The end of the world has been prophesied and predicted for thousands of years by religious and secular figures. Obviously none have been correct so far, but people don't let that keep them from preparing for the worst. Thousands and even millions of dollars in some cases go into doomsday shelters in preparation for the apocalypse, nuclear attack, or foreign invasion. In modern times though, I think man is quite likely to destroy the world (or part of it) with nuclear weapons. It comes down to what the "end" of the world means to those people. Does it mean the end of the human race? The end of civilization in part or all of the world? If it means the latter, than a bunker stocked with food, clothes, and water would be critical in surviving. In the current political climate, mob-rule and ironically fascism are a growing trend among violent groups like AntiFa. It is better to have those things and not need them than to need them and not have them, so I understand their reasons.
One thing I noticed in the lecture slides was that most of the end of the world predictions were derived from someone else's thoughts. Several were made based on bible texts, some on ancient calendars. Others, such as Y2K, were based solely on that fact that we as people didn't know what would happen at the turn of the millennium. These claims have been largely baseless and are not supported by any scientific evidence.
Another cool perspective of the end of the world is the Christian one you alluded to. I was raised Catholic, and when we read Revelations in the Bible, we learned about The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The Four Horsemen were harbingers for the end of the world. Each of these horsemen had specific clothes (which matched their horses) and agendas. They brought forth judgment through plague, fire, and famine. Funny enough, this was taught as dogma in a literal rather than symbolic sense. This story doesn't really come with a date or anything but I think it could be a stirring addition to the next nut job's prediction. In my opinion, the only "end times" prediction there can be, is a scientific one. Maybe a theory about when the sun will die? The current conjecture is 7 billion years, so it's not as headline grabbing as a man swearing imminent doom but then again, not many things are.
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