human_extinction.pdf
human_extinction.mp3
Neil
Hello This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English I’m Neil
Sam
And I’m Sam
Neil
In this programme, we’ll be asking looking at some of the many dangers facing
humanity, from climate change and global pandemics to asteroid impacts and
nuclear war We’ll be finding out whether human civilisation can survive these
risks and looking at some of the related vocabulary as well
Sam
Do you really think humans could become extinct and end up as dead as the
?dodo
Neil
?Ah, so of course you’ve heard of the dodo
Sam
Yes, dodos were large, metre-high birds which died out in the 1600s after being
hunted to extinction by humans
Neil
That’s right Dodos couldn’t fly and weren’t very clever They didn’t hide when
sailors with hunting dogs landed on their island The species was hunted so much
that within a century, every single bird had died out But do you know which
island the dodo was from, Sam? That’s my quiz question for today Was it
a) The Galapagos
b) Mauritius
c) Fiji
Sam
I’ll guess the Galapagos, Neil, because I know many exotic animals live there By
the way, that’s also cheered me up a bit because as humans we are much smarter
?than the dodo! We’re far too clever to die out, aren’t we
Neil
I’m not sure I agree, Sam Lots of the existential risks - the worst possible things
that could happen to humanity, such as nuclear war, global pandemics or rogue
artificial intelligence, are human-made These threats could have catastrophic
consequences for human survival in the 21st century
Sam
That’s true But existential risks don’t only threaten the survival of the human
species Instead, they could destroy civilisation as we know it, leaving pockets of
survivors to struggle on in a post-apocalyptic world
Neil
And it wouldn’t be the first time that has happened, as the BBC World Service
programme The Inquiry found out Simon Beard of the Centre for the Study of
Existential Risk at Cambridge University explains:
Simon Beard
The historical record suggests that about once every thousand years an event
occurs that wipes out about a third of the human population – so in the Middle
Ages, this was the Black Death - huge plague that covered Eurasia, while there
was also dramatic global cooling at that time which many people think was
related to volcanic eruptions and about a third of the global population died
Sam
So, humanity has been facing these risks throughout history, according to the
historical record – the collection of all written and recorded past events
concerning the human race
Neil
Yes Wars and plagues – infectious, epidemic diseases which spread between
countries can quickly wipe out – or completely destroy, millions of people
Sam
And there’s not much we can do to stop disasters like that!
Neil
True, Sam, but what about individuals who actively work to bring about the end
of the world - like apocalyptic terrorists, rampage shooters and fundamentalist
cults like those who organised the poisonous gas attack on the Tokyo subway
Sam
Those are people who want to end human life on Earth and bring about
Doomsday - another word for the final, apocalyptic day of the world’s existence
Neil
Right And things got even scarier in modern times with the invention of nuclear
weapons During the Cuban Missile Crisis between America and the USSR for
example, risk experts estimated a 41% probability that human life would be
completely wiped out! Seth Baum of New York’s Global Catastrophic Risk
Institute explains how human error almost brought about Doomsday
Seth Baum
There are some ways that you could get to a nuclear war without really intending
to, and probably the biggest example is if you have a false alarm that is mistaken
as a nuclear attack, and there have been a number of, maybe even very serious
false alarms, over the years, in which one side or the other genuinely believed
that they were under nuclear attack, when in fact they were not at all under
nuclear attack
Sam
One such false alarm - an incorrect warning given so that people wrongly believe
something dangerous is about to happen, came about in 1995, when the US sent
missiles up into the Earth’s atmosphere to study the aurora borealis, the northern
lights
Neil
Soviet radars picked up the missiles, thinking they were nuclear warheads and
almost retaliated Nuclear Armageddon was only averted by the actions of one
clear-thinking Russian general who decided not to push the red button
Sam
Phew! A close shave then! Well, Neil, all this doomongering has made me want to
just give it all up and live on a desert island!
Neil
Like the dodo eh, Sam? So, which island would that be? If you remember, today’s
quiz question asked where the dodo was from
Sam
I said The Galapagos
Neil
And I’m afraid to say it was b) Mauritius So, to recap, in this programme we’ve
been discussing Doomsday – the final day of life on Earth and other existential
threats - dangers threatening the survival of humans on the planet
Sam
We looked back throughout the historical record - all recorded human history,
to see examples of threats which have wiped out, or killed millions of people in
the past, including wars and plagues which spread epidemic diseases between
populations
Neil
And we’ve seen how modern dangers, like nuclear war and climate change,
further reduce the probability of human survival But Sam, it’s not all doom and
gloom! The same scientific intelligence which spilt the atom could also find
?solutions to our human-made problems in the 21st century, don’t you think
Sam
So, the end of the world might be a false alarm – or unfounded warning – after
all!
Neil
Let’s hope we’ll all still be here next time for another edition of 6 Minute English
Bye for now!
Sam
Bye
VOCABULARY
existential risks
dangers that threaten the continuation of human life on Earth
the historical record
the collection of all written and recorded past events concerning the human race
wipes out
completely destroys leaving nothing remaining
plague
infectious, epidemic disease
Doomsday
final day of the world’s existence; apocalypse
false alarm
warning given incorrectly so that people wrongly believe something dangerous is
about to happen
