Top 10 threats to humanity posed by technology
V3 terrifies itself helping Cambridge University identify threats to our future
The fear that technology could cause humanity's downfall has long been the staple of science fiction and horror writers, with everything from robotic uprisings to environmental catastrophes caused by our meddling appearing in print and on the screen.
Normally such stories are just that, fun diversions from the benefits that technology has given us, whether that's the internet, space exploration or automated machines. However, such is the speed of our developments some people are worried, very worried.
The opening of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) at Cambridge University shows that top academics believe there's a real risk to our future and that a closer study of potential risks is required.
As such, the V3 team together to dream up some terrifying scenarios that could befall our species, with the aim of offering some guidance to those working deep underground in the lead-lined, zombie-proofed seats of learning in Cambridge.
10. Nuclear systems infiltrated
The threat of nuclear Armageddon has receded in the years since the Cold War ended but that doesn't mean the dangers of nuclear bombs have gone for ever.
With nations like the US storing such weapons under lock and key and guarded by complex security codes everything should be safe, but it only takes one person to break into a system and all hell could be let loose.
Reports even surfaced earlier this year that Chinese hackers had done just that, although the US dismissed this claim.
Still, it's a worrying thought and one that makes us hope those developing the security for their nuclear arsenals go beyond the use of the word password for their security.
Top 10 threats to humanity posed by technology
V3 terrifies itself helping Cambridge University identify threats to our future
9. Mobile phone radiation turns us to zombies
"Ha, yeah, mobile phones cause radiation, good one." Or so we all said during the first 25 years of phone use. Then, suddenly, around 2020, everything changed.
Reports of keen phone reviewers biting people surfaced, followed by hordes of mindless, uncontrollable pale-faced monsters hanging around outside Apple stores in the dead of night...oh wait, they might have just been queuing for the new iPhone.
Still, the endless radiation spewing from our gadgets as they latch onto Wi-Fi networks and phone signals could be causing all kinds of strange malfunctions to our bodies that as yet are lying dormant.
So if you find yourself suddenly hankering for a nice piece of brain, perhaps it's time to step away from the smartphone.
8. Medical experiments turn against us
The phrase "playing God" is often tossed around when scientists embark on some new frontier of medical experimentation - such as the cloning of Dolly the sheep or stem cell research. But our demand for knowledge shows no sign of abating.
We continually develop new drugs to fend off illness and undertake amazing surgery such as face grafts and organ transplants.
While such work is vital for our continued understanding of our own bodies and the various threats to our health, the risk of the creation of some new super virus or bug in a lab that we are unable to control if it were to escape into the wild isn't beyond the realms of impossibility.
Definitely one for the Cambridge folk to discuss - perhaps they can call on the philosophy department for help.
Top 10 threats to humanity posed by technology
V3 terrifies itself helping Cambridge University identify threats to our future
7. Robot butlers turn wild
The dream of robot butlers has been around for years - just look at The Jetsons. The writers envisioned us living in space with tin man companions to serve our every whim.
However, as we all know well through stories like I, Robot, robots would only ever be watching us to learn our weaknesses and slowly build up their strategy for the takeover of the universe, as well documented by The Flight of the Conchords in their chilling tale of automaton annihilation Robots.
So, we must always remain vigilant as scientists' continue to fine-tune their developments of robotic pals to make us dinner and ask ourselves, just how lazy are we prepared to become at the risk of opening up humanity to enslavement from the robotic butlers? Perhaps we should make our own tea.
6. Nanobots eat everything
The fear is that these little monsters would be able to self-replicate by devouring common substances, such as carbon - of which we are mostly based. The theory is commonly known as Grey Goo, or more scientifically as ecophagy (literally, "eating the environment") and has been used in novels as a plot device.
Clearly stopping tiny robots able to destroy the environment would be almost impossible, and yet as we delve ever further into the world of nano-sized technology are we about to unleash our own demise?
5. Global warming increased by tech manufacturing
Technology uses a lot of power: there's datacentres around the world running non-stop and huge manufacturing facilities churning out devices and gadgets all day long, fuelling our rampant desires for fuels.
This is having an affect on the planet - it's hard to say how much but most evidence shows it's there, and the worrying thing is it's hard to stop once you get used to a certain way of living. Tech may not be the only cause but it's as guilty as anyone.
This is why the Cambridge centre has made global warming one of its four main threats facing humanity, alongside artificial intelligence, biotechnology and warfare, which we've already documented with chilling visions of the apocalypse above. But there's plenty more terrors to come...
Top 10 threats to humanity posed by technology
V3 terrifies itself helping Cambridge University identify threats to our future
4. Atmospheric tinkering produces a reign of disaster
Human advances have got us in to the mess, so they can get us out of it, the thinking goes. One of the favoured ideas here is to do a spot of atmospheric tinkering, perhaps by ejecting billions of nano-particles into the stratosphere, in a bid to reduce the amount of sunlight hitting - and warming - the planet.
Patent hoarder Nathan Myhrvold - a former Microsoft executive - is a noted supporter of such ideas.
But while it sounds like a Hollywood blockbuster plot, it doesn't take a third-rate screenwriter's skill to predict a doomsday outcome. Maybe the overeager scientists are too successful, turning the planet once more back into the snowball Earth.
Or maybe they overlook the toxic side-effects of these airborne particles, helping create an atmosphere more toxic than a coalition Cabinet meeting.
3. Cern unleashes killer black hole
You might have thought the announcement from atom smashers Cern that they had seen with damn-near certainty the illusive Higgs Boson would end all silly talk of the Large Hadron Collider accidentally creating a black hole capable of tearing the planet apart.
But theoretical physicists are already fretting that the Higgs they've discovered conforms too much to predictions, so the chances of learning anything revelatory are diminished. What they need, is a bigger machine, capable of more fearsome atom-pummelling.
We can all see where this is going: the scientists won't be happy until they've got their hands on a Collider capable of generating a black hole so powerful it rips the planet asunder.
Top 10 threats to humanity posed by technology
V3 terrifies itself helping Cambridge University identify threats to our future
2. State malware tools cause havoc to critical infrastructure systems
Within the world of cyber security there's always a good reason to keep a tinfoil hat close to hand, with new threats emerging on an hourly basis. However, in 2012 things have taken a dire turn for the worse, with cyber threats proving highly worrying.
Things all kicked off with Stuxnet. A cyber tool designed to physically sabotage Iranian nuclear facilities, the malware was a game changer, showcasing how malware could be weaponised to have real world consequences.
Since then things have worsened with further hyper advanced threats like Flame and Duqu emerging that all pose a serious threat to the stability of critical infrastructures around water, electricity and gas that are vital to the running of nations.
The threats are so severe that UK government, police and even third-party military contractors have felt the need to release warnings detailing how disastrous a successful attack on an area of critical infrastructure could be.
Add all this together and it's not hard to scare yourself into thinking that it may well be a piece of code - not a nuclear weapon or infectious disease - that brings about humanity's downfall.
1. Angry aliens attack over space resources
A quick glance through the history books tell you one thing about the quest for precious resources: when more than one party is involved, wars erupt.
So while Google bosses Larry Page and Eric Schmidt might be content to fund the nascent asteroid mining industry, they may not suspect they're sowing the seeds of our doom.
While there's undoubted appeal in developing economic means of exploiting mineral-rich near-earth asteroids, the business of claiming dominion over extra-planetary resources is a slippery slope. What happens if we chance across some other race that claims equal rights of ownership?
Given our best efforts involve strip mining nearby rocks, any alien that wants to exert their rights probably has more firepower than we could muster. The end is nigh!