Watching the End of the World
Cool Worlds・19 minutes read
The text presents a compressed timeline of Earth's history, from its formation to a distant future where life ends due to extreme conditions resembling Venus. It highlights significant events such as the emergence of life, mass extinctions, and the eventual demise of humanity and all living organisms on Earth.
Insights
- Earth's history, from its formation to its projected future, can be condensed into a month, showcasing the planet's evolution through geological and biological milestones.
- The text presents a vivid narrative of Earth's timeline, highlighting significant events such as the emergence of life, mass extinctions, and the potential future where Earth transforms into a barren, lifeless planet akin to Venus, emphasizing the impermanence of life and civilizations.
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Recent questions
How old is the Earth?
Billions of years old
What is the future of Earth based on?
Physical principles
How did life evolve on Earth?
Starting with simple microbial forms
What caused the extinction of dinosaurs?
Massive meteorite impact
What will happen to Earth in the distant future?
Earth becomes barren, life ends
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Summary
00:00
Earth's Story: Genesis to Apocalypse in Months
- The Earth is billions of years old, allowing us to piece together its story through geological scars.
- Predicting the future of human society is challenging, but Earth's future can be forecasted based on physical principles.
- A voyage through time from Earth's genesis to its end is proposed, compressing each billion years into a month.
- Stepping into a time machine, you witness Earth's formation 4.53 billion years ago, experiencing the iron catastrophe.
- The collision with Theia reshapes Earth, forming the Moon and oceans over time.
- Life emerges on Earth, starting with simple microbial forms and evolving into complex organisms.
- Photosynthesis leads to rising oxygen levels, causing mass extinctions but enabling the evolution of eukaryote cells.
- Multicellular organisms and simple animals appear, leading to the Cambrian explosion of life on land and in the oceans.
- Dinosaurs evolve during the Triassic period, but their era ends abruptly due to a massive meteorite impact.
- Humanity emerges, advances rapidly, but disappears in a flash, leaving behind crumbling civilizations and a future unknown.
20:16
"Earth's Catastrophic Transformation: From Life to Barren"
- May 20th: Humanity disappears, continents converge into a supercontinent, Earth's atmosphere changes due to Sun's luminosity increase.
- May 27th: Carbon dioxide levels drop, leading to a 50% decrease in planet's bio productivity.
- June 1st: CO2 levels fall below 150 ppm, causing mass extinction of C3 photosynthesis-dependent organisms.
- June 13th: CO2 levels below 10 ppm lead to photosynthesis failure, extinction of C4 plants and microbes.
- Over 3 million years: Oxygen levels decline, large herbivores, mammals, birds, fish, insects perish.
- Earth's future: Life adapts to extreme conditions, Earth warms, oceans evaporate, life hides underground.
- July 25th: Earth's core solidifies, magnetic field collapses, global temperature exceeds 100°C, oceans evaporate.
- End of July, 2.5 billion AD: Oceans vanish, Earth becomes barren, life ends, resembling Venus.
