European Scientists Planning for Destruction
If sci-fi movies have warned us once, they've done it a hundred times: machines will be the death of us all. But in a possible ray of hope from across the world, some scientists may be working to avoid our eventual destruction from coming to pass.... OR ARE THEY?
The notion that our end will come at the clamps, blades, hydraulic rams or holographic actuators of our own creations dates back long before science fiction - probably back to shortly after the invention of the wheel.
Somehow we've always feared, deep down, what was coming... the fearsome golems of Jewish lore, Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' (and his 1956 Hollywood version 'Forbidden Planet'), most of James Cameron's works, they all tell the same tale.
But soon, the "Center for the Study of Existential Risk" - aka, and I kid you not, 'the Centre for Terminator Studies', is set to get started at Cambridge U. in England.
It's intended purpose will be to study the 'greatest threats to the human species' and will be backed by some of the biggest names in respectable scientific harrumphology, including Britain's Astronomer Royal Lord Rees and another estimable personage who is actually named - I'm still not kidding - "Huw Price".
If this starts to seem like a hopeful sign of prudence, wisdom and foresight, put on your industrial-grade eye protection and take a peek at this other news item: the Europeans are also intending to create the world's most powerful laser.
It is estimated focus over 200 million, billion watts of light onto a single dot, and ultimately will be capable of - again, I'm being all too serious here - "ripping apart the fabric of space-time" itself. (yikes!)
For those who have not already guessed, this doomsday instrument - which is being likened to the Star Wars 'Death Star' weapon - will also be sited in the UK. They hope to have the first parts of the machine operational by 2017.
Before 2018, I suspect all the current arguments about gun control is going to seem pretty... quaint. The end is near!
The notion that our end will come at the clamps, blades, hydraulic rams or holographic actuators of our own creations dates back long before science fiction - probably back to shortly after the invention of the wheel.
Somehow we've always feared, deep down, what was coming... the fearsome golems of Jewish lore, Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' (and his 1956 Hollywood version 'Forbidden Planet'), most of James Cameron's works, they all tell the same tale.
But soon, the "Center for the Study of Existential Risk" - aka, and I kid you not, 'the Centre for Terminator Studies', is set to get started at Cambridge U. in England.
It's intended purpose will be to study the 'greatest threats to the human species' and will be backed by some of the biggest names in respectable scientific harrumphology, including Britain's Astronomer Royal Lord Rees and another estimable personage who is actually named - I'm still not kidding - "Huw Price".
If this starts to seem like a hopeful sign of prudence, wisdom and foresight, put on your industrial-grade eye protection and take a peek at this other news item: the Europeans are also intending to create the world's most powerful laser.
It is estimated focus over 200 million, billion watts of light onto a single dot, and ultimately will be capable of - again, I'm being all too serious here - "ripping apart the fabric of space-time" itself. (yikes!)
For those who have not already guessed, this doomsday instrument - which is being likened to the Star Wars 'Death Star' weapon - will also be sited in the UK. They hope to have the first parts of the machine operational by 2017.
Before 2018, I suspect all the current arguments about gun control is going to seem pretty... quaint. The end is near!
About the Author:
Ben Scott is a blogger whose muse is shadenfreude (a German word meaning "laughing at another's misfortune") - you can read more of his satire at Why We're Doomed and if you enjoyed this piece, you'll probably love this post!
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