00:00A fraction of a second later came a powerful shockwave which moved at the speed of sound.
00:06It turned everyday windows and walls into shrapnel.
00:10Welcome to WatchMojo.
00:11And today we're counting down our picks for technological advancements and inventions
00:15that brought humanity to the brink of destruction.
00:18Whether through unintended consequences, human error or just sheer destructive potential.
00:23And then I made my decision.
00:25I would not trust the computer.
00:28Number 10.
00:30Chlorofluorocarbons.
00:31Ozone depletion.
00:32The story of chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs goes from hero to zero.
00:37First synthesized in 1928 by Thomas Midgley Jr., CFCs were popular for their perceived safety and versatility.
00:45From aerosol sprays and refrigerants to foam products, CFCs were everywhere.
00:50What seemed to be a wonder chemical was, in fact, a harbinger of destruction.
00:54Chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs are the primary culprits in ozone layer breakdown.
01:02Once in the atmosphere, CFCs broke down and released chlorine atoms that attacked and destroyed the ozone layer,
01:10Earth's vital shield against UV radiation.
01:12The chlorine reacts with the oxygen atoms in ozone and rips apart the ozone molecule.
01:18By the 1980s, a massive ozone hole had formed over Antarctica.
01:23Without international bans like the 1987 Montreal Protocol, CFCs could have caused a public health catastrophe and environmental collapse.
01:32A wonder chemical tech nearly set the stage for a solar barbecue.
01:37Scientists estimate that chlorine levels will return to their natural state in about 50 years.
01:439. Project Thor Kinetic Bombardment Weapon
01:47Dropping water balloons on someone can be a fun prank.
01:50Now replace the balloon with a telephone pole-sized rod of tungsten dropped from orbit at hypersonic speeds and you get Project Thor.
01:58The Rods of God was a US invention of the Cold War era. It was a kinetic energy weapon that required no explosives. All it needed was mass and gravity.
02:07Tungsten is one of the densest naturally occurring metals on the planet. The strike would release the equivalent energy of several tons of TNT.
02:14Project Thor has never been deployed, but it remains a popular concept. It is one weapon that serves as a chilling reminder of how creative we can get about destruction.
02:248. Lab synthesis of H5N1 avian flu The avian flu poses a deadly threat to birds and other animals. It is rarely spread to humans. This makes it more concerning that in 2011, researchers in the Netherlands genetically engineered a mutated version of the H5N1 virus.
02:42The catch? This one was capable of airborne transmission between mammals. The mutated virus could theoretically trigger a global pandemic with a higher fatality rate than that of COVID-19. Supporters claim that the experiments were conducted for research and prevention purposes, while others criticized them as a blueprint for bioterrorism.
03:01Regardless of which side you choose, here is a situation where a virus was developed not only to help us understand outbreaks, but also potentially even how to start one.
03:12And every time we see the virus go from birds into mammals, we worry about the virus adapting closer and closer to being able to infect and be transmitted in humans.
03:237. Satellite technology and Kessler syndrome risk Since Sputnik's launch in 1957, near-Earth space exploration has boomed. Now our planet is surrounded by satellites and junk.
03:35So space junk is basically anything human-made that's orbiting Earth that isn't useful.
03:41This junk includes obsolete satellites, discarded rocket stages, and small fragments from collisions and explosions. Imagine reaching a point where the amount of junk around our planet creates more and more space junk.
03:54This is the Kessler syndrome. Left unattended, the orbital space around our planet will be cluttered with fast-moving debris, making space missions and other technologies, such as GPS, weather tracking and the internet, impossible.
04:07So there is a point where that would happen. We don't know exactly where that is or how close we are to that yet.
04:12This is one threat where the technology that took us beyond our planet could quite literally lock us in.
04:18I guess the worst case scenario is Kessler syndrome, where we end up with one explosion that leads to more, that leads to more, that leads to more, and basically renders so much stuff useless.
04:276. Agent Orange and chemical defoliance development
04:31What do you get when you mix 245T acid and 24D acid? You get a powerful herbicide that the United States military used during the Vietnam War.
04:40One of the horrors of the Vietnam War was Agent Orange. Not an actual spy, but an herbicide mixture used by the US military.
04:47It was a tactical weapon to strip the enemy's jungle cover and expose the opposition's forces. However, it also poisoned ecosystems and wildlife and affected millions of people.
04:58Some 20 million gallons were sprayed on Southeast Asian jungles, fields, and other targets over a nine-year period.
05:05Loaded with a chemical contaminant called dioxin, Agent Orange caused cancers, birth defects, and long-term genetic damage.
05:13What was meant to fight and end the war effectively for the US is now a banned product that is the cause of the most environmental and humanitarian disasters in modern history.
05:23Initially thought to be a tactical innovation, Agent Orange became a living nightmare.
05:28While most veterans are now covered for 14 illnesses presumed to be related to Agent Orange exposure, some veterans are still trying to get those benefits.
05:38Number five, Sverdlovsk Anthrax leak. On April 2nd, 1979, a clogged air filter led to a catastrophic error. Sounds like escalation, but the filter was at a Soviet bioweapons facility near Sverdlovsk.
05:52It was removed, but not immediately replaced. By the time the error was rectified, the anthrax spores in the facility had already been released into the air.
06:01Anthrax is a naturally occurring, but deadly organism.
06:06Traveling downwind, the spores infected the nearby populace, killing at least 68 people, although the actual toll may be higher.
06:13The Soviets denied any such accident until the 1990s. A single oversight in a high-contaminant facility led to a larger disaster, which, if left unchecked, could have given humanity a sober lesson in the potency of bioweapons.
06:26Number four, gene-edited smallpox virus. If the avian flu wasn't enough, in 2017, scientists at the University of Alberta used male-ordered genetic fragments to recreate a close cousin of the smallpox virus.
06:41In the 20th century alone, half a billion people died of smallpox.
06:46Group leader David Evans defended the experiment, stating that it aimed to demonstrate the accessibility of synthetic biology and its potential for developing better vaccines or even cancer therapeutics.
06:57But the real message was clear. If scientists can recreate variants of such viruses in a lab, so can others, with less noble intentions.
07:06To make matters worse, Evans' research was published in the public domain. While nothing untoward has come out of it, these developments have reignited fears that weaponized pathogens would be the next frontier in terrorism.
07:18It can simply overwhelm, devastate, and crash the human immune system.
07:24Number three, Stanislav Petrov and the 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm.
07:29It was completely unexpected, as such things usually are. The sirens sounded very loudly, and I just sat there for a few seconds, staring at the screen with the word, launch.
07:41Imagine being the one whose decision averted a nuclear catastrophe. That is precisely what Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov of the Soviet Air Defense Forces did in September 1983.
07:52Cold War tensions were high, and even more so after the Soviet Union had shot down a civilian Korean jetliner, killing all 269 passengers and crew.
08:02So when the early warning satellite system detected five incoming U.S. nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles, Petrov, the duty officer, chose not to report it up the chain. He believed it was a malfunction.
08:15Thankfully, he was right. The satellite had mistaken the sun's reflection off the clouds for the missiles.
08:36Sometimes the only thing preventing disaster isn't technology at all. It's the judgment of one level-headed human.
08:43I knew perfectly well that nobody would be able to correct my mistake if I had made one.
08:53Number two, the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. A standard late-night safety test at Chernobyl's nuclear power plant developed into a never-before-seen disaster.
09:02A seemingly routine safety test resulted in the reactor exploding and releasing massive amounts of radioactive material.
09:08Immediate deaths ranged in the dozens, but over the years, thousands more died due to radiation-induced illness.
09:21The neighbouring city of Pripyat was rendered uninhabitable. Investigations later revealed that flawed design, inadequate training, and a lack of transparency had transformed nuclear innovation into a radioactive nightmare.
09:34Chernobyl redefined global nuclear safety protocols, and is a haunting example of how complacency could have led to a disaster that would have eradicated an entire continent.
09:56Number one, the atomic bomb and Hiroshima Nagasaki.
10:06No technology has ever shown us a window into pure and total annihilation like the atomic bomb. The tail end of World War II witnessed the US dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing over 200,000 people.
10:21The ensuing mushroom cloud. The ensuing mushroom cloud is symbolic of the terrifying consequences of unrestrained power. The bombs ended World War II, but in their wake, left behind years of trauma, existential destruction, etc.
10:28fear, and death.
10:35Ladders, railings, even people left their outlines on stone and metal.
10:41The non-proliferation treaty of 1968 was signed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, and instead promote global cooperation and peace.
10:48Still, the destructive potential of nuclear warfare remains an eager fantasy for many, and a continued technological threat that can inadvertently or purposely lead to humanity's demise.
10:55Although no one has used a nuclear weapon since, arguments continue as to the morality of dropping the bomb.
11:02Which of these technological clues do not have to be used by nuclear weapons?
11:05The non-proliferation treaty of 1968 was signed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, and instead promote global cooperation and peace.
11:09Still, the destructive potential of nuclear warfare remains an eager fantasy for many, and a continued technological threat that can inadvertently or purposely lead to humanity's demise.
11:16Although no one has used a nuclear weapon since, arguments continue as to the morality of dropping the bomb.
11:23Which of these technological close calls shocked you the most?
11:26Are there any others you think we missed?
11:28Perhaps lurking in a remote lab somewhere?
11:30Let us know in the comments below, and don't forget to like, share, and subscribe for more exciting content.
11:37It was an experiment.
11:38They knew that the bomb had enormous, explosive power.
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