How will the world end?

If you want to be really happy, read up on telemores.

They are the little bits of goo in our DNA, every time a cell splits, they get weaker and the theory goes that the human race has a life expectancy.
The cells lose a little something everytime and eventually it get to the point that they can't keep going.
It also one theory behind the death of cro-magnum man.

EDIT: Added Inky's all of the above option.

 

Maybe the chlymidians will save us.

 

Fire next time.

 

Bang _

Whimper x

 

I like to think people are too smart, or maybe just too stubborn, for a technological breakdown to do us in. Then I look at something like New Orleans during Katrina, and it gives you a glimpse of what happens when the power goes out.
For those that weren't in the Gulf South during that mess, allow me to recap...
1) Katrina blows through and wipes out half the power grid. No electricity, no homes, no poles. Most importantly, gas stations can't function.
2) In New Orleans, where there's a large number of both poor and bad people, things go south quickly. The bad people take advantage of the situation to do what bad people do — rob, loot and pillage. With no police left in the city (or the ones that are left either unable or unwilling to patrol because of the damaged infrastructure), they run amok until there's a federal response. If George Bush is involved, this takes close to a week. In a best case scenario it takes probably 2-3 days.
In the meantime, roving gangs of thugs rule the streets. There are pockets of innocent people protecting their turf, too. Like the folks on the West Bank of N.O., who basically set up roadblocks on the bridges and didn't let anyone come across.
3) In other parts of the affected region, things are OK for a few days. In Mississippi, rural folks are more self-reliant than those in cities. They clear their own debris, maybe even have some food saved up from hunting season.
Then the gas runs out.
Without power to run the pumps, all the gas in the world doesn't help you. There are shortages, which lead to long waits, high tensions, fistfights and worse. People start driving hundreds of miles for a tank of gas. The area slows to a crawl as supplies struggle to make it through.
Because only a relatively small part of the country is affected, though, things are able to get back to some semblance of normalcy. But on a larger scale, or in a different part of the country, it could've spiraled out of control pretty quickly.

So, basically, if you live in a city and there's a major earthquake/storm/nuclear attack that causes prolonged blackouts, you're pretty fucked. N.O. was able to regain some semblance of order because the federal government eventually stepped in. In other parts of the South, chaos was coming but with a slower burn. The power got back on before it blew up. People will adapt — in the case of a societal collapse, it might take years — but in the meantime it won't be a fun ride.

 

A civil war, sparked by a petulant, spoiled brat who didn't have a f'n clue what he was getting into?

 

It'll probably be much less exciting than anything described here. More like in 20 billion years the sun burns out and that's it. Even if there's no oil, why would that be the end of the world (the end of the world as we know it, perhaps, but not the END)? People didn't have oil for a long time and the world didn't end.

Or...Jesus comes down from heaven with the spirits of the saints, and then the bodies of true believers on earth are transported up. That would be exciting.

 

When a member of the Democrat party is elected president <Yawn>

 

It's all about selling the fear, Jay.

There's no point worrying about this stuff. All we can do is make the best of whatever comes in the future.

When humanity's number is up, it's up.

 

Why do you hate America, Ben?

 

Yawn will become a Democrat. That's when we'll know the Apocalypse is upon us.

 

I'm counting on the Amish to show everybody how to survive when all this happens.

Of course, I worried about Y2K. So what do I know?