# What kind of post-apocalyptic scenarios would result in 100% destruction of the human race?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-post-apocalyptic-scenarios-would-result-in-100-destruction-of-the-human-race/637526>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 12, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-post-apocalyptic-scenarios-would-result-in-100-destruction-of-the-human-race/637526 "2012-10-12T15:42:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 4

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-post-apocalyptic-scenarios-would-result-in-100-destruction-of-the-human-race/637526/61 "2012-10-15T09:58:19Z")

</div>

It’s true that the set of events that would collapse civilization is far greater than the set of events that would cause our outright extinction. There are 7 billion of us and we’re the most adaptable species that has ever lived. You’d have to come pretty close to sterilizing the planet to get rid of us now.

But sure there are some cosmic events that we could do nothing about, such as a huge asteroid collision (I say huge because I don’t think Chicxulub would do it).  
And extraterrestrials of course. As I’ve argued in recent threads, it is extremely unlikely that their technology would be a _little_ better than ours, such that we could actually fight back.  
In the event that they wanted to kill us (very unlikely IMO), we’d probably be dead before we even knew we were under attack.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-post-apocalyptic-scenarios-would-result-in-100-destruction-of-the-human-race/637526/62 "2012-10-15T10:28:50Z")

</div>

> [@MikeS](#):
>
> If you eliminate the “leave the Earth intact” requirement, you could always go for a [false vacuum scenario.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_vacuum) That would wipe out all life on Earth, and probably the Earth itself along with a good chunk of the cosmos. It’d do it right quick, too; by definition, we’d never see it coming.

Scary stuff. Next time I buy a vacuum I’m going to _triple_-check it’s genuine.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-post-apocalyptic-scenarios-would-result-in-100-destruction-of-the-human-race/637526.md?page=3)