Propose and test; this is how things are treated in science. He is your father? You have to prove that in science. Faith is our beloved neighbor for a scientific person or scientific perspective. How does science deal with the end times? Are there even concepts related to the end times in science? Can science predict a time frame for the end of the world with evidence to support the claim? In fact, there are factors and elements that can lead us to a time frame for the end times. The scientific perspective of recent times could come with more detailed and proven evidence but not yet; not in our generation or in some more generations to come.
The end of the world and the end of humanity must first be defined to gain a scientific perspective. Things must be defined in order to treat them scientifically. The famous example is that the bat is not a bird because it flies. We propose definitions first and then categorize elements later. First we need to define our query. Our query is the end of time. According to science, there is no such thing as the end of time. Time is an entity that has no foreseeable end. There is no evidence to see where time ends. There have been conceptual proposals for the end of the universe where time as part of the universe would end. These concepts are still in development stages. Proof of these concepts would require a better understanding of the formation of the universe. Since scientists have not yet come to a clear and proven understanding of the beginning of the universe, the end of the universe is just a theory to follow later. So, at the moment, there is no clear explanation from a scientific perspective about the end times literally as it is.
If we take the phrase as a reference to the end of the earth, then the story takes another turn. The earth formed from dust and gases in stellar space. The earth has a history of formation and many of its properties and components have been studied and understood. So it is possible to see what will happen next. The earth experiences reactions of its own as well as interactions with others in the star system, the galaxy, the galaxy cluster, and the entire universe as well. Based on the internal properties of the earth, the speed of the earth’s rotation is increasing. In other words, the length of an Earth day is continually decreasing. As the speed of rotation increases, the magnetic and gravitational forces will differ at different places on the earth. Tropical and polar regions will behave differently to differences in these forces.
External causes, such as solar radiation and coronal mass ejections, are increasingly heating the earth. The core of the earth is already hot and composed of various materials. The earth’s core heats up as the earth’s surface heats up. External causes also include gamma and X-rays from other celestial events such as supernova explosions. The alignment of planets, stars and other galaxies towards the Milky Way will also result in different forces for the earth. All of these events lead to changes on planet earth.
Calculations and magnitudes differ, but all scientific research on the subject comes to the same conclusion. And the bottom line is that the earth will become unstable and uninhabitable due to high temperatures. Eventually the earth will turn into a ball of hot liquid and then disassemble into gases. This is the scientific perspective of the end times if the phrase meant the end of planet earth.
If the end times meant the end of humans, then it gives another view. Human beings from the point of view of science are a species. A species has a unique set of chromosomes that contain a unique set of DNA called a genome. A species, by definition, is a group of organisms that can reproduce genetically identical and fertile offspring. We are one species and reproduce genetically identical fertile offspring. So the end of humans would be the day there are no more members left in the species.
You may have heard of Dodo birds becoming extinct in Australia because their last member of the species died in Australia. This in the scientific perspective is the end of Dodos. The end of humans can result in different ways. All humans can die, or the human race can evolve into other species. There is even a third option lurking on the horizon now that humans would integrate with machines to form transhumans.
The death of all members of the species could be the result of natural disasters and natural means if we lived long enough for the earth to become hostile to natural life. It would take millions of years from now. Of course, the most feared causes of possible human extinction are the nuclear wars that could occur. We humans have the power to destroy our own kind; a quality that no other species has ever had. We can literally wipe humans off the face of the earth in a single day. It took us several million years to become distinguished and speak. It took us centuries to learn the things we have understood now. And it took us a long time until we came up with the brilliant idea of ​​developing nuclear warheads and keeping them “in case” we had to fight each other. If there were to be a nuclear war between all nations, we have multiple nations with enough of a nuclear arsenal to see us through to the end.
Another way the human race could see the end is through evolution. If we live long enough on the planet, we will naturally evolve into multiple species. We will transform into other forms of life. We have had the lesson in the past where our evolution has had monkeys in us. We could transform and become other species. And one day, there would be no members of our current species left and that would mark the end of humans. For this to happen, we may have to wait thousands, if not millions of years. The problem is that there is another form of extinction that is becoming more and more possible.
Transhumanism is a term used to mention the transformation of man into a mixture of man and machine. We have all experienced and used the reliability of machines for speed, strength and consistency. We have had computers that have brought us into the information technology age. Now the idea is to bring computers into brains so that our brains are more capable as computers. Since machines made of metal are stronger, now people want to have those machines built into humans to make humans stronger. These are not science fiction; the problems are already under experimentation. There is a group of scientists who are testing and figuring out ways to do this. The early stages of this are the applications of Brain Computer Interfaces in computer controlled devices. People are just using their thoughts to control the machinery. People have chips and transmitters inside their skulls. People are becoming partly machines. Now they are becoming partial machines that there will be a time when you can’t tell an entity like a human or a machine. There will be traits of both in the same being; that is the stage described as transhuman. When this happens; which seems to be more than possible a century from now, there won’t be any human left. This will mark the end of humanity as we know it.
On the other hand, if the term end times meant the end of the entire universe, then there is plenty of time left. There is probably no calculation yet to understand when the universe would end. Very little part of the universe is known to exist that scientists have to call as the known universe. There is much unknown in the known universe and less known in the unknown universe. People will first have to define the properties of the universe to understand how it started and how it works to predict how it would end.
Science has no definitive answers about how and when the universe will end. Apparently, we will end science on the day the universe has to end. However, in theory, since the universe came into existence through an event and began to react since then, there has to be an end.
