We’ve listed ten serious risks/threats that will face the next president: billions of lawsuits about Covid-19, mental health effects, eviction and homelessness, diseases from farm animals, dangers from outer space, the risk from artificial intelligence, climate change, loss of bio-diversity, international migration, and white-supremacy terrorism. There are more, but we didn’t want to go crazy. This article will go through a few of the runners-up in our top-ten list.
The Commission for the Human Future offers ten risks to the world, including one that feeds many others:
• OVERPOPULATION
No government is currently prepared to tackle any of the major crises, according to the authors. They point out that decisions taken in the next few years “will determine whether present and future generations face a safe, sustainable and prosperous future or the prospect of collapse and even extinction.”
The authors note that the expected fourfold increase in the human population from 1950 to 2050 “is the underlying driver of all the catastrophic risks we now face, combined with our overconsumption of scarce resources.”
But Forbes says, not to worry:
Even if overpopulation were to prove to be a problem, it is one with an expiration date: due to falling global birth rates, demographers estimate the world population will decrease in the long run, after peaking around the year 2070.
We’re also not free from a long-time risk:
• NUCLEAR WAR, especially with a reversal of test ban treaties, including Trump’s consideration of resuming testing, according to The Hill.
That has led to the same publication issuing a list of ten dangers that could cause the death of at least 10% of the people on earth, with possible war leading to an even greater catastrophe:
• NUCLEAR WINTER
Nuclear explosions could trigger a “nuclear winter,” where a massive amount of dust and sulfates could conceal the Sun and cool the Earth for years.
The same effect could come from natural causes:
• VOLCANO WINTER
There are about a dozen supervolcanoes on Earth — each one at least seven times larger than Mount Tambora, which had the biggest eruption in recorded history. If all of these supervolcanoes erupted at once, they’d likely pour thousands of tons of volcanic ash and toxic gases into the atmosphere. This ash would linger for months, blocking sunlight and setting off a volcanic winter. The gas would also likely fall back down to Earth as acid rain, devastating agriculture and leading to global famine.
The UN warns that Coronavirus pandemic will cause
• GLOBAL FAMINES–of “biblical proportions” in just a matter of months—with 821 million people already “chronically hungry. . . with 135 million people facing crisis levels of hunger or worse,” with Covid-19 pushing hunger to a million or more.
Of course, you can live longer without food than water, and we also have an ongoing risk of
• WATER SHORTAGE
–“Today, 785 million people – 1 in 9 – lack access to safe water and 2 billion people – 1 in 3 – lack access to a toilet.” We have already seen wars over water resources. Things can only get worse.
We previously mentioned the danger of artificial intelligence, but WeForum includes such dangers along with an analysis of how likely and dangerous they are:
• LARGE-SCALE CYBER ATTACKS–at number five for likelihood and seven for impact
• BREAKDOWN OF CRITICAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND NETWORKS—rated number eight in impact
• DATA FRAUD AND THEFT—which could undermine the entire financial system.
And, finally, the one you have all been waiting for:
• ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!
EcoWatch reminds us of a phenomenon we already see, today! It’s number ten on their list of crises that could lead to Armageddon. It involves a parasite that has developed the power of mind control.
There is a parasite called toxoplasmosa gondii. This terrifying little bug infects rats, but it can only reproduce inside the intestines of a cat, so it evolved a nifty little trick wherein it actually takes over the rat’s brain and compels it to hang out around cats. Naturally, the cat eats the rat. The cat is happy. The parasite is happy because it gets to reproduce in the cat’s intestines. The rat? Not so happy, one would suppose.
Why should that worry humans? Because rats are so much like humans that we do medical experiments on them, to see how a formulation may work in humans. And you know what?
Humans are infected with the toxoplasmosa gondii parasite. About HALF the population of the Earth, in fact. Now it so happens that toxoplasmosa gondii does not affect humans the way it does rats. But what if it did? Viruses mutate. Viruses are manipulated in bio-weapons laboratories. Suddenly half the population would have no instinct for self-preservation. Half the population unable to think in a rational manner. Half the population suddenly very much resembling zombies.
Who knows? With the attitudes and actions of about half the people around us, maybe they already are zombies—speaking and acting in a way that is likely to bring on the end of the world!!
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