May 30, 2004: The End of the World - Open Lines
Callers offer a range of predictions, from nuclear exchange and asteroid impact to genetic catastrophe and the biblical Rapture. A self-described former military technology retrieval operator claims that DARPA has its own projections for civilizational collapse involving ice age conditions, asteroid threats, and biological hazards from damaged facilities. A 17-year-old named Danny provides a counterpoint, arguing that humanity will evolve technologically and culturally fast enough to overcome any threat thrown at it.
Art replays the controversial recording allegedly captured by Russian scientists who drilled the deepest hole ever bored into the Earth in Siberia. The chilling audio, which Reuters reportedly covered, prompted the scientists to abandon the project entirely. Art reflects on the many scenarios his program has explored over the years, observing that most callers believe humanity will ultimately destroy itself by its own hand.
Key Moments
Art poses the question of the night: Art lands on a question he says he never asked in over a decade on air: out of all the doomsday scenarios discussed on Coast over the years, how does the audience think the world will actually end?
100 tornadoes and a vicious supercell line: Art describes the absolutely incredible line of supercell storms running from Texas to the Canadian border, with about 100 tornadoes already in two days, and warns listeners on the leading edge that it will be a night of terror.
The MRSA superbug jumps onto NYC streets: Art reads about a flesh-eating, antibiotic-resistant staph infection that has escaped hospitals and now spreads through casual skin contact in New York City, growing toward 'Stephen's' groin and laughing at antibiotics.
Caller: ten-round fight ending in a polar shift: Dennis from Livonia describes the end as a series of jabs - weather, then famine, then plague, then earthquakes and volcanoes - with a Planet X flyby triggering a polar shift that finishes whoever survives.
Caller: I'm an ex-operator from technology retrieval: An anonymous caller claims he is an ex-operator from a military technology retrieval program; he says DARPA's private view is that an Ice Age, asteroids, and germ warfare are likely, and admits crashed and gifted alien craft are real.