Eschatology

From doktorsleepless

The branch of theology concerned with the end of existance. The study of the end of the world.

Taxonomy

What exactly is meant by "the end of the world" depends greatly on who exactly is speaking. Literature and the movie industry bombard us with suggestions of how the end of the world might come about, whether it be some global apocalypse, massive natural cataclysm, technological singularity, or mystical eschaton. Most stories focus on the survivors of the event, but the events in the stories nearly always have survivors. The potential risks to humankind and the ecosystem are much more varied, and the outcomes not always so easily survived. Some means of classifying apocalyptic scenarios is desirable to foster discussion.

The following is an overview of one such classification system, from "An Eschatological Taxonomy", Jamais Cascio, Dec 2006. Cascio extrapolates for each category, with notes on the effects on local and global civilizations and the potential for species and biosphere recovery.

Class: 0
Effect: Regional Catastrophe
Examples: moderate-case global warming, minor asteroid impact, local thermonuclear war

Class: 1
Effect: Human Die-Back
Examples: extreme-case global warming, moderate asteroid impact, global thermonuclear war

Class: 2
Effect: Civilization Extinction
Examples: worst-case global warming, significant asteroid impact, early-era molecular nanotech warfare

Class: 3a
Effect: Human Extinction (Engineered)
Examples: targeted nano-plague, engineered sterility

Class: 3b
Effect: Human Extinction (Natural)
Examples: major asteroid impact

Class: 4
Effect: Biosphere Extinction
Examples: massive asteroid impact, major ice age, late-era molecular nanotech warfare

Class: 5
Effect: Planetary Extinction
Examples: dwarf-planet-scale asteroid impact, nearby gamma-ray burst

Class: X
Effect: Planetary Elimination
Examples: post-Singularity beings disassemble planet to make computronium, solar system destroyed in galactic collision, Galactus eats Earth

See also: End of Civilization at wikipedia.org