There is nothing like an approaching doomsday to help us appreciate life. Doomsday predictions have been around as long as humans have. Some of the predictions are based on religious beliefs. The idea is that God will wipe out humanity, except for the true believers. For instance, the Bible describes Armageddon and the Rapture. The hard thing is predicting when.
Doomsday predictions were popular in the early days of Christianity. Back then, doom always seemed just round the corner.
Doomsday predictions boomed again as year 1000 approached. But humanity marched on. As the year 2000 neared, there was a surge in religious doomsday predictions. But the predictions never really stop. Cults spring up and name a specific date for human obliteration. It is hard on the members when the date passes with no disaster. Some ecologists also predict doom, either from destruction of habitat or climate change. These individuals usually do not predict everyone will be wiped out. The prediction is more that humanity will sink back into animal-like existence.
Nuclear activists have their own doom predictions, best exemplified by the Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. That group moved the clock closer to the end when Trump became president of the US. We are now at 2 minutes to midnight. Human error or electronic error could lead to a nuclear war that produces a nuclear winter, killing everyone. In the movie On the Beach, Australia is one of the last places on earth to be cleansed of humans by nuclear radiation.
Why do certain individuals and groups predict doom? Predicting the end of humanity can give a person high status, much publicity, and great power over people who believe the prediction. Why do people believe a doomsday prediction? The reasons vary from person to person. Some go along with other members of their group. Some want to simplify life by focusing on only one potential problem rather than the many problems of ordinary life. Some people think it is risky not to believe. This risk-avoidance reasoning also explains the rituals of individuals who have obsessive-compulsive disorder: Take no chances.
You might think that I now will provide you with my specific doomsday prediction. I am a crackpot at times, but I feel optimistic right now. I predict humanity will go on, for better or worse, far into the future. What do you think?
John Malouff is an Associate Professor at the School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences, University of New England.
