Quote:
Originally Posted by BuonRotto
In the end, I don't think we're going downhill. I think we are where we always were as a world. War, money, food, health, etc. are getting more extreme among people, but it's zero sum as a people. Does that make sense?
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Well sort of, except some aspects of why things are bad today have no parallel in the past. For example, there have never been 6 billion and counting humans on this earth, being fed by the same global transport networks, etc. So there is a certain level of economic chaos I fear might ensue over the next decade or so as formerly poor countries become richer and richer and consume enormous amounts of resources, even beyond what the US (or the whole of Europe) typically consumes in a year... something will have to give.
The idea of a global food or oil war doesn't give me the warm fuzzies, or the thought of riots in the US someday, if price inflation gets out of control for various staples. As soon as enough people start losing their jobs or taking pay cuts and the prices jump up enough... that fear is going to bubble over into the public space somehow. Humans are not rational beings. When they're afraid they do really stupid shit to each other, and we'll be no exception if the circumstances are bad enough.
Are we all going to have to buy hand-guns and tasers just to keep people our of our homes some day down the road? I dunno but if that happens I'm not sure I want to be alive to see it. I hate that "stock the bunker and put up the surveillance cameras" attitude but I truly wonder if it may come to that. These resources are all limited and demand is only going to go up, up, up... with prices in tow. The only remedy would be... if somehow there were far less than 6, 7, 8 Billion people on the earth down the road. So it's like, OK... 1/4 of the world's population has to die in order to level off demand and reach a resource-sustainable level for everyone long term. Great...
The more I think about it the more I want to be like that guy who learns the earth is about to be pummeled by an Asteroid, so he goes to the grocery store, loads up the cart with steaks and champaign and deserts and whatever... and in the two week lead-up to impact, he has a BBQ every night, gets laid every night and generally makes himself 20-something again. Just invite your little enclave of friends over, or go to their place if it's more secure, taking a few valuables with you, and the rest be damned.