The collapse of society as we know it

[Sensei]

We may be in an initial stage, or even second or third stage, of a slow and gradual decline of society. It may sound like a gross exaggeration, but there are several problems which coincide in a perfect storm this century:

× Available agricultural land is shrinking due to accelerating erosion, desertification, and climate change. This may entail famine and mass migration.
× Global warming will entail permanently flooded agricultural land and cities, evacuation of island nations, spreading of diseases such as malaria, extreme weather and widespread wildfires.
× The oil supply is shrinking. Drilling for oil is becoming increasingly more complicated and expensive. The situation is the same for several metals and minerals. Eventually, this will result in dramatically higher prices, perhaps even critical shortage.
× The heliosphere is weak due to solar inactivity and the weakening of the magnetosphere is accelerating. Cosmic radiation will raise cancer rates and make electronics malfunction.
× The amount of debris in orbit is increasing and it already threatens satellites. Eventually, it may become impossible to launch and keep satellites in orbit which will hamper navigation and communication
× Serious diseases, most notably influenzas, are spreading. There have been outbreaks of deadly diseases such as SARS and MERS in recent years and it's probably only a question of time before hemorrhagic fevers such as ebola start spreading on a global scale.
× The overuse of antibiotics may eventually make several diseases untreatable, such as infections, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and the plague. In the worst case scenario, there will be a renaissance for pandemics of the past.
× In accordance with neo-liberal doctrines, wealth and power is transferred to private companies on a global scale. The objective of private companies is to earn money, not protect society, and they have short-term perspectives and can't easily coordinate their efforts. In other words, our ability to protect ourselves against disasters is in decline.
× Authoritarian tendencies can be seen in many parts of the world, such as Russia, Turkey, Brazil, the USA, and the Philippines. The various dictator wannabes are not exactly enlightened despots, but rather incompetent clowns who ignore or downplay large-scale threats.

Then there are also some potential threats with uncertain probabilities:

× Russia and the US are modernizing their nuclear arsenals. Both Putin and Trump have indicated that they are ready to use nuclear weapons if need be. The risk of a global nuclear holocaust is probably slim, but even a limited nuclear strike can lead to widespread fallout and affect the global weather.
× It's difficult to say how likely it is, but terrorists could get get hold of nuclear weapons. There are several possible targets, but Washington D.C. is the most worrying scenario. What will happen if the American government is eradicated? Unsanctioned retaliatory nuclear strikes against targets in the Middle East?
× Biological weapons, both natural and engineered, can spread, either by mistake or by design. They can obviously be more fatal than naturally occurring diseases. Theoretically, they can be so-called ethno-bombs, i.e. designed to target specific ethnic groups.
× Hypertechnology such as artificial intelligence and advanced nanorobots may very well become a reality this century. The consequences of such breakthroughs are difficult to predict, but may be disastrous.
× A large asteroid or meteorite may hit earth. This may sound unlikely, but actually it isn't. The 18 December 2018 an asteroid exploded over Bering Strait with the power of 175 kiloton, more than 10 Hiroshima bombs. The astronomers happened to detect the explosion first after it had happened.

In short, interesting times await us.

 

[KClown]

Current society is ineffective garbage. You cant change anything about it, so why bother?

Considering humanity hasnt officialy made contact with any extraterrestrial sapient species that most likely went trough the same socio-ecological problems we face today, its not hard to deduct why no such contact was made, and what bizzare future might await us.

I'd bet humanity has a few hundred years before things turn unreversable.

The extraterrestrial species part is more of a wild guess on my part however.

 

[stygal]

Yes! Excellent and terrifying points you made there.
I feel sorry for our beautiful surroundings (nature and animals).
I wish we (humankind) could have worked together to conserve them instead of killing every little thing around us.
Not so sad about humans finally being over tbh...we kinda deserve it...what goes around comes around!
We can't expect to fuck with this planet so much and then walk a way with a mere scratch. Especially the whole climate change and the lack of resources (thus more wars) will wipe us.

Well, won't be around to witness anyways *shrugs*

 

[ThrownAwayTom]

All very good points that I think about a lot. It's one of my main reasons to want to CTB. The best thing in my life is my nephew and my heart breaks for the kind of shit he will end up seeing or going through.

Another one is a population that's surviving longer. Japan are already seeing the trend that there aren't enough resources or people to care for their aged population. How can you care for your disabled or elderly family when you have to work at least one job if not more just to feed yourself. We've rocketed our life expectancy in the space of a few generations and not planned for how to look after everyone for an extra 30 years.

 

[esse_est_percipi]

Russia and the US are modernizing their nuclear arsenals. Both Putin and Trump have indicated that they are ready to use nuclear weapons if need be. The risk of a global nuclear holocaust is probably slim, but even a limited nuclear strike can lead to widespread fallout and affect the global weather

The world population was told during the cold war that nuclear war was a real possibility, but it never happened.
Stating a willingness to use nuclear weapons is standard deterrence theory. After all, what's the point of having nuclear weapons if you say you aren't willing to use them in certain extreme circumstances?
Multilateral nuclear disarmament would obviously be ideal, but I don't think it will happen.
As for Trump, I don't think there is any indication that he is a warmonger who is just waiting to nuke someone. Quite the opposite in fact, based on his previous foreign policy.

Authoritarian tendencies can be seen in many parts of the world, such as Russia, Turkey, Brazil, the USA, and the Philippines

I agree, but I wonder why you put the USA in here. What evidence is there that the current US government has authoritarian tendencies?

 

[sadworld]

Humanity will end soon and I like it

 

[Deleted member 1465]

We may be in an initial stage, or even second or third stage, of a slow and gradual decline of society. It may sound like a gross exaggeration, but there are several problems which coincide in a perfect storm this century:

× Available agricultural land is shrinking due to accelerating erosion, desertification, and climate change. This may entail famine and mass migration.
× Global warming will entail permanently flooded agricultural land and cities, evacuation of island nations, spreading of diseases such as malaria, extreme weather and widespread wildfires.
× The oil supply is shrinking. Drilling for oil is becoming increasingly more complicated and expensive. The situation is the same for several metals and minerals. Eventually, this will result in dramatically higher prices, perhaps even critical shortage.
× The heliosphere is weak due to solar inactivity and the weakening of the magnetosphere is accelerating. Cosmic radiation will raise cancer rates and make electronics malfunction.
× The amount of debris in orbit is increasing and it already threatens satellites. Eventually, it may become impossible to launch and keep satellites in orbit which will hamper navigation and communication
× Serious diseases, most notably influenzas, are spreading. There have been outbreaks of deadly diseases such as SARS and MERS in recent years and it's probably only a question of time before hemorrhagic fevers such as ebola start spreading on a global scale.
× The overuse of antibiotics may eventually make several diseases untreatable, such as infections, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and the plague. In the worst case scenario, there will be a renaissance for pandemics of the past.
× In accordance with neo-liberal doctrines, wealth and power is transferred to private companies on a global scale. The objective of private companies is to earn money, not protect society, and they have short-term perspectives and can't easily coordinate their efforts. In other words, our ability to protect ourselves against disasters is in decline.
× Authoritarian tendencies can be seen in many parts of the world, such as Russia, Turkey, Brazil, the USA, and the Philippines. The various dictator wannabes are not exactly enlightened despots, but rather incompetent clowns who ignore or downplay large-scale threats.

Then there are also some potential threats with uncertain probabilities:

× Russia and the US are modernizing their nuclear arsenals. Both Putin and Trump have indicated that they are ready to use nuclear weapons if need be. The risk of a global nuclear holocaust is probably slim, but even a limited nuclear strike can lead to widespread fallout and affect the global weather.
× It's difficult to say how likely it is, but terrorists could get get hold of nuclear weapons. There are several possible targets, but Washington D.C. is the most worrying scenario. What will happen if the American government is eradicated? Unsanctioned retaliatory nuclear strikes against targets in the Middle East?
× Biological weapons, both natural and engineered, can spread, either by mistake or by design. They can obviously be more fatal than naturally occurring diseases. Theoretically, they can be so-called ethno-bombs, i.e. designed to target specific ethnic groups.
× Hypertechnology such as artificial intelligence and advanced nanorobots may very well become a reality this century. The consequences of such breakthroughs are difficult to predict, but may be disastrous.
× A large asteroid or meteorite may hit earth. This may sound unlikely, but actually it isn't. The 18 December 2018 an asteroid exploded over Bering's Strait with the power of 175 kiloton, more than 10 Hiroshima bombs. The astronomers happened to detect the explosion first after it had happened.

In short, interesting times await us.

Yep.
I suspect all this is true.
I've just been avoiding laying it all out explicitly.

It goes around and around. Societies have risen and fallen throughout human history and prehistory. The only difference here is that we will make a more comprehensive job of it.
However, thus starts a new cycle. Hopefully, the technology that has brought us to this collapse may also allow the survival of information into whatever comes next, allowing future generation to learn from our mistakes.
But then again, much has been learned and then lost by past civilisations, only to be rediscovered in a different way much later.
We don't have the ability to 'end the world,' but we do have the ability to really fuck it up worse than any previous generations. There is the potential on this world for life to continue to exist for (guessing here) another 600 million years or so, so there is plenty of time for humanity to continue and for whatever supplants us to evolve.
The flip-side of that, is that the pattern that governs us, governs all things. Humanity is no special case, even though we might think of us as such.

https://sanctioned-suicide.net/posts/749628/

Edit: upped my estimate to 600 MY. I'm being optimistic.

Edit2:
And I hate to say it, it was a comprehensive list, but I fear you missed a few elements. I'll just add in one:

x The burgeoning population and loss of land to agriculture to feed it, will encroach even more into natural landscapes, causing the cross infection of novel viruses from wild creatures into the human population.

 

[EssenceFocus]

interesting times await us.

Very interesting times...

 

[Sensei]

The world population was told during the cold war that nuclear war was a real possibility, but it never happened.
Stating a willingness to use nuclear weapons is standard deterrence theory. After all, what's the point of having nuclear weapons if you say you aren't willing to use them in certain extreme circumstances?

As I point out, the risk of a global nuclear holocaust is probably slim. However, I don't think that a limited nuclear strike against e.g. Iran or North Korea a unlikely, although we can discuss exactly how likely. Furthermore, who nows what the situation will look like 20 or 30 years from now?

Multilateral nuclear disarmament would obviously be ideal, but I don't think it will happen.

Agreed. It probably takes a massive nuclear war for that to happen.

As for Trump, I don't think there is any indication that he is a warmonger who is just waiting to nuke someone. Quite the opposite in fact, based on his previous foreign policy.

Unfortunately, there are some worrying indications: Trump's loose talk on nuclear weapons suddenly becomes very real.

I agree, but I wonder why you put the USA in here. What evidence is there that the current US government has authoritarian tendencies?

Trump questions elections, support right-wing extremists, deploy troops against civilians, and so on, and half of the population condones his behaviour. I'd say that's an authoritarian tendency.

 

[Kramer]

Lol we don't have hundreds of years. We have less than a century before collapse. Co2 is rising and it will drop everyone's IQ as a result. This is a fact.

 

[Deleted member 1465]

Agreed. It probably takes a massive nuclear war for that to happen.

What causes change for the better, is seldom the adoption of wisdom because we can see things coming, but the the reaction to things out of necessity after they have happened.
ie. We learn by experience.
We change by adopting what works and discarding what doesn't, not by predicting the future.
If things don't grow and decay in cycles, then the alternative is stagnation.

We appear to be at the end of just such a cycle.
To be afraid of how that affects us as individuals in normal.
To be angry at the way nature works, as if we should all just live in Utopia, is mostly pointless.

I say mostly pointless. Maybe such anger can promote change and growth in a different future.

The Anthropocene is every bit as 'natural' as the world would be without humanity.
To view our species as somehow separate from nature is unrealistic at best. This division that says we live 'unnatural' lives is disingenuous: it is the very thing that creates the discontinuity that it criticises. We are a small part of a much larger story that is all part of the natural order.

Would it have been easier to have been born a hundred years earlier and miss all this shite?
In some ways yes and in some ways no.

But without negative selective pressure or crisis to react to and learn from, change is very slow, if it happens at all.

 

[Brackenshire]

The world is going to hell in a handbasket

 

[Sensei]

What causes change for the better, is seldom the adoption of wisdom because we can see things coming, but the the reaction to things out of necessity after they have happened.
ie. We learn by experience.
We change by adopting what works and discarding what doesn't, not by predicting the future.
If things don't grow and decay in cycles, then the alternative is stagnation.

We appear to be at the end of just such a cycle.
To be afraid of how that affects us as individuals in normal.
To be angry at the way nature works, as if we should all just live in Utopia, is mostly pointless.

I say mostly pointless. Maybe such anger can promote change and growth in a different future.

The Anthropocene is every bit as 'natural' as the world would be without humanity.
To view our species as somehow separate from nature is unrealistic at best. This division that says we live 'unnatural' lives is disingenuous: it is the very thing that creates the discontinuity that it criticises. We are a small part of a much larger story that is all part of the natural order.

Would it have been easier to have been born a hundred years earlier and miss all this shite?
In some ways yes and in some ways no.

But without negative selective pressure or crisis to react to and learn from, change is very slow, if it happens at all.

I generally agree, but I believe in the "Star Trek syndrome". A large-scale nuclear war or or a disaster of similar gravity could be enough for mankind to unite and to do so quickly, and thus "break the cycle" by bypassing an otherwise inevitably long period of decline. Just as a man facing death can change his attitude and behaviour radically and swiftly, so can mankind when facing extinction. Speaking of Star Trek, I also believe that an extraordinary challenge possibly could break the cycle as well, for instance the conquest of space.

 

[Deleted member 17949]

Will this help me die faster?

 

[Deleted member 1465]

I generally agree, but I believe in the "Star Trek syndrome". A large-scale nuclear war or or a disaster of similar gravity could be enough for mankind to unite and to do so quickly, and thus "break the cycle" by bypassing an otherwise inevitably long period of decline. Just as a man facing death can change his attitude and behaviour radically and swiftly, so can mankind when facing extinction. Speaking of Star Trek, I also believe that an extraordinary challenge possibly could break the cycle as well, for instance the conquest of space.

That's a possibility. That is a kind of societal negative selective pressure.

 

[esse_est_percipi]

Trump questions elections

I think that's all just talk and bluster. I highly doubt he would illegitimately hold onto power if he loses.
And if he does it will be a hilarious turn of events. I mean, who even cares about or believes in democracy anymore. We know everything is run by finance and big tech/big banks. Elections are just a minor inconvenience to smooth out whilst a global elite seize more control.

deploy troops against civilians

but wasn't that in response to the unprecedented looting and violence? And that was the only time it happened. It's not as if he has regularly deployed the troops to control civilians.

half of the population condones his behaviour

That could equally be interpreted as an authoritarian tendency of the media to manufacture public opinion by demonizing trump and criticizing everything he says and does.
Ever since he got elected the liberal media and a faction of democrats have tried to undermine and delegitimize his presidency with all the russia allegations, impeachment trials, accusations of racism etc.

The problem is that the liberal media and some democrats criticize everything he does and says, simply because it is him doing and saying it, whilst glossing over or not even mentioning any possibly good things he may have done, and overlooking all the corruption and criminality on the democrat side of the aisle.
For example, if he wants peace with north korea, then the media accuses him of cosying up to a dictator, but if he went to war, they would condemn him for being a warmonger and criminal.
I saw very little praise for Trump in the media for his role in the historic peace agreements between Israel and UAE and Sudan.
If it was Obama he would have received a 2nd nobel peace prize (ironic he even receive one nobel peace prize considering that he launched airstrikes and military raids in at least seven countries and authorized ten times more drone strikes than bush) and been hailed as a modern day gandhi.

I don't have a stake in any of this and I'm past the stage of really caring about politics anymore, but I just think there is a lot of hypocrisy and double standards, and unwarranted sensationalism and hyperbole when it come to trump, who is actually not much of a top-down authoritarian or racist if you really scrutinize the facts. His response to covid and domestic economic policies suggest that he doesn't believe the federal government should interfere in the affairs or decisions of states on many issues.
Sorry to go an a tangent. I agree with most of what you said actually in the OP.

 

[Brick In The Wall]

I love doom porn. There are literally so many things working against us right now that you haven't even scratched the surface really. It only really takes 1 of these events and we're all fucked, I wonder which one it'll be!

 

[NightmareTour]

Humanity has done more to destroy the earth and our own society in the past century than in the entire rest of our existence as a species. Nobody is slowing down or stopping, even now that we know the risks. Money hungry sociopaths have their claws in most of the world. The real surprise would be if we actually make it to the end of this century.

 

[DocNo]

after binge watching john oliver at yt some time ago - i am sometimes suprised that at least the us system didnt implode yet and this collapse would tsunami-style destroy the rest.
never liked this "too big too fail" phrases. always thought about it more as "big enough to fail anything else".

 

[chrisbate7]

This is one of the few benefits of being suicidal. Since we aren't happy and all want to die, who gives a fuck if any of that happens? We all would laugh about it and CTB for real. Meanwhile all the religious and weak minded folks would be stuck having to deal with living in hell

 

[woxihuanni]

This is one of the few benefits of being suicidal. Since we aren't happy and all want to die, who gives a fuck if any of that happens? We all would laugh about it and CTB for real. Meanwhile all the religious and weak minded folks would be stuck having to deal with living in hell

Yeah I can just imagine the Abomination ripping her cunt with fury if she had to survive in the real world. Which will probably knock on her door, the way things are going.

 

[waived]

Yeah I can just imagine the Abomination ripping her cunt with fury if she had to survive in the real world. Which will probably knock on her door, the way things are going.

 

[Sensei]

I think that's all just talk and bluster. I highly doubt he would illegitimately hold onto power if he loses.
And if he does it will be a hilarious turn of events. I mean, who even cares about or believes in democracy anymore. We know everything is run by finance and big tech/big banks. Elections are just a minor inconvenience to smooth out whilst a global elite seize more control.

but wasn't that in response to the unprecedented looting and violence? And that was the only time it happened. It's not as if he has regularly deployed the troops to control civilians.

That could equally be interpreted as an authoritarian tendency of the media to manufacture public opinion by demonizing trump and criticizing everything he says and does.
Ever since he got elected the liberal media and a faction of democrats have tried to undermine and delegitimize his presidency with all the russia allegations, impeachment trials, accusations of racism etc.

The problem is that the liberal media and some democrats criticize everything he does and says, simply because it is him doing and saying it, whilst glossing over or not even mentioning any possibly good things he may have done, and overlooking all the corruption and criminality on the democrat side of the aisle.
For example, if he wants peace with north korea, then the media accuses him of cosying up to a dictator, but if he went to war, they would condemn him for being a warmonger and criminal.
I saw very little praise for Trump in the media for his role in the historic peace agreements between Israel and UAE and Sudan.
If it was Obama he would have received a 2nd nobel peace prize (ironic he even receive one nobel peace prize considering that he launched airstrikes and military raids in at least seven countries and authorized ten times more drone strikes than bush) and been hailed as a modern day gandhi.

I don't have a stake in any of this and I'm past the stage of really caring about politics anymore, but I just think there is a lot of hypocrisy and double standards, and unwarranted sensationalism and hyperbole when it come to trump, who is actually not much of a top-down authoritarian or racist if you really scrutinize the facts. His response to covid and domestic economic policies suggest that he doesn't believe the federal government should interfere in the affairs or decisions of states on many issues.
Sorry to go an a tangent. I agree with most of what you said actually in the OP.

I don't want to appear as dismissive, but as far as I can tell, nothing you write refutes the facts I presented. For instance, if Trump questioning elections is just talk and it's of little importance in the current American system, it doesn't change the fact that it's an authoritarian tendency to question elections the way he does.

 

[Kramer]

I hope Trump pulls a Julius Caesar and declares himself "First citizen." Democracy is ineffective. Nothing is accomplished. The next president undoes what the previous one did. It's all for nothing.

 

[Sensei]

Yeah I can just imagine the Abomination ripping her cunt with fury if she had to survive in the real world. Which will probably knock on her door, the way things are going.

In a global perspecive, I think the Abomination's cunt is the least of our worries.

 

[catalepsy]

I hope it accelerates and I get to watch it burn.

 

[greebo6]

Very interesting post .I totally agree with it.