Armageddon, Antichrist, nuclear holocaust, polar shifts. Be it a new millennium, planetary alignment or a comet, doomsday prophets have a field day with their end of the world predictions. But is there really any rational basis for such an apocalyptic outlook?
Barely Born
According to the
evolution timeline below, taken from Roger Lewin's Thread of Life: The Smithsonian Looks at Evolution, humanity has barely been born on this planet and has millions of years more to live.
| LIFE FORMS | MILLIONS OF YEARS AGO |
PERIOD |
| Human | 0 | Quaternary |
| Mammals arrive | 50 | Tertiary |
| Dinosaurs flourish | 100 | Cretaceous |
| Reptiles, pre-bird | 150-175 | Jurassic |
| Land plant life | 200 | Triassic |
| Dinosaurs arrive | 250 | Paleozoic |
| Amphibians | 300 | Carboniferous |
| First reptiles | 300 | Carboniferous |
| Sea plants on land | 350 | Devonian |
| Vertebrate fish | 425 | Silurian |
| Sea invertebrates | 450-500 | Ordovician |
| Trilobites, snails | 500-575 | Cambrian |
| Multicellular | 600-650 | Precambrian |
