Will Humanity Avoid Social and Economic Collapse?

[Iti oj]

Society is broken let it crumble tear down the remains and build anew

 

[idav]

Assuming we are headed towards social and economic collapse, are you optimistic that we will do enough to avoid collapse? Or are you, like me, more pessimistic than optimistic?

I hate to be pessimistic on this one but eventually Facebook and Banks will collapse. Head for the hills!!! What will we do without FB????

 

[Penumbra]

Humanity has gone through periods of growth and collapse before, in various places.

I don't think we can just have exponential growth forever without more collapses in the future.

is collapse a bad thing?
wasnt the tower of babel a collapse?
we cant do without iphones for a while? Less stores? No online shopping channel?
what level of collapse we talking here? im not sure some forms of collapse would be a bad thing..

With such over-specialization, a major collapse would probably result in huge population reduction, not just iPhones not working or Amazon being offline.

 

[Sunstone]

I'm not a big fan of doomsday predictions. As recently as three or four years ago, I was pretty hopeful. But the indicators that we are headed to a reckoning continue to mount while the political will to do anything about it continues to be largely ineffective. So, I've gradually come to pessimism concerning the human prospect.

 

[Jeremy Mason]

I have been talking with my friends about a possible collapse of the dollar in the next year or so. Oddly, they have a very apathetic stance on the issue.

 

[idav]

Humanity has gone through periods of growth and collapse before, in various places.

I don't think we can just have exponential growth forever without more collapses in the future.


With such over-specialization, a major collapse would probably result in huge population reduction, not just iPhones not working or Amazon being offline.

One should be so lucky to be born in a country that is prosperous at the right age. I think this age is fairly unique.

 

[idav]

I have been talking with my friends about a possible collapse of the dollar in the next year or so. Oddly, they have a very apathetic stance on the issue.

the top 1 percent would hurt :help:more than the rest of us who don't have any more money. after the crash the bankers were given even more power. it has gotten ridiculous.

 

[Jeremy Mason]

the top 1 percent would hurt :help:more than the rest of us who don't have any more money.

While I see what you are saying, I doubt that the uber-rich would suffer the initial blow of starvation and homelessness.

after the crash the bankers were given even more power. it has gotten ridiculous.

It is ridiculous. :yes:

 

[Quagmire]

As much as I love the internet I'm predicting that the ever-increasing trend towards immediate gratification and over-all sense of entitlement that it engenders is going to catch up with us pretty quick.

There isn't much room for any sort of ideologies anymore. The whole world is rapidly moving towards a consumer-based economy. Some people have been saying for some time now that it's going to level the playing feild in a lot of ways.

I wouldn't be surprised if it winds up leveling everything.

 

[Quintessence]

There isn't much room for any sort of ideologies anymore. The whole world is rapidly moving towards a consumer-based economy. Some people have been saying for some time now that it's going to level the playing feild in a lot of ways.

I don't understand. Doesn't America already have a consumer-based economy? As in the lion's share of our economic activity revolves around consumerism? Doesn't seem that this has leveled any sort of playing field to me.

 

[Kerr]

For a number of reasons, I figure humanity is most likely headed towards worldwide social and economic collapse within the next 50 to 100 years, with a major die off (perhaps as great as 80% of us) not far behind.

Now, I promise not to bore you by reciting the thirty or forty reasons I think that scenario might be the case, but I would like to raise one point: Although many of the problems facing humanity might be averted if we act soon enough, it is my guess that we lack the political will to do enough about such dangers to us as global climate change, nuclear proliferation, over-population, etc. -- That is, to do enough to avert reaping social and economic collapse within the next 50 to 100 years.

Assuming we are headed towards social and economic collapse, are you optimistic that we will do enough to avoid collapse? Or are you, like me, more pessimistic than optimistic?

I believe that it will happen sooner or later, mainly because I dont think everything will go well for all eternity. A collapse will happen, then we will rise again. Its just how things are. Dont know if it will happen in the timespand 50-100 years, though. Have not thought of it.

 

[kai]

I just don't see it myself. I don't think the sky is falling but my opinion is no more valid than the next one. 50 years from now will mean very little to any of us, and 100 years from now, no one will even remember us.

Man has no more control of the earth than a flea can control a dog.

i am with Rick on this one, mankind has survived Ice ages ,catastrophic plagues, and natural disasters,Empires have waxed and waned. i am sure any predicted economic or social collapse wont see us all off, we will just continue to adapt to conditions or adapt those conditions to survive.

 

[cablescavenger]

You have more options than that. You choose not to take them for various reasons.

Pray tell

 

[cablescavenger]

For a number of reasons, I figure humanity is most likely headed towards worldwide social and economic collapse within the next 50 to 100 years, with a major die off (perhaps as great as 80% of us) not far behind.

Now, I promise not to bore you by reciting the thirty or forty reasons I think that scenario might be the case, but I would like to raise one point: Although many of the problems facing humanity might be averted if we act soon enough, it is my guess that we lack the political will to do enough about such dangers to us as global climate change, nuclear proliferation, over-population, etc. -- That is, to do enough to avert reaping social and economic collapse within the next 50 to 100 years.

Assuming we are headed towards social and economic collapse, are you optimistic that we will do enough to avoid collapse? Or are you, like me, more pessimistic than optimistic?

All I have read on here is doom and gloom. There may be economic collapses, the EURO and the Dollar are still not safe, and they may take some time to get out of, but get out of it they will and that will be it.

Dealing with issues like clean energy and feeding a growing world population are challenges but they will be overcome by science, as will dealing with climate change.

Societal values are progressive and improving all the time. The biggest social problem as I see it is religious fundamentalism, but then that has always been there too.

 

[Quagmire]

I don't understand. Doesn't America already have a consumer-based economy? As in the lion's share of our economic activity revolves around consumerism? Doesn't seem that this has leveled any sort of playing field to me.

Thing is that, mostly due to the internet, the world is becoming Americanized now.

Some good things go a long with that: governments can't deny their citizens free access to information if they want to stay competitive in the global economy, so both controlling populations through propaganda and oppressing populations based on propaganda and/or selective reporting has gotten a lot more difficult.

What I mean by (or I should say what the authors I've been reading mean by) "leveling the playing field" is that, now, just about any country---and just about any individual no matter what country they're in--- has a chance to improve their standard of living since geography and local politics are becoming less and less a factor in determining limits to how involved someone can be in the global economy.

 

[Revoltingest]

Societal collapse will be cool!
[youtube]oawspa5EVzs[/youtube]
mad max 1 and 2 ford falcon v8 interceptor scenes - YouTube

 

[Trey of Diamonds]

Assuming we are headed towards social and economic collapse, are you optimistic that we will do enough to avoid collapse? Or are you, like me, more pessimistic than optimistic?

As a realist I think your pessimistic view more likely than an optimistic one.

 

[Falvlun]

Societal collapse will be cool!
[youtube]oawspa5EVzs[/youtube]
mad max 1 and 2 ford falcon v8 interceptor scenes - YouTube

Bust a deal and face the wheel!

Huh. That is actually rather applicable.

 

[bribrius]

The evolution believers should be thrilled at the possibility of another notch up the chart as natural selection takes place.

 

[Revoltingest]

The evolution believers should be thrilled at the possibility of another notch up the chart as natural selection takes place.

That would be like saying gravitaionalists are thrilled when something big falls.
As a wise man once said...."Meh".