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Post by imperator03 on Mar 2, 2011 15:57:46 GMT -5
People have always thought that their generation would see the end of times. Why do you think most major religions and philosophies (heck PA is the bread and butter of minor religions and philosophies) have some sort of end times scenario as part of their sacred works. Even science has it's forms of end times e.g. global warming, resource depletion, etc.
It would seem that these sorts of beliefs are part of how humanity deals with things they can't explain. What they don't take into account is the adaptability of humanity. There have been times in prehistory when humanity has been knocked down to bedrock. We're all descended from mitochondrial Eve and, later, Y-chomosomal Adam. This isn't conclusive, as genetic testing is based on certain markers, which are basically WAGs.
What people really mean by the end of the world is the collapse of the dominant political system. Using that definition, yes, the world is going to collapse. Look a the Middle East right now. The most interesting thing there is that people don't seem to be lying down and accepting a new elite. Unlike North Korea, Cuba and other dictatorships, there doesn't seem to be one Great Leader to unite, or more likely stamp out, the diverse groups pushing for change. It's a nice change from the revolutions of the 20th century. What remains to be seen is what sorts of structures are put up in place of those by Qaddafi, Mubarak, et. al. I don't believe they'll be set up on principles of liberty, it's just not a part of that culture. They still base, for the most part, identity with the clan or tribe as opposed to the individual.
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Post by King of the Wastes on Mar 2, 2011 18:04:28 GMT -5
Hey imp, good to have you join us here.
For the most part when I talk about a collapse I mean the collapse of global society. I don't think anyone hear thinks that the world is going to end with humanity being ruptured. And that is some good info right there, I think you'll do great here. ;D ;D
And as for them setting up a government that gives the people civil liberties, i think they will get that. That's they are protesting over to!!
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Post by blightedbaz on Mar 3, 2011 12:56:56 GMT -5
I don't think the "world" will end anytime soon. We will however see significant changes in the make up of the societies that are currently on the planet. There are many factors that can change our societies that we could consider apocalyptic. Most are posted here already, but the ones I think that will be most likley and have the most impact would be the following:
Pandemic - we are due, no doubt about it, I'm thinking when H5N1 makes the mutation to pass from human to human
Resource Depletion - this is widely encompassing everything from lack of fresh water, peak conventional oil (as admitted by the IEA in 2010), rare earth minerals, etc...
Economic Collapse - I don't think people truly realize how close we came in 2008 to an apocalyptic event in the world economy. The US has over 14 trillion in debt and can no longer sustain it's world empire, this is how empires collapse, from economics reasons.
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Post by imperator03 on Mar 3, 2011 20:01:45 GMT -5
Hey imp, good to have you join us here. For the most part when I talk about a collapse I mean the collapse of global society. I don't think anyone hear thinks that the world is going to end with humanity being ruptured. And that is some good info right there, I think you'll do great here. ;D ;D And as for them setting up a government that gives the people civil liberties, i think they will get that. That's they are protesting over to!! I don't think people are going to be raptured, I just used that to illustrate the fact that people; down through the ages, have had stories they tell themselves about how things started and how they're going to end. Thousands of years ago that meant a supernatural end to the world, today that means one or another of a variety of doomsday scenarios. What they don't take into account is the adaptability of humanity. A study of history and economics shows that there are always alternatives to things and that people will, all other things being equal, shift their preferences as things become more expensive, rare, what have you. Take the Global Warming religion, for example. 30 years ago we were due for an ice age, according to these people. Now we're due to turn Earth into Venus. What's really going on is that we're seeing, seemingly for the first time, variations in climate due to a natural cycle of warming and cooling. It's like the planet is trying to stay in homeostasis; not too warm and not too cool. What's different now is the accuracy of our tools to measure temperature along with the inaccuracy of where those tools are being used, like the urban heat island effect. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_heat_islandHint: Most of our thermostats are located in these islands, but the increased temp is not taken into account when some "scientists" observe the data those poorly placed thermometers report back. Rather than use real scientific methodology, these guys are leaning on the prestige of the word scientist and science, which has the effect of cheapening the labels because those so-called scientists are being untruthful. Too much of that and people will relegate science to the ash-bin of history. |
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Post by 2012sos on Jul 5, 2011 9:42:40 GMT -5
RE: Do you believe the world is gonna collapse?
I do not. I believe it will be wiped out; there's a big difference.
On the other hand, if one considers "the world" not the planet but "this civilization", then, yeah, one might say it will collapse. It will collapse because it's held together by mass ignorance and elite professionals everywhere who hoard their knowledge. When enough people die, it means that civilization will collapse under the weight of ignorant masses with nothing to hold mankind up but another stone age.
Ours is a civilization of cultivated mystery. We're all incredibly ignorant and worse even: we believe we know things that are in fact misdirection and disinformation. The examples of this are everywhere and in all aspects of life. The masses are reliant for their culture on a few scattered professionals, completely and utterly dependent.
Our world civilization [if such it can be called] will be wiped out by recurring cosmologically events that occur every 11,500 years, but civilization will basically collapse because of how few people know what it takes to keep it running. When the basics are lost, a complete and utter reboot will happen; mankind is going to collapse back into the next stone age.
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Post by King of the Wastes on Jul 7, 2011 1:54:23 GMT -5
Interesting ideas, while I am don't personally beilve in 2012 I do welcome other people's thoughts on these subjects. And I think I will change the threads title so people won't think I am asking if the planet is going to implode.
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Post by No Sanity on Oct 2, 2011 16:31:07 GMT -5
I believe that civilization has we know it is unsustainable for any length of time. Our entire civilization is based on our economy which is based on an absurd idea of continuous growth off of extremely limited supplies. So even if we manage to avoid the doomsday scenarios of nuclear wasteland, viral outbreak or zombies we will still fall, on the up side though we are stubborn and will rebuild.
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Post by King of the Wastes on Oct 3, 2011 1:46:57 GMT -5
Try, everything today is based off oil. If we don't get off the drug called oil soon we're fucked no matter what we do.
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Post by 0987654321a9 on Oct 3, 2011 16:27:40 GMT -5
Frankly, I'd be pissed if society doesnt ever fall. I expect it to. Even if it falls for a day, or a week or even a year I'd be happy (I know it will be rebuilt fairly quickly, even if all forms of government are destroyed)
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Post by No Sanity on Oct 4, 2011 14:43:53 GMT -5
Even if we get off oil which will occur regardless if we want it to or not with 40-75 years we are still fucked. Our society is based on the ideas of continuous economic development, of increasing population, societies that don't fit within these ideas are often pitied and looked down upon. oil or no oil there is a bigger base problem in our thought process which requires continues growth in all facets of society. Before oil, there was coal, after oil we will look for somthing else to replace it which won't solve the root problem.
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Post by King of the Wastes on Oct 5, 2011 0:38:42 GMT -5
Very true, something needs to happen to snap humanity back to reality.
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Post by sunnydaze1 on Mar 29, 2012 21:10:06 GMT -5
Yes. I believe in our lifetime we will witness and end to the world we know. Look up Thomas Malthus' theory on population. Then ask yourself;What if three quarters of the world's population vanished?
It would solve many issues we face as a planet of seven billion. No oil, water or food shortages.Climate change due to our carbon footprint? Maybe. We would have a sustainable planet.
If you're interested in a very plausible apocalyptic conspiracy thriller, check out 'Playing God' and the sequel which I hope to have ready by the end of 2012. The sequel is called, 'After the Fall' and it deals with a colony of survivors as they struggle to survive after the fall of man. I will be running a free promotion soon.
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Post by King of the Wastes on Apr 30, 2012 2:10:46 GMT -5
Sounds interesting Sunny, what is it about? Also if you wanna advertise your books please do it in the Atomic Cafe, a place to tell your stories!!!
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Post by washley on Feb 23, 2013 0:47:47 GMT -5
I think it depends on how many women are left for me to breed out civilization with ;D
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2013 0:53:07 GMT -5
Cross-posted:
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thanks.