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Comment by soheil | Hacker News Reader

Reminds of WR 104 [1] binary star system. When the two stars collide in the next 100 years there is a chance earth could be in the path of its gamma-ray bursts that can potentially end life on earth. The cool thing about it is that we won't know when it happens (already has happened because of limit of speed of light) until the gamma rays have reached earth which means there will be just a flash of light and then it's all over and it could happen anytime. Talk about existential thread to life. However, there isn't a very high likelihood of it happening though.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WR_104

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A GRB hitting earth wouldn't actually cause an immediate extinction event. From Wikipedia:

> Earth's atmosphere is very effective at absorbing high energy electromagnetic radiation such as x-rays and gamma rays, so these types of radiation would not reach any dangerous levels at the surface during the burst event itself. The immediate effect on life on Earth from a GRB within a few parsecs would only be a short increase in ultraviolet radiation at ground level, lasting from less than a second to tens of seconds. This ultraviolet radiation could potentially reach dangerous levels depending on the exact nature and distance of the burst, but it seems unlikely to be able to cause a global catastrophe for life on Earth.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-ray_burst

The long-term effects are what could kill us, namely, the destruction of the ozone layer.

Wow scary. Is there any way to survive it ?

Its also kinda of sad, but for a second I felt kinda happy reading this, knowing at least I wouldnt be in student debt

This is so depressing. I had the exact same thought. "I'll miss my kids, but at least no more Sallie Mae, so I've got that going for me."

There is so much going on today that makes me fearful for the existential future of humanity: climate change, nuclear weapons, resource depletion, artificial intelligence, to name a few.

But strangely enough, a ticking cosmic countdown makes me feel oddly at peace with an ultimate future of extinction. I can only hope that the end of humanity will not be wrought by its own hands.

Makes me want to enjoy my time alive more, with the people I care about.

it would probably be more impressive if humans led to their own extinction, than if cosmic forces ended us.

A lot of species threaten their existence by their own self-interest. Lemmings regularly lurch from near extinction to explosive overpopulation every few years.

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