Original subtitles

: World-shattering asteroids

on a collision course with our planet.

Colossal supervolcanoes

that will destroy our atmosphere.

And interstellar black holes

capable of literally swallowing the Earth.

It seems that people have been predicting

how the world will end almost since it began.

And for some reason we can't stop fixating on the notion

that a massive cataclysm

might suddenly erase us from existence.

But is there anything we can do

to protect ourselves and our planet?

Or is an apocalypse that will wipe out life on Earth

simply inevitable?

Well, that is what we'll try and find out.

♪ ♪

Someone needs to stop Clearway Law. Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.

NASA scientists at the Kitt Peak National Observatory

- make a shocking announcement. - (whirring)

(shutter clicking)

A massive asteroid called Apophis

is headed directly towards Earth.

And according to their initial predictions,

it is set to make impact in April of 2029,

on Friday the 13th.

Apophis is approximately 300 meters in diameter.

Put three football fields end to end,

and that would be roughly the-the size of Apophis.

All the objects we had discovered previously

were either too small to represent much of a hazard,

or far enough away from the Earth

to not represent an impact threat.

Apophis was different.

As more and more observations came in,

the chances that it was going to impact the Earth--

It got to the point where we had roughly a three percent chance.

This was unprecedented at the time

as far as a impact threat.

If Apophis were to hit,

it would be capable of producing an extinction-level event.

SHATNER: An extinction-level event?

It's almost inconceivable

that a chunk of space rock less than a quarter mile long

could wipe out all life on a planet almost 8,000 miles wide.

And yet, according to scientists,

the possibility is very real.

But how?

Apophis is so large.

If it were to impact the Earth,

it would be hundreds of times more destructive

than the largest nuclear device we've ever built.

We know from analysis of these collisions

that the collision takes place in stages.

First, upon impact, you have a flash

that travels at the speed of light--

Infinitely fast--

And that would blind many animals in the area.

The blast starts to then level objects, crush them.

(explosion)

Then let's say it lands near the ocean

and causes a tsunami that would then be perhaps,

who knows, tens of hundreds of feet tall,

that would inundate the entire area

and cause a scale of destruction not seen in history.

SHATNER: In March of 2021,

NASA released revised orbital calculations for Apophis.

And as it turns out, there's good news.

It is now estimated that Apophis has less than

a one-in-380,000 chance of hitting Earth.

But could there be other colossal asteroids

making their way toward us right now?

The Earth has been hit repeatedly

throughout its history by giant comets and asteroids.

How do you prove it? What evidence do we have?

You see, when a collision takes place,

of course we have the gigantic crater left over.

Take a look at the one in South Africa.

That object is about 200 miles across,

clearly visible from outer space.

There have been at least three world-killing

extinction-level event asteroid impacts that we know of.

In South Africa, there was the Vredefort impact.

In Australia, there was the Acraman impact.

In the Gulf of Mexico, there was the Chicxulub impact

that destroyed the dinosaurs.

Now, one might think that these extinction-level events

are a thing of the past,

because these events happened millions of years

apart from each other.

But that's just a blink of an eye to the universe.

We could have an extinction-level event

tomorrow or a million years from now.

SHATNER: If it's true that

a colossal asteroid strike could happen at any moment,

perhaps the question isn't how soon it will hit Earth

but rather whether there's

anything we can do to prevent it.

The value of keeping an eye out for potential global

catastrophe-sized asteroids

is having enough advanced warning

to do something about it.

Congress directed NASA to find 90%

of all the asteroids that were deemed capable

of producing an extinction-level event--

A global catastrophe.

NASA's Near-Earth Object Observation Program

funds astronomers to find asteroids,

but finding and tracking near-Earth asteroids

really is an international effort.

SHATNER: It's certainly comforting to know

that astronomers are on alert for apocalyptic asteroids.

But this concern for the survival of the human race

is not new.

In fact, humanity has been fixated

on the threat of an apocalypse since ancient times.

We have been fascinated with the end-times,

the end of reality, the end of the gods

since we've been fascinated with anything.

For example, Ragnarok in the Norse tales

was the end of the world.

In Buddhism, the Lord Buddha gave

a little sermon on the end days.

"And the rain shall cease,

"and the oceans will dry up

"until the Earth is baking as if it were in an oven.

And that will be the end of all things."

It's one of the things that human beings have in common is,

how are we gonna deal with the future, particularly

when there is no more future and everything ends?

Why would humans even have predictions

of apocalypses to begin with?

Part of me thinks that a lot of that has to do

with a point in time where we could have actually

been listed as an endangered species.

Because there's been actually key points in time

where humans have nearly gone extinct.

One of them was 1.2 million years ago,

but we don't know what happened at that point in time.

It could have been the beginning of an ice age.

It could have been changes in environment.

- (insects trilling) - But within that time period,

humans were down to population numbers

between maybe 6,000 and 26,000 individuals.

The second point was about 150,000 years ago.

We are in the middle of an ice age.

Animals go extinct,

and we're down to nearly 600 individuals.

The third close call that we have for extinction

is about 75,000 years ago.

And during that time,

we see this massive volcanic eruption.

It blows apart the island of Sumatra.

And expels ash and debris into the atmosphere.

It dims the sunlight, and so we get down to roughly

1,000 to maybe 10,000 individuals.

And the near extinction of humans could be

why there are these constant predictions

of apocalypses throughout the ancient world.

In some sense we have been lulled to sleep.

You see, human history,

recorded history, only goes back 5,000 years.

And before that period of time, we have no direct experience

with catastrophes on a planetary scale

that threaten the very existence of human life.

And that's why we have to change our perspective.

But the real reality is there could be an apocalypse.

So, perhaps history will repeat itself one day,

and humanity will meet its end when a gigantic asteroid--

That's hurtling towards us at this very moment--

Finally reaches Earth.

But while we wait for that possible date with destiny,

there's another potential apocalypse

looming much, much closer.

In fact, it's lurking

right beneath our feet.

SHATNER: At approximately 11:00 a.m., than earthquake, measuring 5.0

on the Richter scale, sends great shock waves

through the island's most active volcano:

Mount Kilauea.

The ground cracks open

and 2,000-degree magma boils to the surface.

As residents who live in the area flee for their lives,

a torrent of molten lava gushes from the broken earth,

destroying everything in its path.

BENJAMIN McGEE: It was a massive volcanic eruption.

We're used to looking at volcanoes that look dormant

and assuming that there's no threat.

But if there's one thing

that the geologic history of the Earth warns us about,

over and over and over again,

it's that there's unintended consequences

of the Earth being alive,

and Kilauea proved that in 2018.

Kilauea is a large volcano

that sits in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

And it is generally known

for these lava flows that it puts out,

that unfortunately got into a populated area.

And this very large eruption

unfortunately destroyed over 700 homes.

Destroyed some really pristine areas of the island.

McGEE: You have very kind of soupy, watery lava

that was racing at incredible speeds.

And the problem is, Hawaii is populous.

We have folks, many of them, who live there,

and there is nowhere to run.

I think the Kilauea eruption is

one of nature's great warnings.

So long as the Earth is alive,

we will face the threat of major volcanic eruptions.

SHATNER: In 2018, Mount Kilauea topped

the U.S. Geological Survey's ranking

of the most dangerous volcanoes in the United States.

But according to experts,

even Kilauea's cataclysmic power

pales in comparison to others

that could potentially pose great threats

to not only cities but the entire world.

They're simply known as supervolcanoes.

Nuclear weapons, yeah, we track them.

We know who has them.

Global warming, we have computer programs

that simulate global warming.

And meteors from outer space, we track asteroids.

But when it comes to supervolcanoes,

we know almost nothing.

A supervolcano could be 1,000 times more deadly,

leaving destruction on a scale

that we haven't seen in modern civilization.

POLAND: A super eruption is meant to describe

a truly extraordinary explosive eruption

that's about 1,000 cubic kilometers in volume.

That's how much material gets ejected.

SHATNER: According to volcanologists, there are--

At this very moment-- Between 12 and 20

active supervolcanoes scattered across the Earth.

We've all seen the devastation of volcanoes.

We see this catastrophe with all the gas coming out

of the volcano, with all the debris and all the dirt.

But supervolcano eruptions can disrupt the atmosphere itself,

sufficient to affect the weather of the entire planet.

You've got sulfur dioxide, you've got particles

which are reflecting sunlight

and that bounce or trap sunlight and thermal radiation.

- (wind whistling) - And that completely changes the planet's heat balance.

You can cripple ecosystems from the bottom up

by darkening the world.

POLAND: These gases can also poison agriculture,

poison plants, and that of course will have

a chain reaction down the food web.

So, these eruptions can really cause

a huge impact, even if the lava only affects

one small area, they can have a global impact.

Even thousands and thousands of miles away

from where the eruption occurred.

SHATNER: It's hard to imagine

a supervolcano causing a worldwide cataclysm.

But one such event is believed to have already occurred

long before humans walked the Earth.

An apocalypse that is referred to as the Great Dying.

The Great Dying was a mass extinction of plants and animals

that occurred about 250 million years ago.

The largest that occurred in the history of Earth.

McGEE: Geologists call it the Permian-Triassic extinction.

It's the largest mass extinction in the geologic record

across all time, and this is related

to a major volcanic eruption in northern Siberia

that injected so much CO2 into the atmosphere

that we lost 80% of all marine life.

We lost 70% of all vertebrate land animals.

This was so bad, even the bugs got taken out.

So, the Great Dying is one of geologic history's

great warnings, that large volcanism can pose

a true existential threat to all life on Earth.

SHATNER: This body of water is one of

the most popular tourist destinations in the country

due to its natural beauty.

But deep below the lake's surface lies

an active supervolcano.

Taupo's a beautiful place.

It's serene, it's got a lovely lake,

mountains, geysers and hot springs.

Absolutely gorgeous.

McGEE: These nice low-lying areas that tend to fill up

with water and be very beautiful often indicate

lurking underneath you is

an emptied former super eruption.

The irony is, the beauty of a lake often goes hand in hand

with the lurking threat of volcanic systems ready to go.

POLAND: The last super eruption of the Taupo volcano

occurred about 26,500 years ago.

We know Taupo is restless.

It has lots of seismicity. The ground goes up and down.

And scientists in New Zealand have tied that

to magma moving in the subsurface.

There's geothermal activity in the region,

which indicates that the system's not dead.

It's alive.

It's on an active tectonic plate boundary.

So there are massive earthquakes that can be caused

by a supervolcano getting ready to blow

on a scale that we've never seen before or since in geology.

Where Taupo is,

large eruptions will eventually happen.

Volcanoes are something that humanity has always

had to live with and always will have to live with.

We can study these things, try to understand

how an eruption might occur.

But we don't have a way to stop a volcanic eruption.

We're not going to stop

something that the Earth wants to do.

Is it possible that the Earth itself

will bring about the apocalypse?

(groans)

It's a terrifying notion,

but not so terrifying as another primal force of nature.

One that has the power to end our existence

by swallowing the Earth whole.

- (whirring) - (indistinct chatter over radio)

SHATNER: In collaboration with NASA,

an international team of astronomers accomplishes

something once thought to be impossible.

They capture the first ever image

of a region of space where gravity is so strong

that not even light can escape from it.

These mysterious areas are more commonly known as...

black holes.

McGEE: Imaging a black hole for the first time

answers a challenge that seems like it has no answer.

How can you possibly take a picture of something

that swallows up all light?

What they did was network radio telescopes together

all across the Earth, making an effective telescope

the size of our planet.

It was called the Event Horizon Telescope.

And using that, they were able to peer

into the heart of nearby galaxy M87.

And there's a supermassive black hole

25 billion miles across at its core.

DAVIES: The problem about black holes is that they're black

and they're very small.

And so you can't directly see them.

You have to infer their existence

from what they do to their, uh, surroundings.

And so, it was an image constructed

from many, many observations around the world,

put together in a clever way

with a lot of sort of computer enhancement.

And so you see this...

(electrical whirring)

black object against a glowing background.

SHATNER: Since 1915, when Albert Einstein's

famous theory of relativity first proposed their existence,

black holes have sparked intense fascination.

But just what are these mysterious cosmic forces?

DAVIES: Black hole is an object where gravity is so intense

that even light can't escape.

And seeing as nothing can go faster than light,

it means anything that falls into a black hole

can't get out again.

McGEE: A black hole is formed

- under intense pressure of a collapsing star. - (explosion)

And the pressure is so intense

that it pushes the atoms inside each other

until the whole thing is collapsed down to a point.

And they call that a singularity.

And if you get too close to it,

it'll trap you with its gravity, and then you're stuck.

DAVIES: As you get closer and closer to the black hole,

the gravity gets more and more intense.

So, supposing I'm falling into a black hole feet first,

imagine this, then my feet are a bit closer

to the black hole than my head.

And so gravity's a bit stronger on my feet than my head.

So I'm gonna be stretched this way,

but my shoulders, each shoulder's trying

to fall to the center of the black hole,

so I'm gonna be squeezed this way.

If it's a star, for example,

it wouldn't just sort of go straight down the black hole.

It would spiral around and get ripped to pieces.

SHATNER: Ripped to pieces?

Since a black hole has the power to destroy

anything that comes near it, then it begs the question...

What if the unimaginable happened,

and a black hole crossed paths with Earth?

DAVIES: If a black hole enters the solar system,

the gravitational field is so intense that

Earth will be ripped to shreds when it came close enough.

It would spiral around as the material was shredded,

whirling down and down faster and faster and faster,

as the Earth and all the people on it

eventually go down the black hole.

A truly apocalyptic event.

I'm reassured by the fact that our solar system has been around

for four and a half billion years

and no black hole has ventured this way before.

But of course that doesn't mean it couldn't happen.

SHATNER: Fortunately, the nearest black hole is

1,500 light-years away, but that may be about to change.

Because there are those who believe that

black holes could be created right here on Earth.

And as evidence, they point to a series

of experiments being conducted by physicists

at the largest particle accelerator on Earth:

the Large Hadron Collider.

McGEE: The Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland

is the largest particle accelerator

humanity has ever constructed.

16 miles in diameter.

A particle accelerator is a machine designed

to make subatomic particles go near to the speed of light

to break matter down

into its fundamental building blocks

and see what they are.

DAVIES: The LHC takes protons and whirls them around

inside a ring-shaped tube,

and then they smash them together at enormous energies,

recreating the conditions

just a trillionth of a second after the big bang.

So some people have conjectured

that maybe the LHCs could create

a microscopic black hole at energies far in excess

of anything that had been reached before.

Now, our best understanding of black holes is

that if you make one by colliding particles,

then it would disappear almost immediately,

so it really wouldn't pose a threat.

McGEE: Some physicists actually raised legal battles

trying to shut down the LHC

over fear that they might accidentally create

one of these black holes, and it would start to swallow up

everything around it and maybe doom the Earth in the process.

Ultimately those objections were tossed out,

and the LHC is still running.

But as we probe farther and farther

into the deepest reaches of the laws of physics,

and we use the largest tools we have in our toolbox to do it,

there's the chance that we will get

into territory we didn't expect,

and that could pose a threat of a scale that would pose

a threat to humanity.

While black holes may be

the most destructive force in the universe,

there are those who believe that there's

a different threat from outer space

that we should be even more concerned about.

One that even our best telescopes

may not be able to see coming.

Because there's a very good chance

it's already here.

SHATNER: Astronomers at the Carl Sagan Institute

release the findings of a groundbreaking study.

By using a highly-detailed 3D map of the Milky Way galaxy,

they conduct observations

of more than 2,000 nearby star systems.

After analyzing the data,

they come to a shocking conclusion:

we may not be alone in the universe.

The findings show that there are potentially

29 advanced extraterrestrial civilizations

located within 50 light-years of Earth,

and it's possible they've been observing us.

The idea that there might be other life out there is

as old as recorded history.

And also, of course, there has always been

this idea that if there are other life-forms out there,

that extraterrestrials may take the view that it is logical

to eliminate any potential threat to their own existence,

and emerging civilizations like humanity might be that threat.

And there's the idea that

these super predator civilizations would

comb the universe looking for the first signs

of emerging spacefaring civilizations

and then exterminating them.

KAKU: Some scientists want to reach out

and advertise our existence and say, "Here we are.

"This is our location.

This is our state of technology. Come visit us."

I think that's a catastrophically bad idea.

History shows that

when civilizations encounter each other,

the outcome is often tragic.

I think we should keep our identity a secret for now.

TAYLOR: It's a mathematical likelihood

that we will encounter other life-forms,

other intelligences, within this universe at some time.

It's not a matter of if.

It really is just a matter of when.

It's just as likely that any interaction with aliens

might end the world in a huge apocalyptic-type event.

So, while we're prepared to know

that aliens are there and want to talk to them,

I don't think we are prepared for an invasion.

SHATNER: For some, the idea that extraterrestrials

would travel across the galaxy to wipe out humanity

may sound like something out of science fiction.

But there are others who believe that this doomsday scenario

is well within the realm of possibility,

because they claim there is evidence which suggests

that extraterrestrials are already here.

After decades of public speculation,

the Pentagon finally releases a report corroborating

what many have long suspected:

unidentified aerial phenomena-- Otherwise known as UAPs--

Do, in fact, exist.

The government has a track record of saying

as little as possible about UFOs.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence

delivered a report to Congress about UFOs.

It was a preliminary assessment,

and it essentially says that this phenomenon is real.

What it said basically was, a lot of events happened

and many of them have no explanation as of yet.

And that is very interesting that the government is

actually telling the general public that

"Hey, there's something in our skies

that we don't what they are."

POPE: UFOs are an existential threat.

Those sorts of civilizations with maybe millions of years'

head start on us in terms of

their scientific understanding, their technology.

They could wipe up us out in an instant.

They probably have technology

that could crack this planet open

like a nut, if they wanted to.

SHATNER: The Department of Defense has also confirmed

that a classified program known as AATIP

had obtained actual video evidence

of encounters with unidentified aerial phenomena.

And according to experts who have seen the tapes,

we have every reason to be very, very worried.

AATIP was a Pentagon program looking at UFOs,

and they were studying the technologies

that UFOs would need to travel here.

They revealed that there had been videos taken

through forward-looking infrared cameras

mounted on F-18 Super Hornets,

and they show the pilots tracking

and in some cases getting hugely interested,

concerned, excited about the speeds,

the maneuvers, the acceleration.

(chuckles)

Sometimes they can evade our air defenses altogether.

Sometimes they show up on radar but other times not.

The best aircraft we have are left standing by these things.

The technology is greater than anything we have.

And therefore, you have to say, "Yeah, this is a threat."

SHATNER: In an interview with the Washington Post

conducted shortly before the release

of the Pentagon's UFO report,

the former director of AATIP,

U.S. Army Special Agent Luis Elizondo,

made an unsettling claim.

Unidentified flying objects have been seen

observing U.S. nuclear launch sites around the world.

TAYLOR: Lou Elizondo has suggested that a lot of sightings occur

near nuclear power plants, nuclear missile sites,

nuclear submarines, nuclear ships.

The question is, if that's true, why are they doing that?

What is the motivation to look at the nuclear locations?

These UFOs, for whatever reason,

are interested in nuclear sites.

There are few things about this whole UFO mystery

more potentially dangerous than this.

There have been briefings to the president

at top secret level.

And a fuller assessment will be

delivered to Congress in due course.

There's a great logic that governments need

a plan on first contact--

What to do if aliens arrive and are hostile.

Because the point is,

this is going to be an existential threat.

It's far better in any situation

to have a contingency plan and not need it,

than to need it and not have it.

Are the AATIP videos evidence of extraterrestrials spying

on us and our defense installations

in order to plan an attack?

We simply don't know.

But if they are,

it could spell humanity's certain doom.

Just like another potential apocalypse.

One that could pull the plug on our existence...

like that.

SHATNER: According to researchers,

recent advancements in computer graphics

may soon give us the ability

to create simulations so lifelike

that they're nearly indistinguishable

from reality itself.

And such realism has actually caused many experts

to ponder a profound and disturbing possibility:

what if we're actually living in a simulation

right now?

Simulation theory is the idea that we live in a video game.

That the reality that we see around us,

the reality that we think is real and hard,

is actually a fake.

It's a software program running in virtual reality.

(electrical whirring)

And concocted perhaps by a more advanced civilization

that's running us as a video game.

VIRK: The biggest argument against simulation theory is

that the idea just seems absurd.

But if you were inside a video game,

the walls and the objects would appear to be real.

And if there was a good enough physics engine,

pretty soon we would be unable

to distinguish between physical reality and virtual reality.

KAKU: If we live in a simulation, that we're just puppets,

dancing according to somebody's PC screen,

then the question is, who's watching the screen?

Who is in charge of this thing?

Who set up the ground rules to create this fantastic universe

that we think is reality but actually

it's a figment of somebody else's imagination?

Well, your guess is as good as mine.

SHATNER: Could we actually be living

within a sophisticated computer simulation?

And if so, perhaps the more important question is,

what happens if whoever's running the simulation

decides to shut it off?

VIRK: The biggest threat is

that the simulation will have to be shut down.

Uh, which means that it would be the end

of our simulation and that it has served its purpose.

To us, it would basically mean the end of the world.

In other words, it's game over.

Somebody has pulled the plug on what we call "reality."

An intelligence that advanced

that can simulate reality itself,

make it indistinguishable from reality,

would be extremely advanced, almost godlike in their powers.

SHATNER: A simulation controlled by godlike beings?

(electrical whirring)

While the idea may seem far-fetched to some,

religious traditions from around the world

have long held that our reality is controlled

by a higher power that we don't fully understand.

YOUNG: Since the beginning of shamanism,

spiritual teachers of all kinds have been telling us

there is more to reality than what we see or think.

The simulation theory is

the very real statistical possibility that

- somebody greater than us has invented all this. - (praying in foreign language)

We wouldn't know, would we?

Unless the gods-- That is, the programmers--

Decided to let us in on it.

Of course, that's what religions tell us anyway.

They tell us there are more realities,

greater realities,

and that there are powers greater than ours

- who have made things that we walk around in. - (indistinct chatter)

I think the simulation theory is

just science catching up to religion.

One thing we don't know about is,

who were the programmers and why did they do it?

One particular reason is

to see how civilizations rise and fall.

That would be quite apocalyptic

and could lead to bad events for us.

SHATNER: Could we actually be test subjects

in a computer simulation?

Like rats in a virtual maze?

There are many who believe that to be the case.

And as evidence they point to the fact

that we're using advanced computer simulations right now

to prepare for earthquakes and other catastrophic threats.

Scientists at the Earthquake Research Institute

conduct an unusual experiment.

Using the powerful microprocessor

known as the K supercomputer...

- (beep) - they build an incredibly detailed virtual simulation

of the city of Tokyo, down to the last detail.

And then...

- (beep) - they destroy it.

The K supercomputer was one of the,

if not the fastest, supercomputer on Earth.

And a team of scientists in Japan

used it to try to simulate what would happen

to Tokyo if there was a major earthquake.

Then we're able to simulate the routes people might take

through the city to try to escape the devastation

that could be caused by the earthquake.

We create simulations in order to mimic

these disasters taking place,

and so perhaps that's why this advanced civilization,

playing this cosmic video game, created humanity--

To see what happens during an apocalypse.

VIRK: Some people say that the problem they have with simulation theory

is that we cannot prove we're not in a simulation.

But of course humans have been pondering

the nature of reality for many thousands of years.

So, I think it's an innate part of who we are,

to try to figure out the world around us.

So that we can survive.

Could our existence really end with the flip of a switch?

Your guess is as good as mine.

But if the fate of our world

really does lie at the mercy of forces beyond our control,

what, if anything, can we do about it?

Well, there are those who are taking steps right now

that just might allow us to escape.

SHATNER: The threat of a sudden apocalypse

that wipes out life on Earth is certainly concerning.

But on the other hand, we know that change

is inevitable on our planet.

And the prospect of a potential doomsday

is inspiring scientists and engineers

to develop new technologies

and plans that will ensure humanity's survival.

It is a law of physics practically

that one day we will have to leave the planet Earth.

There are a number of catastrophes

that could definitely collapse civilization as we know it.

Faced with these planetary threats, we have to have plan B.

We have to have a way to save humanity itself.

The way to ensure the survivability of humanity is

by spreading out to the planets and the stars.

If we move humanity to another planet location,

an extinction-level event is not going to occur

on both of those at the same time.

KAKU: How come there are no dinosaurs in this room?

How come there are no dinosaurs

witnessing all these great shots into outer space?

Because the dinosaurs did not have a space program.

We have to make sure that we don't go

the way of the dinosaurs.

SHATNER: Is it possible that we might one day escape an apocalypse

by moving to another planet?

Perhaps.

But even if catastrophe strikes

before humans can escape to another world,

history suggests we will find a way to endure.

MICHAEL DENNIN: When we think about the luck of avoiding mass extinction,

or apocalypses, I think, for humans,

we've shown an amazing resilience

and ability to respond.

So things that could have been local apocalypses,

we've already been able to mitigate in our history.

And the hope is, these other larger ones,

as tragic as they'll be for large segments of society,

hopefully society as a whole will be able to navigate.

THOLEN: Some people estimate Homo sapiens have been around

for perhaps as long as 200,000 years.

And over that course of time,

the species has managed to survive.

And that gives me some confidence that

the species will continue to adapt to the environment.

PAUL J. SPRINGER: Extinction-level events, apocalyptic catastrophes,

they're interesting to think about.

But the likelihood of them occurring

is astronomically small.

Humans are programmed to continue.

And so you don't want to give them

outsized influence in your mind.

You don't want to constantly worry

about the worst possible scenarios...

- (cheering) - because they're so unlikely to occur,

that you'll really miss out on a lot of life

and the day-to-day affairs that make being human

such a special thing.

Well, what do you think?

Just like other species before us,

are we facing the threat of extinction

with the next apocalypse?

Or is humanity actually resilient enough

that no matter what comes at us, or explodes beneath us,

or attempts to push our buttons,

we'll survive and evolve and prepare

for the next cataclysmic event?

Only time will tell.

But until it does,

the question of what fate may hold for us remains...

unexplained.

Someone needs to stop Clearway Law. Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.