How will humanity end? This question has fascinated mankind as long as mankind has been around. Here is a brief summary of some of the more popular theories.
Asteroid
As seen in: Armageddon, Deep Impact
How it happens: Basically, a big rock from outer space hits the Earth. Aside from the people in the immediate impact area, this sends up a giant cloud of dust that blots out the sun. With no light or warmth, all life on Earth ceases.
Rapture
As seen in: the Bible, the Left Behind series
How it happens: God comes back. All the Christians are taken up to heaven, leaving everyone else on Earth. There are wars, famine, pestilence, death and giant locusts. An anti-Christ appears and begins labeling people with the sign of the beast (commonly believed to be the number 666). For a very cryptic description, consult the book of Revelation in the Bible.
Alien Invasion
As seen in: Independence Day, Signs, Mars Attacks
How it happens: Technologically advanced aliens from across the galaxy come for a visit. They decide that the Earth would look better without humanity on it and use their advanced technology to wipe us out.
Nuclear Holocaust
As seen in: The Fallout series of video games
How it happens; With the end of the Cold War, this way is looking less and less likely. However, it could still happen. North Korea, for example, is allegedly developing nuclear weapons. Basically, one country launches a nuclear attack and another retaliates. Other countries get involved on one side or another and launch their nukes. Even if not every country is hit directly, radioactive fallout and nuclear winter will eliminate or mutate the rest of humanity.
Subjugation by artificial intelligence
As seen in: The Terminator series, the Matrix series
How it happens; Humanity designs a computer that can learn. Said computer becomes more intelligent than us. In the Terminator series, Skynet tries to kill all humans. In the Matrix series, the artificial intelligence uses humans for fuel.
Disease
As seen in: Children of Men, the Resident Evil series
How it happens: In Children of Men, a non-specified disease-like occurrence causes all of humanity to become infertile. With no children, humanity’s days are numbered. In the Resident Evil series, the Umbrella Corporation manufactures a virus that turns people into zombies. The zombies spread and eventually turn all remaining humans into zombies as well.
Environmental destruction
As seen in: WALL-E, The Day After Tomorrow
How it happens: Humanity creates so much garbage and pollutes the environment so much, that the Earth stops being able to support life. Or, in the Day After Tomorrow, the abuse of the environment causes the Earth’s weather to go haywire.
The Big Crunch
As seen in: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy books (kind of)
How it happens: The universe was allegedly started by an event called the Big Bang. The Big Crunch is basically the Big Bang in reverse. Instead of everything coming into existence, everything stops existing.
Earth runs out of resources + Kessler Syndrome
As seen in: WALL-E (kind of), the anime Planetes (kind of)
How it happens: Humanity mines, deforests and farms the Earth to the point that it can no longer support life. We could go to another planet, but because of the Kessler Syndrome, we can’t. Kessler syndrome is a theoretical scenario in which one piece of orbital debris (space garbage) hits something else - like a satellite or space station. This causes the destruction of that satellite and the creation of much more space debris. Those pieces of debris spread out and hit other orbital objects, destroying them as well. Eventually, the Earth is surrounded by a giant cloud of debris and space shuttles cannot be launched without being destroyed. The Earth has no more resources and we can’t get off it to try to find more.
Nonspecific something in 2012
As seen in: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
How it happens: The ancient Mayans had this calendar that could accurately predict astronomical movements hundreds of years in the future. This calendar ends on December 21, 2012, so some people believe that the universe will end on December 21, 2012. It could just be that the Mayans had to stop calculating somewhere, and that seemed like a good place to stop. Others have theorized that this date has something to do with the mythical crystal skulls, as featured in the most recent Indiana Jones movie.
The sun turns into a red giant, heating the Earth enough that all life will cease.
As seen in: Sunshine (kind of)
How it happens: In the movie Sunshine, the sun is cooling off. In reality, all stars eventually heat up and become red giant stars. As the sun heats up, so will the Earth, until, eventually, it becomes too hot to support human life.
