciences and may provide insights into a culture’s fears as well as things like the role imagined for public administration.

Since the late twentieth century a surge of popular post-apocayptic films can be observed.

Christopher Schmidt notes that while the world goes to waste for future generations we distract ourselves from disaster by passively watching it as entertainment.

Some have commented on this trend, saying that “it is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of capitalism”.