Last Days on Earth

I watched a speculative news program on ABC last night called Last Days on Earth, which gathered a bunch of talking head scientists, paired then with computer animations of varying quality, and walked the viewer through seven different scenarios that could result in humanity being wiped out.

"Last Days on Earth" goes beyond science fiction to science fact.

Well, that quote above from the release they have on the website is annoying as hell, since what they did on the program was science fiction in its purest, most basic form. But then again, PR flacks can't always be as thoughtful and knowledgable as me, can they?

The program itself was pretty doggone entertaining. Yes, they played each disaster up in sensationalist manner, but by and large they got their facts right. I mean, how often do you get a major network broadcast talking intelligently about gamma ray bursts and rogue black holes? This is something I'd have expected to see on the Discovery Channel. Apart from the two doomsday scenarios just mentioned, they covered an A.I. revolt, asteroid collisions, superflu/engineered viruses and super volcanoes. The biggest threat facing the world, however, was Global Warming. When I saw that I swear I could hear thousands of neo-cons across the country throwing their remotes at the TV, particularly when Al Gore came on. I thought it particularly apt--and ballsy--when one of the researchers on the program came out and point blank equated Global Warming naysayers with Holocaust deniers. And honestly, I would love to see President Bush or anyone from the current administration tell Stephen Hawking he's an idiot and doesn't know what he's talking about when he says Global Warming is the biggest threat the world--and western civilization--faces. Yeah, tell the greatest mind since Einstein that there isn't any real evidence, and you understand the issue better than him. See how well that plays in Peoria.

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