Uh-oh

There are blog posts that spark discussion, and then there are some you put out there just to get it off your chest, or out of your head. This is the latter.

I happened on--and then was sickly riveted by--a 2-hour special on 20/20 last night: a fascinating, horrifying look at the top 10 (maybe; I missed the first hour) likely causes of the end of life on Earth. No, really: some producer dreamed this up as good, distracting, primetime entertainment.

When I tuned in at the halfway point they were still talking about a possibility that had never occurred to me: that a black hole would move in and suck us all up. A scientist described in detail what it will (note verb tense, which is what this guy was using) be like: how it will begin with our bodies being stretched, first a little, then more, then uncomfortably; how everything not nailed down will fly off into the hole; how there'll be a crescendo--a WHOOSH sound--a loud sucking noise. Of all things to fill your ears at the end of time.

More scientists weighed in on more likely endings: wiped out by artificial intelligence, asteroid impact, supervolcano eruption, plague, nuclear war, global warming. All handled in certain future tense: all scenarios spun out by scientific experts, quite persuasively--maybe even with a little glee. At a certain point, in order to continue breathing, I felt myself switch to the impersonal view of human life: life as an accident of biology; life on the planet as an accident of nature. I remembered the black hole scientist weighing in: "Hey, if you're going to die, you've got to admit this would be a pretty cool way to die!" And I admit, there's that. In the impersonal. More personally, I'd have to watch my kids get sucked apart, right? And so I would have to kill them. And that, right there, is a good reason not to watch network TV.

The producers interviewed regular folk in dramatic up-close pose, against a black backdrop. The unheard questions: What would you do if you knew human life was coming to an end in 2 weeks, 2 days, 2 minutes? "I'd spend my money." "I'd quit my job." I"d travel." Lots of "I'd be with my family." One woman said, unaccountably, "I'd want to experience having a baby." Not a one of them said they'd kill their family or themselves; no talk of avoiding incineration or suffocation or drowning--no talk of wresting back the decision, of opting to die one way instead of another.

HBO would've talked straight.