Target Earth
Gregg Easterbrook leads an illustrated tour through the
treacherous world of space rocks. (10:57 video)

Hello Everyone,

It seems like there are a whole lot of catastrophes which threaten to
destroy civilization. Gregg Easterbrook is epecially worried about
one: Asteroid / Comet impact. Such an event would end civilization
in the most dramatic manner possible. This is the sort of story
which I automatically reject.

Yes, a major impact event will occur on this planet in the future.
But the event will likely occur *after* civilization has ended. Like
the next Yellowstone eruption or the next major earthquake on the New
Madrid fault, this is an event which could occur at any time ...
which means, it could just as easily occur a thousand or a hundred
thousand years from now as it could happen tomorrow.

In other words: The Rapture is more likely to occur than a
civilization-ending space rock impact. Civilization's future is
extremely limited so we probably shouldn't worry so much about as
asteroid.

We've already got a global-scale catastrophe and geologically
significant extinction event occurring right now on the Earth: It is
called "humankind" and has reached the era of its greatest potency as
a destructive force with the rise of technology and the exhaustion of
the world's fossil fuel resources.

We don't need an asteroid to destroy civilization because
civilization is working really hard at destroying itself right now,
and succeeding.

But it is easier to control the orbital trajectory of an asteroid
than it is to change the suicidally self-destuctive habits of
humankind, so people choose to worry about the external threat rather
than think about the internal threat.

An asteroid impact would actually save the Earth from humankind. Yet
humankind is too busy exterminating itself to need any assistance.

Sincerely,

David Mathews
http://www.geocities.com/dmathew1


http://www.theatlantic.com/movies/rocks/

Read Gregg Easterbrook's related story:

The Sky is Falling
The Atlantic, June 2008

"The task of defending Earth from objects falling from the skies
seems most fitting for NASA, or perhaps for a multinational civilian
agency that might be created. Which raises the question: What could
NASA, or anyone else, actually do to provide a defense?... Unlike in
the movies, where impossibly good-looking, wisecracking men and women
grab space suits and race to the launchpad immediately after
receiving a warning that something is approaching from space, in real
life preparations to defend against a space object would take many
years."

Read more...

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200806/asteroids