Open The Future has a categorization of extinction
A futurist at the movies has listed some movie examples of the different categories
I have contributed some examples from movies, TV and some books.
Apocalypses in fiction are listed here at answers.com
LEVEL — SCALE
0 — Regional catastrophe
Movies depicting:
* 28 Days Later
1 — Human die-back
Movies depicting:
* The Day after Tomorrow
* The Postman
* The Road Warrior
* Terminator
TV show
Jerimiah- Virus kills almost all adults over puberty
Various episodes of Outer Limits, twilight zone, star trek
2 — Civilizational extinction
Movies depicting:
* Deep Impact
* 12 Monkeys — due to a madman aiming for a 3A
* Planet of the Apes
* The Matrix
3A — Human extinction–engineered
Movies depicting:
* On the Beach — the apparently imminent fate of humanity after a nuclear war
* Children of Men — global sterility of unknown cause
* Independence Day — or so the aliens intend
3B — Human extinction–natural
Movies depicting:
Threat of this- South Park Goobacks of the future episode 806
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goobacks
men try to get gay in a non-procreating sex pile to eliminate future humanity
that came back to steal their jobs.
A group online actually apparently seriously calling for 3b using the no call for no sex. I refer their attempt to South Park.
4 — Biosphere extinction
Movies depicting:
Star Trek – TOS – Return to Tomorrow. The world of Sargon lost its atmosphere
Babylon 5 / Crusade : Earth gets a super-nanovirus. Will destroy all life in biosphere
5 — Planetary extinction
Movies depicting:
* Armageddon — “nothing will survive” unless the giant asteroid is deflected, though a Texas-sized asteroid might be more like a level 4
X — Planetary elimination
Movies and TV depicting:
Star Wars – A new hope
Babylon 5 – Vorlons and Shadows destroy worlds in Season 4
Star Trek- Doomsday Machine
Enterprise had an alternate timeline where the earth was destroyed.
Lensmen book – plenty of planet eliminations
Farscape – Peacekeeper Wars -planet destroyed by super wormhole
Beyond Planetary elimination
Galaxy elimination- Skylark science fiction series (EE Doc Smith)
Galaxy elimination – Dreadstar Comics
Threat of galaxy or universe elimination – ultimate nullifier. Marvel Comics
Wellworlds books- Universe elimination
Seriously, I would create a
-1 category for more than one megadeath per year from preventable causes.
Coal pollution 1 million per year
Outdoor Air pollution which includes coal pollution 3 million per year
Car accidents 1.2 million per year
the World Health organization lists that 24% of disease are from environmental causes
The report estimates that more than 13 million deaths annually are due to preventable environmental causes. Unsanitary water, indoor air pollution.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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