As I review this masterpiece by Professor David Kipping, entitled “Watching the End of the World”, I am in awe. First of all, at the beginning of this video, we learn that planet earth was created about 4.75 billion years ago. Thanks to the geologist who constantly study the earth, we find that the scars of the canyons and rivers help determine the age of our planet. Surprisingly, our existence in this world is about 5 million years — a blink of an eye, a sliver in perspective to the total life of planet earth.
The life cycle of the earth is twelve billion years old. In perspective, Kipping illustrated calendar years, whereas each month would represent a billion years. May 15 would be the start of where humans came in relative to the 5 billion years of life this world had already been evolving. Then Kipping added the future, more less seven billion years, which equals the life span of earth to twelve billion years.
Theoretically, we only existed for about 5 million years not even a day in Kipling’s narrative.
Therefore each second consisted about 384 years, equaling 33 million in a day. In essence, humans had been on earth for six million years.
As we reach the epilog of the video, there was a sigh of relief, a ray of hope, after Kipping explained how we humans can extend the life of this planet. Furthermore, how ultimately it’s up to us to continue this life we have on this earth. Moreover, we are left with the question, do we accelerate its demise, or look to the universe for another star being born? A chance we can sustain life similar to what we have here? It’s up to us to choose.