The Great Filter (opens in new tab)

It's 1:30 AM and my wife is in the middle of labor. We're both trying to get some sleep while she dilates further from 3cm to the ultimate goal—10cm. That's when I wake to one of the nurses telling my wife: We don't want you to panic, but you're about to hear a loud noise and then a lot of people are going to come into the room. Before I can turn my body to see what's going on, an alarm rings out. Within seconds, half the hospital staff seem to have spawned into our delivery room. The heart r...