Armageddon 2006

[Kos]

What size would the bomb need to be to cause the atomic armageddon predicted in 2006 that will wipe out civilisation? How would it compare in size to those of say Hiroshima or the ones tested in the Pacific? Surley it would have to be pretty damned big?

[WaldoMcFroog]

Who has predicted such a thing? Moreover, why would anyone believe it?

There's certainly enough nuclear weapons around to destroy the entire world, but then there has been for donkey's years. The bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were extremely small devices by modern standards however.

For myself, I don't believe anyone has ever made genuine predictions based on an ability to see the future. There's been some lucky guesses, but most of it is stuff like Nostradamus, who is so vague that it's easy to retrospectively interpret it as referring to specific event.

I must confess the thing that worries me about this kind of thing is the people it appeals to - it's like Bush being bankrolled by fundamentalist Christians who are desparate to support any war in the middle east as this will fulfil their notions of armageddon and the second coming of Christ. Self fulfilling prophesy.

On the other hand, I predict this won't happen...

[Kos]

Its predicted in Michael Dronin's Bible Code which claims to have predicted other World events such as the holocaust, Kennedy's assasination, the Twin Towers etc. There was a documentary about it on Sky One last night and it has been covered on BBC2's Horizon. I hope its not true, but it does seem possible in the World today.

[WaldoMcFroog]

But the Bible code has been debunked. There's extensive detail here:

http://www.valleyskeptic.com/biblec~1.htm

What it boils down to is that you can take virtually any text and submit it to the same techniques and you can find equally startling 'predictions' - one used was Tolstoy's "War and Peace". One could use the combined works of Barbara Cartland.

It's mere coincidence.

[Kos]

Thats made me feel a bit better Waldo but I, like a lot of people I'm sure , will not be totally convinced until we are ringing in the New Year on Dec 31st 2006!!

[swan04]

The end of the world "happened" (not)several times over the last 2,000 years. If humanity still exists beyond 2026 then we're safe...! Also, it is impossible to have one bomb destroy the whole world. The biggest in existence only has enough force to flatten a major city (if that ain't enough for you)

[Kos]

Its sounding better- perhaps I had better not clock up a huge credit bill in 2006 then!!

[slimjim]

You could get run over tomorrow. Don't worry about it.

[bernardo]

That's made me feel a bit better Waldo but I, like a lot of people I'm sure , will not be totally convinced until we are ringing in the New Year on Dec 31st 2006!!

Normal people will be ringing in the New Year on 1st January, not on 31st December. :-)

[Rabelais]

Teller (the man who pushed for the construction of the hydrogen bomb) was very sad when he concluded that you couldn't just make bigger and bigger H bombs as eventually all you were doing was throwing a a seven mile wide stack of atmosphere into space at a faster and faster rate. Though I am sure if this factor hadn't stopped him the old warmongering loonie would have built a bomb that would have split the earth in two, just to see it go bang.