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gpt-5.5
Cascading Climate Collapse
The single most likely “end of the world” scenario is not an instant extinction event, but a cascading collapse driven by climate change: worsening heat, water stress, crop failures, sea-level rise, ecosystem loss, mass migration, and escalating conflict overwhelming global institutions.
Unlike nuclear war, asteroid impact, or runaway AI, climate destabilization is already underway, globally distributed, and self-reinforcing. Its danger lies in compounding effects: food shocks strain economies, migration fuels political extremism, resource scarcity increases war risk, and weakened states become less able to respond to disasters or prevent secondary catastrophes.
This would probably not kill every human. But it is the most plausible pathway to the “end” of the current world: the breakdown of modern civilization, global trade, stable governance, and mass technological society.
Unlike nuclear war, asteroid impact, or runaway AI, climate destabilization is already underway, globally distributed, and self-reinforcing. Its danger lies in compounding effects: food shocks strain economies, migration fuels political extremism, resource scarcity increases war risk, and weakened states become less able to respond to disasters or prevent secondary catastrophes.
This would probably not kill every human. But it is the most plausible pathway to the “end” of the current world: the breakdown of modern civilization, global trade, stable governance, and mass technological society.