It’s interesting and valuable, imho, to consider that people have always tended to think things are falling apart, and that perhaps now is no different.
That said, all societies rise and all appear to eventually fall. It’s equally reasonable to consider that the US/Western Civilization/humanity might actually be nearing a fall.
monneyboitoday at 7:48 PM
We are entering? I feel like we've been there for years.
swader999today at 9:24 PM
On one hand the notion of the world is ending or gonna end is as old as history itself. On the other, the complexity of everything and the amount of technical capability an individual or small group can wield has never been higher.
hauntertoday at 8:00 PM
Once in a lifetime events every single year since the 2000s
dzinktoday at 8:44 PM
“The panic pays and monetizes well - people share it to warn their friends, spread your message, lots of people comment in fear and raise algorithm engagement, and they paralyze thinking they are helpless.” Said the cowboy to the other cowboy as they scared the herd into their fenced yard.
bryanrasmussentoday at 7:54 PM
I don't feel like it's AI, but I do get the feeling of reading someone dipping into the bucket of their local version of English slang, and maybe doing some context switching that they cannot handle as adeptly as could be hoped, to the detriment of the article's readability.
I suppose there are probably people out there snorting in disbelief and saying "you're one to talk", but that's how I feel.
tengbretsontoday at 8:34 PM
Seeing what "we" need to do to build a better future as described by an author that doesn't appear to have a wife, children or any attachment to a permanent home reads to me a lot like an offseason blog post by a Chicago Bears fan talking about what "we" need to do to get better next year.
SequoiaHopetoday at 9:28 PM
“…climate breakdown, growing inequality, technological disruption, war, political instability and the weakening of democratic institutions, these are no longer separate problems…”
Very weak opening. These were never separate problems. If the author is just beginning to notice, it doesn’t bode well for what insights they have to share.
rglovertoday at 9:30 PM
One of the few things that calms me down in response to the chaos is looking at nature and really observing it.
Watch the birds, squirrels, etc and compare their general behavior to that of humans. What I've observed is that unlike us, they're not worried or panicked. They just live. A threat may appear and startle them, but assuming there isn't one, they just carry on. No 'bird news,' or 'bird notifications,' or 'opinions about <other bird> to have at the feeder.' They just flap around and eat the fucking seed.
Humans seem to be obsessed with turning life into an endless cycle of stress and 'critical' moments.
Need I remind everyone: we're floating in what we call 'space' on a giant ball (one of ~billions) protected by a relatively thin atmosphere, hurtling at a thousand miles per hour, convinced of our own brilliance despite barely having left the neighborhood. I think our next evolutionary step, the one that moves us further up the Kardashev Scale, is realizing just how much of our existence is consumed by human-manufactured nonsense and distraction or, "crises."
No. Humans have been entering this period gradually from the start. It started with them destroying habitats from non-human living beings during ancient times. Ancient humans wars destroyed this planet's ecosystem. Now, we've got unhinged capitalism and greedy brats that demand too much on a planet with limited resources. A war economy is not sustainable in the long run, either. Without humans, this planet would go back to having life thrive a lot more. Humans are the only ones ruining this planet. Other species would be fine without humans existing.
Havoctoday at 9:14 PM
Not sure what the point of that was?
World is on fire so join whatever the hell Open Media Network is?
ck2today at 9:46 PM
well based on the newest data you won't have to worry about anything else after 2050
Is it just me, or are the amount of hashtags quite jarring in the piece?
>But any one with any sense can see there is no #stupidindividualism exit from #climatechaos. There is no technological #dotcons platform that allows us to escape social relationships.
throwaway23597today at 8:38 PM
"It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine" - REM, 1987
The world has always been in overlapping crises, the only difference now is that it's constantly blared into your face by your pocket screen. Ignorance is bliss. Delete the news, buy index funds, and relax.
nephihahatoday at 9:57 PM
Many of our current crises are consciously created. I was about to say artificially created, but that would include mistakes. We have people who pay large amounts of money to cause disruption and instability, not just Putin supporters but billionaires. And they design some of these crises with a prepared solution that hands them more influence.
0xbadcafebeetoday at 8:45 PM
So in other words, people who were watching cartoons 30 years ago now think that the world didn't have multiple simultaneous crises, until they now happen to be adult enough to pay attention/care.
- 1970s: multiple oil crises, war in the middle east, iranian revolution
- 1980s: latin american debt crisis, soviet-afghan war, ethiopian famine
- 1990s: collapse of USSR, yugoslavian war, bosnian genocide, ethiopian genocide, asian financial crisis
- 2000s: dot-com bubble burst, darfur genocide, african food crisis, global financial crisis (due to US housing bubble burst)
throw9393u300today at 9:28 PM
[flagged]
longitudinal93today at 7:47 PM
"Then on the left the is a matching fantasy, we romanticism collapse, but it is not automatically progressive."
Should be "romanticise" rather than "romanticism".