This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Demetrios: I took a look at the website. I thought it was good...up until that speech from bostonreview.net. IMHO, that was the worst speech I ever read. The guy just kept saying the same stuff over and over again. And how is the desire for entertainment a catalyst for human extinction? Don't we all deserve a little fun and recreation in our lives? Do we have to live at our jobs or something? Jack Nicholson couldn't have said it better himself: "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy".
Tree: I personally think that "Sorting Algorithm of Completely Fucked" is an much awesomer title... Anyone else agree?
Lyonie17: I ... don't really have anything to say, I put in one example, and reformatted with headings.
Nerem: Changed the Ideon entry to be more accurate - the whole 'destroy the universe' thing was American fanon invented before people actually saw the show.
Thunder Phoenix: I really think that the "...and beyond" should have something more ominous sounding like "Class Omega" or something like that.
Large Blunt Object: Oh come on, Battlestar Galactica "the colonies get fucked over" does not need to be spoilertagged.
Peteman: Shouldn't a standard Galactus attack be listed under Class 5? The planets are still there, even if they're dead and useless (or am I using a wrong frame of reference?)
Ununnilium: Since it's already in Class 1:
- Fallout — it could be it only happened to the United States, but no one in there seems able to find out otherwise.
- This troper would argue that the Fallout series is a class 1.9, as it has many of the characteristics of class 2 but there are segments of the population that reach a higher technological level than existed before World War III within a century.
- On the other hand, you don't exactly see many people from "America Needs Aid" groups working to de-irradiate America/provide clean food/actually get people out of there, meaning it is fairly likely the whole world got blasted. Then again, it is also possible that America's economy outright disappearing may have hit them harder than it simply failing like now or the Wall Street Crash. On the other hand, maybe it didn't since it means they no longer owe loans to big American banks that no longer exist. Who can know until there's a game not set in America or that has explicit mention of what's outside America?
- This troper would argue that the Fallout series is a class 1.9, as it has many of the characteristics of class 2 but there are segments of the population that reach a higher technological level than existed before World War III within a century.
Also:
- This is the effect of the Doomsday Machine in Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
- Humanity survives in Doctor Strangelove. The joke is that Armageddon teaches them nothing. Humans, like roaches, will probably do it again but probably survive IT again too.
...bwah? The movie implied at least a Class 1 and probably a class 2 or 3a.
Enlong: (Massive Mother 3 spoilers. Seriously guys this is chapter 8 stuff.) Where should the apocalypse in Mother 3 that necessitated the White Ship go? It's more serious then a class 1, because everything except the Nowhere Islands is gone, and civilization has been knocked into a low-technology, no-money period. However, it seems almost less serious then a class 2, because there's still thriving civilization and happy people, even though the vast majority of the entire planet is gone.
Gizensha: Cut
- Remember those dinosaurs? Yeah...
- In the deterministic cosmos of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, Billy Pilgrim learns that in the distant future, a Tralfamadorian will invent a spaceship fuel that when ignited will accidentally destroy the universe. Since it's fated to happen, this bothers no one.
But because each next moment is totally dependent on this exact moment, it is not possible for anyone to change it, as that would require a change in this moment (because that event is fated from THIS moment as-is), but this moment cannot change as, just a moment ago, it was the future, and dependent on that present, which lead to this present. So the only way the outcome could change, would be if the very first moment changed, which would be the moment of the big bang, which is not only impossible but would also change everything else in entirely unpredictable ways. Therefore, the universe in which Slaughterhouse Five is set in is deterministic. Also, if it was not deterministic, it wouldn't be possible for something to be fated regardless.
prescience: I'm not sure that The End of Evangelion counts as a class 3a. While the Third Impact is human-caused and the whole being-turned-into-LCL bit probably wouldn't apply to non-sentient lifeforms, the planet looked pretty messed up afterwards. This doesn't quite fit the "leaves most plant/animal life intact", so wouldn't class 4 be more accurate?
Well I changed it to class 5. An AT field keeps life-forms together and stops them from dissolving into LCL. When AT fields are removed, I assume that everything gets hit. Also, I didn't see any life in the beach at the end.
Mike Rosoft: So, is the (hypothetical) Toba catastrophe
class 1 or class 2?
Dalek: May I suggest Hitchhiker's Guide? X-1 was done, of course. And if you want to include Eoin Colfer monstrosity it was done several times. Hell, an X-2 might be appropriate as I believe the definition says "to destroy God".
